How the outsourcing market is prospering from emerging biotechs

In this article, Jay Janus, Senior Account Director at Inizio Biotech, explores how the outsourcing market is changing and the major trend that has led to this transformation – the rise of biotechs. He also explains how strategic commercialization partners in the pharmaceutical industry have been dynamic in supporting emerging biotechs to overcome challenges and prosper moving forwards.

Looking closer at the biotech market

The pharmaceutical landscape is constantly changing. A pivotal trend is a reliance upon strategic commercialization partners, for innovation and accelerating drug development. This change in outlook has been driven by the rise of emerging biotechs, which has been the source of plenty of innovation in recent years. 

This pivot to partnership has seen the global outsourcing market prosper greatly, with expectations of reaching $108 billion by 2030.* The rate of drug approvals coming from emerging biotechs is core to this market success. This growth has also addressed the unmet need of underserved disease areas, with emerging biotechs generally focussing on orphan diseases and cancers, shifting them to prime market areas.

Thanks to the recent success, the biotech market is thriving. Venture capital (VC) companies’ involvement has risen from investing in 2,200 biotech start-ups in 2016, to 3,100 worldwide in 2021, and the money raised by biotechs globally more than doubled to $34 billion in 2021 compared to the preceding year.* 

The value of emerging biotechs

These investments have been fueled by the advantages in innovation that biotechs have over the wider field of biopharmaceuticals. Often being small, start-ups and scale-ups, they have considerable agility and mobility to problem solve during drug development and bring specialist expertise focusing on biopharma discovery. 

While they have the reputation and advantage of being nimble innovators, emerging biotechs also face challenges. They aren’t able to behave like a large pharmaceutical company, as even when the funding source is healthy, they often don’t have the resources to match those companies.

Why strategic support is essential

The reliance of emerging biotechs on securing funding means they need to constantly assess how they can adapt to appeal to future investments. A big selling point to investors is the innovation that biotechs offer, through cost-effective and creative solutions, and the support of strong strategic partners to aid development. 

External support is often crucial to emerging biotech success, particularly when it comes to commercialization. Securing dedicated expertise in commercialization is needed to maximize their asset’s value – a factor often considered too late to have a worthy effect. Several time-sensitive and essential actions are required for effective delivery:

• Assess the future landscape
• Select and prioritize opportunities
• Identify, plan, and engage key opinion leaders
• Review value, access, and pricing

However, there is more needed from external support than just a delivery partner – a thought partner who shares their mission will be able to guide, validate and inform decision-making to enhance the potential of the project early on. The risk of not engaging with experts in these areas can be vast and should not be underestimated. A high-quality strategic consultancy is vital to attaining a fast-track status and achieving a product’s full potential. 

The resources gained from a strategic commercialization partner can complement in-house skill sets and enhance pre-existing capabilities by ensuring the right activities are performed at the most effective time. The ability to guide, validate and inform decision-making early on helps emerging biotechs keep the “big picture” in full view, and avoid any pitfalls in the later stages of development. 

Thriving in the future biotech landscape

Achieving success in a thriving but fiercely competitive market will be an inevitable obstacle for all emerging biotechs. Effective strategizing to maximize the chance of commercialization is crucial, and a strong external partnership to bring experience and expertise will be vital at all points of the journey. Making these external relationships will ultimately maximize the value of discoveries and provide better outcomes for patients.

To learn more about how Inizio Biotech can inspire ideas and activate transformational change as a strategic partner in your next project, contact us today.