What ignited the idea of Resilience in 2020 and what services do you offer in the biomanufacturing space?
The coronavirus pandemic posed an existential challenge for businesses by compromising supply chains -- making it imperative for all industries to become more resilient in the face of such complexities. Bob Nelsen, founder of ARCH Venture Partners, along with veteran manufacturing executives like Pat Yang, focused their attention on advanced therapeutics and vaccines that are so critical for our nation, and is a space where we depend on relatively few manufacturers with limited scientific integration in the development of drugs. Advances in biomedical research have not always translated into substantial progress in the production of novel treatments and cures. While investments can relieve the stress on the innovation ecosystem, there is a need for developing new manufacturing technologies and process capabilities across cell and gene therapies, among other therapeutic areas. It became increasingly clear that what was needed was to build a highly integrated development and manufacturing company, capable not only of high quality biomanufacturing, but also helping its customers develop and scale their products and processes. I joined the Company in July of 2020.
How has Resilience evolved since then? What is your current footprint and main mission?
Our mission is to increase access to the most promising medicines by reimagining manufacturing and creating a resilient market-driven business model that can weather disruptions. There are three dimensions to our business: building factories and the GMP infrastructure needed to produce vaccines and medicines; developing labs and the know-how for complex drug making; and, working on the actual platforms to build the recipes, some of which will be breakthrough platforms that can transform scalability. Our growth has been very fast – less than three years into the Company’s operating history, we have 11 operational sites across North America.
Biotech companies have a culture of doing most of their manufacturing in-house, to what extent are they starting to outsource?
Indeed, industry giants such as Amgen, Genentech, and Merck habitually invest in their own infrastructure, as opposed to enlisting third parties. But the tremendous growth of this industry in the last decade has resulted in a growing need for support in order for the industry to stay capital efficient. Biotech can take a cue from the mobile phone industry that relies heavily on the outsourcing model for comparative advantage. The outsourcing trend is catching up across the biotech industry, both in terms of manufacturing and R&D, in a bid to adapt and find ways to reduce drug development costs, speed up drug discovery and ramp up production through external assistance.
Given the myriad of factors that affect drug pricing, from clinical trial costs to PBMs, to what extent can outsourced manufacturing reduce costs as you are saying?
A large part of drug development is CMC (chemistry manufacturing and controls), which entails the production of the clinical trial materials that are tested in humans. In commercial manufacturing, the cost of goods plays a role in drug pricing, especially in complex medicines and vaccines where it becomes a big part of the overall cost. Through our mission, we aim to reduce the cost of manufacturing the medicines that we make.
What role does technology play in optimizing your processes and what are you making use of?
We are leveraging a number of different functions such as process development, automation, AI, and other types of digital technologies. Having the tools, capital, and talent are equally important to our focused effort to drive desired solutions.
In terms of financing, how did Resilience get to where it is today?
Our growth has largely been supported by investors. Last year, we completed an up round of financing for $625 million in Series D, bringing our total equity to more than $2 billion.
Investors, pharma companies, and governments are backing us to build a company that drives better manufacturing solutions. As a new company, we have a lot of opportunity to build our reputation as leaders in this space, which is an ongoing process, but we have a lot to look forward to.
Are you looking to expand internationally?
We have 11 operational sites spread across the United States and Canada, including our most recent announcement to acquire a site from AstraZeneca in West Chester, Ohio. We may also expand internationally at some point, in the right circumstances.
