Piramal Healthcare: A global network built on trust
Detlef Behrens, Head of Business Development Formulations, Piramal Healthcare
“Success in biotechnology is tightly linked to achieving milestones critical to funding, and the second concern is protection of intellectual property,” said Detlef Behrens of Piramal Healthcare.
“We have a long and deep track record both formulation and for IP protection,” he said, “It is something I look forward to discussing with potential partners at BIO-Europe in Vienna.”
The Head of Business Development Formulations, Behrens will be presenting at BIO-Europe 2009 the unique combination of capabilities that makes Piramal a fully integrated contract organization with both active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) and final dosage form development and manufacturing.
“At BIO-Europe we are seeking partners in biotechnology working on new products. Often these will be virtual companies looking to bring a product to market. They know the science and have a good idea of the chemistry of the active ingredient and its effects on the body. We help them translate this knowledge and convert it into a marketable product,” he said.
“This may sound too straightforward, but, if a customer has the structure of their molecule, then we can do the complete development from formulation via scaling up to commercial manufacturing,” said Behrens in an interview with partneringNEWS™.
“Customers always have a strong idea about how they want to go about developing and producing their project,” he said. “After our first or second project with a customer, trust develops so that development gets easier.”
“Trust is the reason Piramal is working with both large pharma and small biotechs,” he said. “We work with mostly all of the ten largest pharmaceutical companies doing multiple projects for each of them. In some cases we can have as many as ten projects with a company.”
“These long standing relationships underline the breadth and depth of the trust we establish with our customers,” he said.
The global network of Piramal facilities spreads across India, the United Kingdom and North America, and is a particular advantage for our customers, he added.
“A European based customer has choices across a wide geography,” he said whether the need is for a close supervision of batch production near at hand or whether the program objective is to lower costs with the advantages of facilities in India.
“Bringing the products back to Europe from India requires a qualified person, and we offer this possibility out of the United Kingdom, which can be a great advantage,” he said.
“Piramal is more than a service provider”, he explained, “we add value to both customers’ products and processes.”
“We have several proprietary platforms, for example, for tablets with controlled and targeted release of the active ingredient, and a new technology platform for oral liquids,” he said.
“We offer a solid capability for clinical trial supply, including distribution. Patient kits, placebo batch, blinding of tablets, all of this capability comes out of our European operations,” he listed.
Finally, there is the process improvement that comes from experienced personnel.
“Piramal has a broad project management team of highly experienced scientists,” Behrens explained. “More than a point of contact for the customer, these scientists truly become a partner in a customer’s organization. They really hold everything together with their knowledge, their skills and the quality of their relationships.”
“There are many different ways of working with a customer,” he concluded, “and we are open to all possibilities. We want to find a way to be helpful to the customer and productive in the process of developing their products.”
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