CPHI Barcelona trends report

What matters for the excipients market in 2024

From the 24^th to the 26^th of October 2023, the CPHI was held in Barcelona for 3 days of collaboration and innovation on the pharmaceutical market. During Lactalis Ingredients Pharma’s first participation to the event, our Marketing and Sales teams got to know further the clients and their expectations from the pharmaceutical lactose supply.

All eyes on sustainability

CPHI showed many drugs and ingredients producers are focusing on sustainability and particularly on reducing their impact on the environment: carbon footprint, water consumption reduction, or use of environmental labels to name a few. Sustainability is in 2023 a hot topic even in the pharma world. And with good reasons: as climate change alerts the world and governments act towards the preservation of the environment, pharmaceutical companies are more than ever expected to have ambitious and reliable CSR policies.

Ever since the Paris Agreement signed during COP 21 in 2015, 196 Parties are legally bound to limit climate change well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels [1], thus requiring an urgent transformation of manufacturing practices.

Today, the development of medicines must focus on solutions that will not only be efficient and up to speed on the market’s needs, but also follow the net-zeros targets, carbon emissions decrease, and water consumption reduction policies set by governments. This goal is particularly challenging for drugmakers as the high standards of their operations involve more robust production buildings and equipment than regular facilities [2].

Plus, since the environmental requirements heavily depend on the country where the drugs are produced, it may be more challenging for some producers to follow regulations [3] and compel them to place the sustainability of their excipient’s supplier as a priority.

For these reasons, pharmaceutical companies must look for more sustainable production systems but also select their suppliers and manufacturers carefully, requiring strong CSR policies to guarantee the sustainability of their operations.

Drug supply securing

During CPHI, many companies were looking for alternative source of supply to secure their procurement. Following the excipients and API shortage that occurred after COVID and further the European relocation policy of the drugs production, many CMO, CDMO and laboratories fear to lack API or excipients to produce their medications. Drugs supply chain were deeply impacted, and purchasers have been obliged to reconsider the reliability of their supplier to avoid any risk of medicine break along the European health chain.

Lactose like any other excipient plays a key role in the medication integrity and often cannot be removed from the formulation for registration but also technical questions. Securing the lactose supply is as important as securing any other ingredients used in drugs formulation.

Lactose availability depends on the consistency of the whey resource coming from the dairy industry. Whey is the one and only ingredient to produce pharma grade lactose, thus one can understand its role as a Key Starting Material and the necessary quality it should have. Whey is a co-product of cheese manufacturing, and its quality and certifications naturally depend on the kind of cheese that is produced. Considering the links between whey resource and pharma grade lactose, it is key to choose a supplier by evaluating the whole supply chain and its risks.

Dependance between European and export countries

Despite the great opportunities offered by the Asian market, which is a big drug and generic manufacturer, the year 2022 was hit by a shortage of pharmaceutical lactose. How can we explain this phenomenon?

First, the COVID crisis led the companies to source their excipients more locally, to be operational despite the global exchange restrictions. When privileging the local companies, European and American suppliers set aside promising Asian businesses. Even as the pandemic ended, governments still expressed their wish for drugmakers to be supplied by local companies to guarantee the security of the drug supply chain if the borders were to close again.

The difference of price range between territories also encourages the difference of supply between Europe and Asia, with a significant difference, though inside both continents there are various practices from one country to another.

Lactalis Ingredients Pharma’s commitments

Lactalis Ingredients Pharma is part of Lactalis Group, the world’s first dairy company. This heritage enables our production site to be supplied by an integrated raw material resource. That consistent serum supply guarantees the production of our pharmaceutical lactose and its distribution to our clients at all times.

Our company Lactalis Ingredients cares deeply about CSR, and is fully committed to the planet, its people, and our products. Consequently, we are bearing a strong security-oriented culture and setting ambitious goals for our facilities. The Retiers site were our Lactalpha range is produced is certified ISO 14001 and works actively to reduce its water and natural gas consumption. [4]

Learn more about Lactalis Ingredients’ sustainability policy by reading our 2021 CSR report.

See you next year at