Are These the 4 Most Exciting CMOs in 2021?

The world of contract manufacturing organisations, or CMOs, is a booming space right now. There is a lot of growth and development happening all over the globe, from upscaling of facilities, to merging with other companies and technological advancements.

The market for contract manufacturing is competitive and fast-moving. The nature of the space means CMOs need to stay at the top of their game to offer a competitive edge in the sector. Healthcare companies looking to outsource now have a range of needs and expectations including pricing, regulatory compliance, production capabilities and timely delivery.

Whilst working within the space as a specialist recruiter, I’ve been able to see first-hand the progress CMOs are making, through product development and company growth.

In this article, I wanted to highlight some of the most exciting developments being done by CMOs around the globe and look at what make these companies stand out from the crowd.

What is Changing for CMOs?

Before diving into these innovative companies in the space, it’s a good idea to actually look at what is changing in the industry and how these changes are making certain CMOs stand out.

There has always been a constant battle in the CMO space to have a strong, varied product line and good manufacturing capabilities. Healthcare companies are always searching for partners who can add value to their production through a reliable supply. For many companies, it’s a tough and complex decision process that involves the evaluation of many variables.

Looking at the space recently, there is an increased focus on having technical expertise, dependability within operations and high knowledge in regulations. The role of a CMO is progressively looking to offer more of a full turn-key solution for their customers.

The use of a CMO with the knowledge of these areas allows for new product applications to navigate the approval process of multiple regions with as few problems as possible.

Mergers and expansions from CMOs allow medical device companies to focus on their customers and further efforts in innovation without having to worry about manufacturing processes. More freedom for the customers allows them to prioritise their own internal capacities and enhance process efficiencies.

So, let’s take a look at some of the CMOs showing exciting signs of development.

J-Pac Medical

J-Pac Medical supplies assembled, packaged and sterilised medical and diagnostic devices. The company has been serving the industry for over 40 years, with experience in both large and small medical device OEMs.

Most recently, the company looked to expand upon current services offered by introducing new EtO sterilization services. This service offers much-needed flexibility to customers developing new devices that may have limited access to sterilisation capacity. This new development also includes “worst case” EO exposure cycles to support packaging validation and material compatibility studies.

During the COVID pandemic, the company showed quick flexibility in adapting to market trends, introducing medical grade face shields as part of their service offering. J-Pac Medical opened a dedicated manufacturing line to produce protective face shields, with the line producing up to 60,000 face shields per week.

SMC Ltd

SMC Ltd is a worldwide contract manufacturer of single use and disposable medical devices with facilities in California, Wisconsin, Ohio, Massachusetts, Costa Rica, and India. The company provides a wide range of services exclusively for the healthcare markets from contract manufacturing to design and development.

With a wide product line, SMC are showing clear signs of growth. In April 2021, SMC announced the expansion for their facility in Costa Rica. The expansion looks to double its current space, bringing it to 120,000 square feet. The additional space aids in increased contract manufacturing solutions such as assembly, injection moulding and secondary operations, giving global customers more flexibility. Such visible growth is exciting to see and shows the potential of the global market.

Röchling Medical

Another company setting their sights on growth and expansion is Röchling Medical - a division of the Röchling Group.

The company offers a wide range of high-quality, customised components and assemblies, right through to end-to-end OEM products. The company also offers standard plastic products, with special expertise in the fields of diagnostics, fluid management, pharma, surgery and interventional.

Back in October 2020, the Röchling Group announced a €50 million investment into a new production building and production resources at the Röchling Medical site in Neuhaus am Rennweg, Germany. The new production building is expected to open for business in the first quarter of 2023. The expansion allows Röechling Medical to better serve their customers requirements and offers roughly 30 new jobs to the area.

It’s an exciting step which should set a course of positive growth for the medical division, whilst also expanding the company’s overall market position.  

SteriPack

Continuing on with the positive trends of company growth and development is SteriPack.

SteriPack’s infrastructure has grown rapidly from the company’s inception. In February 2021, the company announced the appointment of a new President & CEO, Andrew McLean. Andrew brings more than 20 years of medical device and pharmaceutical expertise to SteriPack, with prior leadership roles at Pfizer, BD, Synergy Health, Steris Corp and more recently CEO at Sirtex Medical.

With the continuation of growth and development from Steripack, the company looked to enhance medical design capabilities through the acquisition of HS Design Inc (HSD). Through the strengths of both companies, the move provides flexible and responsive design, development and contract manufacturing solutions, integrating holistic product lifecycle management services to their market.

Additionally, the acquisition further expands operations in the United States, with the ability to provide a full suite of product lifecycle services, commencing with new ideas all the way through to manufacturing and commercialisation.

What Does the Future Hold?

The future is looking bright with such clear growth and development. The healthcare contract manufacturing outsourcing market is projected to reach the market size of $242.990 billion by 2025. This suggests the trend towards outsourcing and using CMOs by healthcare companies won’t slow down any time soon.

I’m excited to what future developments the space holds and to see what further opportunities CMOs can present to the space.

If you'd like to discuss this article or talk about the recruitment service that CM Medical offer, then please email me at Rowan.Porter@medical-cm.com.

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