Summary

With the rise of biologics, drug delivery hinges on three factors: increased competition from biosimilars, formulation challenges of therapies in the pipeline, and an expansion of both disease areas and patients served by biologics. Gone are the days of just self-administering pills for most of your prescriptions.

The technology for small-molecule drugs has advanced enough so that many therapies can be taken orally. However, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) require alternative delivery methods as proteins are still too large for oral use. Delivery of new therapies that are fragile, viscous, or that degrade rapidly, will require a special strategy by drug makers.

Pharma and biotech executives need to think as much about drug delivery as they do about research and development, so L.E.K. Consulting has devised a three-step process of realization:

  1. Is a drug delivery strategy important to your organization?
  2. Will a one-off approach suffice or do you need a platform?
  3. Which technologies matter for the drugs in your pipeline?

Those that can get drug delivery right in this evolving biologics landscape will capture crucial share in the marketplace.

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