Staying ahead of the technology curve means strengthening your competitive advantage. That is why we give you data-driven innovation insights into the pharma industry. This time, you get to discover 5 hand-picked startups advancing pharma manufacturing solutions.
Global Startup Heat Map highlights 5 Top Pharma Manufacturing Solutions out of 906
The insights of this data-driven analysis are derived from the Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform, covering 2.093.000+ startups & scaleups globally. The platform gives you an exhaustive overview of emerging technologies & relevant startups within a specific field in just a few clicks.
The Global Startup Heat Map below reveals the distribution of the 906 exemplary startups & scaleups we analyzed for this research. Further, it highlights 5 pharma startups that we hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. You get to explore the solutions of these 5 startups & scaleups in this report. For insights on the other 901 pharma manufacturing solutions, get in touch.
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ESCO ASTER enables Continuous Flow Manufacturing
Batch processing imposes restrictions in the production of medicines and drugs, such as being time-intensive and having costs associated with batch processing, e.g. through recalls and contaminations. To this end, startups develop continuous flow processing methodologies to tackle costs, time, and quality constraints associated with pharma manufacturing. For example, continuous flow chemistry enables manufacturers to manufacture large quantities while reducing costs associated with batch production.
Singaporean startup ESCO ASTER optimizes continuous flow chemistry for pharmaceutical manufacturing. It focuses on active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) chemical process development. The startup’s continuous flow process introduces appropriate standardized modules to handle different reactions and multiple batch sizes and diversification of API synthesis using common key intermediates. The solution also establishes a safer alternative for hazardous reactions, as well as streamlines and automates the multistep reaction sequences involved in API synthesis.
Limula Biotech accelerates Cell and Gene Therapy (CGT) Manufacturing
Cell and gene therapies, while being highly effective against unmet clinical needs, are expensive to manufacture. The intricate production methodologies involved limit their wider adoption. Pharma startups tackle these issues by developing distributed and automated manufacturing solutions for CGT, making the process better suited to fit each situation, while also decreasing costs related to the development of the therapies.
Swiss startup Limula Biotech develops a manufacturing platform for CGT, enabling rapid and safe production of treatments. The platform enables the scalable manufacturing of autologous therapies. The distributed and automated manufacturing solution drastically reduces the cost of treatment. The solution was designed for the manufacture of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies and is being extended for other therapies.
Single Use Support develops Fill and Finish Technologies
Fill and finish, generally the final step in drug manufacturing, is one of the major bottlenecks in drug manufacturing and deployment. Typically, sites where drugs are formulated and produced, do not have the adequate infrastructure and manpower to engage in fill and finish operations. This is because of the difference in technology and expertise required for production, and those required for fill and finish. Thus, startups automate fill and finish operations to make the process more efficient. This gives manufacturers the option to keep the entire production process in-house, as well as reduce the risk of contamination and human error.
Austrian startup Single Use Support provides fill and finish technology for pharmaceutical manufacturing. The startup’s technology, RoSS.FILL, is a fully automated single-use bag filling & draining system. It fills volumes of up to 200 liters in less than an hour and the entire filling process is fully disposable, warranting an absolutely sterile operation. This allows for flexibility and scalability of both the filling and draining process. The technology finds use across the gamut of pharma manufacturing, including for CGT, upstream activities in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, and large-scale pharma manufacturing.
IRUBIS offers Real-Time Bioprocess Monitoring
In pharmaceutical manufacturing, there are typically numerous operations for a variety of materials running parallelly. These operations, however, need to have low contamination and high accuracy, requiring that all the machines involved in production be constantly monitored. This is why startups develop monitoring solutions to ensure that there are no lapses in the drug manufacturing process. With the help of technologies such as single-use flow cells and attenuated total reflection (ATR) crystals, manufacturers have control over a wide range of operations while expending minimal manpower.
German startup IRUBIS develops real-time monitoring solutions for bioprocessing. The startup’s technology, Monipa, is based on mid-infrared (MIR) spectroscopy and monitors multiple bioprocesses online at the same time. Using a single-use flow cell mounted on the bio processors prevents disturbances in measurements. IRUBIS also provides offline calibration with archived samples and a relative measurement where only known start-values of the parameter are measured.
Elektrofi develops Protein Formulations for Biologic Therapies
Widespread usage of protein formulation and delivery procedures is limited by the long hours required for intravenous infusions and the cost-intensive nature of the healthcare services required for these procedures. The current state of administering these therapies also increases the chance of infection in a patient receiving the care. Thus, startups develop techniques to optimize protein formulation and make the procedure cost and time-effective. For example, subcutaneous injections make protein formulation and delivery more accessible to patients.
US-based startup Elektrofi offers innovative protein formulations. The startup engineers high-concentration, low syringe force protein formulations that are administered in small volumes via subcutaneous injection. Elektrofi’s proprietary particle formation procedure utilizes microparticles comprised of 70%+ protein. This enables healthcare professionals to administer high doses of biological therapies within seconds.
Discover more Pharma Startups
Pharma startups such as the examples highlighted in this report focus on robotics, gene editing, 3D printing as well as precision medicine. While all of these technologies play a major role in advancing the pharma industry, they only represent the tip of the iceberg. To explore more technologies, simply get in touch to let us look into your areas of interest. For a more general overview, you can download our free Pharma Innovation Report to save your time and improve strategic decision-making.
