Kalorama: Surprisingly, Beer and Biopharmaceuticals Adopt a Similar Approach

NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- While it's not common to think of the beer-making and biopharmaceutical production industries in the same vein, both have shared a tactic, according to Kalorama Information. The healthcare market firm notes similarities in the production processes of biosimilar drugs and beers especially in recent innovative trends in a recent blog post. Whether it's microbreweries making unique beer flavors or small drug manufacturers producing a limited-quantity of an orphan drug, the strategy is the same: employ smaller single-use technologies to take advantage of low-volume efforts, and let large concerns compete on volume. Kalorama Information looked at the market for bioreactors used to make biopharmaceuticals in its report The World Market for Bioreactors.

"While we don't think biopharmaceuticals actively emulated the strategies of microbrewers, a common parable emerges with the biopharmaceutical industry's," said Emil Salazar, analyst for Kalorama Information and author of the blog article. "And that is: aim small, miss small but potentially win big."

Salazar notes that both brewing and bioproduction require sanitized if not sterilized infrastructure and carefully controlled environments in terms of temperature, nutrients, aeration and circulation to ensure optimal microbial or cellular productivity. The traditional set-up for biopharmaceutical production even resembles a brewery – fixed, stainless steel bioreactors or fermenters with capacities up to 25,000 liters using impellers and temperature control coils. The fixed bioreactor and macrobrewery fermentation tank have become vulnerable, however, to shifting, and even diversifying market demand in biopharmaceuticals and beer.

"The craft beer renaissance would not have been possible without the flexibility and leanness of microbrewery set-ups beginning with simple plastic or glass carboy," said Salazar. "Strong market performance of single-use bioreactors has been a result of the rising specialization in biopharmaceutical manufacturing."

Small outfits and hobbyists succeeding in capturing and developing niche demand and customer loyalty by releasing a spectrum of beer styles untouched by U.S. macrobreweries or traditional industry. Attrition rates in the coalescing craft beer industry were high and remain high, if not in terms of microbreweries then at least the small-batch craft beers that could be discontinued in search of a better formulation. Limited releases reduced investment risks behind the launch of a new beer line, but upstart brewers could expand production as successful beers fetched premium prices.

Addressing high-volume biopharmaceutical demand necessarily involved fixed stainless steel bioreactors. The facilities require high capital investment for stainless steel, high-grade plastic or glass bioreactors and the intricate design and installation of supporting fluid handling systems (piping, filtration, pumps, condensers, and valves). Traditional bioreactor facilities can cost in excess $300 million and take years to construct and prep. Operationally, fixed bioreactors have become inefficient with excess, unused capacity emerging as a result of improved cell line yields, culturing techniques and downstream processing. Fixed capacity is also unresponsive to changes in market demand. Fixed bioreactors can also drag down efficiency when multiple products are needed as intermediary cleaning and sterilization entail significant downtime. The strong market performance of single-use bioreactors has been a result of the rising specialization in biopharmaceutical manufacturing much as the rise of craft beer production could be sourced to growing sophistication in consumer taste. Vendors supporting client transition to more flexible operations stand to benefit from an increasingly vibrant biopharmaceuticals industry.

Salazar's blog article is available at http://www.kaloramainformation.com/article/2015-09/Biopharma-Embraces-Microbrewery-Mindset-Single-Use-Bioreactors. Kalorama Information's The Worldwide Market for Bioreactors study contains an industry review of bioreactors (including single-use units), detailed market perspectives, market breakdowns and profiles of major player performance and strategy. 

About Kalorama Information
Kalorama Information, a division of MarketResearch.com, supplies the latest in independent medical market research in diagnostics, biotech, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and healthcare; as well as a full range of custom research services. Reports can be purchased through Kalorama's website and are also available on www.marketresearch.com and www.profound.com.

We routinely assist the media with healthcare topics. Follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and our blog at www.kaloramainformation.com.  

Contact:
Bruce Carlson
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www.KaloramaInformation.com

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SOURCE Kalorama Information