Manufacturing
As Eli Lilly ends the year with Zepbound in good supply, TD Cowen analyst Steve Scala asked CEO David Ricks if the company has taken the GLP-1 supply chain too far.
Wegovy sales increased by more than 100% over 2024. But that wasn’t enough to satiate analysts who want to know why Novo Nordisk can’t access more patients, particularly in the U.S.
The deal follows a $1.06 billion U.S. contract in July 2024 and a $1.24 billion agreement with an Asia-based pharma a few months later.
The acquisition from Wuxi Biologics, the embattled CDMO named in the BIOSECURE Act, marks another expansion of Merck’s manufacturing operations in Ireland.
Eli Lilly and Company has invested more than $20 billion in its manufacturing capabilities since 2020 to help meet high demand for its medicines. Its recently announced Lilly Medicine Foundry—which will support research and development efforts—is just the latest example of the ability to research new ways of producing medicines, while also scaling up manufacturing of medicines for clinical trials.
In this episode of Denatured, BioSpace’s Head of Insights Lori Ellis, Miguel Forte and Ali Pashazadeh speculate on the impending Trump administration, discuss current challenges faced by CEOs and weigh investment in GLP-1s.
Suddenly the hottest thing in biopharma isn’t a new indication, disease target or modality—it’s manufacturing, and all of pharma is going to be vying for capacity and talent.
The Novo-Catalent deal now moving ahead highlights unprecedented investment in manufacturing, while also standing out as an exception to the unspoken rule of keeping M&As to less than $5 billion this year.
The FDA cited issues with a manufacturing facility as the reason for the rejection. J&J is currently “working closely” with the regulator to resolve these problems.
Novo’s latest investment comes just days after the U.S. FTC greenlit the highly contentious acquisition of Catalent, which analysts expect will help the pharma expand its production capacity.
PRESS RELEASES