Wegovy and weight-loss drugs driving demand for manufacturers that can fill syringes

Injectable weight-loss treatments are prompting contract manufacturers to invest and include fill-finish services into their service portfolios, in a bid to attract pharmaceutical giants developing drugs similar to Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.

In a series of interviews, company executives, analysts, and investors have stated that pharmaceutical service providers are hustling to include fill-finish processes into their portfolios. Wegovy and other obesity treatments are administered with injection pens, and the filling of these syringes require specialist work by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Wegovy alone soared in sales since launching in the United States in June 2021. 

Tejas Savant, Senior Healthcare Equity Analyst at Morgan Stanely, commented that “Every manufacturer that has sterile fill-finish capacity wants to add more, to get ahead, because it’s not just about Wegovy anymore – you also have Lilly’s Mounjaro coming, and others.” Mounjaro, developed by Eli Lilly, is expected to be approved as a weight-loss treatment in the United States by the end of 2023. In an interview with Reuters, WuXi Biologics CEO Chris Chen revealed that talks with clients have included discussion about utilising pre-filled syringe capacities at a German factory the company bought in 2020. 

Such weight-loss injections are classed under a group of drugs known as GLP-1 agonists. Within a decade, experts are expecting such drugs to be worth almost USD $100 billion. This includes the potential for oral treatments, which are now under development by the likes of Pfizer and other pharmaceutical giants. Contract manufacturers are thus in a unique position to get ahead of the curve, providing the manufacturing capabilities for future dosage forms of these weight-loss treatments. 

Source: Weight-loss drugs fuel boom for firms that fill syringes [Accessed 9 October 2023] https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/weight-loss-drugs-fuel-boom-firms-that-fill-syringes-2023-10-09/