Rainer Blair, president and CEO of Danaher, said in a Q4 earnings call Wednesday that monoclonal antibody (mAb) and specifically biosimilar production are key to driving sales for the company.
He pointed to 2024 as a particularly good year for mAbs. “Monoclonal antibodies – which comprise more than 75% of our bioprocessing revenues – remain the largest investment area for our customers, and 2024 was a near record year of FDA [US Food and Drug Administration] approvals for new monoclonal antibodies.”
He emphasized that Danaher will benefit from the continued momentum in mAb approvals, citing biosimilars, which are becoming a booming business as patents on high-volume therapies expire.
“When you think about these biosimilars starting to penetrate other patient groups that heretofore have not been able to afford to buy these kinds of therapies, or even payers unable to pay for them, that’s a tailwind for us.”
He added, “In biologics, the end product cannot be perfectly characterized, so the regulators tend to lock down the process to ensure consistency there. So even biosimilar manufacturers will try to use the inputs that have been previously approved by those regulators to ensure speed to market and a minimum of delay in getting to patients.
“So biosimilars. Higher volume. Tailwind for Danaher.”
Ins and outs
Blair praised Danaher’s Cytiva and Beckman Coulter Life Sciences businesses for their 2024 product launches. “In biotechnology, Cytiva introduced the Sefia cell therapy manufacturing platform, which is helping address critical cost and capacity constraints associated with CAR-T cell therapy manufacturing.” That platform was developed in collaboration with Kite to automate cell-therapy–manufacturing workflows and improve manufacturing productivity by up to 50%.
Blair said that Danaher finished the year stronger than expected. “In bioprocessing, the gradual recovery we saw through the year continued into the fourth quarter. We were particularly encouraged by the sustained positive momentum in our order book, which grew high single digits sequentially.” He noted that this was the sixth consecutive quarter of high single-digit sequential order growth, crediting Danaher’s consumable business, supported by a robust demand for commercialized therapies.
On the other hand, he said that equipment demand was subdued due to cautious spending habits, but that it too has improved from its post-COVID slump.
Overall, Blair’s outlook was positive. “Looking to 2025 and beyond, we believe Danaher is better positioned than at any point in our 40 year history.”
About the Author
You May Also Like