Efforts to create a pathway for biosimilars in the US have attracted generics companies, big biopharm and virtual biotechs. This has created opportunities for contract research organisations (CROs).
“What’s really big right now is the biosimilar market. So what we’re developing is the ability to do high-level structural characterisation”, Ray Kaiser, chief scientific officer, biotechnology at Covance, told Outsourcing-Pharma.
Covance is adding expertise in mass spectrometry and physical chemical analyses to help clients assess the comparability of biosimilars to innovator molecules. Some of these clients are virtual biotechs that need more guidance through the drug development process than larger companies.