Increased demand for a popular diabetes drug could boost Baxter International Inc.’s business of making complex pharmaceuticals and medication delivery systems for companies that lack manufacturing capacity for such devices.
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The Deerfield-based medical product giant, which has made a push in recent years to be a manufacturer of choice for the biotech industry, is coming to the rescue of Amylin Pharmaceuticals Inc. which is having trouble meeting patient demand for its popular diabetes drug Byetta.
Amylin’s inability to produce enough of the drug became so serious earlier this month that the San Diego-based biotech company and its marketing partner, Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly & Co., asked doctors not to put patients on the drug until there is more manufacturing capacity.
“We are having a situation where demand is accelerating,” said Amylin director of investor relations Alice Bahner. “[Baxter] is an important part of the resolution to the temporary situation.”
Baxter is a backup supplier of cartridges that hold the drug inside pens used to inject Byetta, typically twice a day, to treat Type-2 diabetes. The synthetic drug is derived from the saliva of a Gila monster and helps the body release its own insulin.
Like most small biotech companies, Amylin does not have large manufacturing facilities. Biotech companies spend most of their resources discovering drugs and getting them through clinical trials and on the market.
Amylin and Lilly already have a partnership with British company Wockhardt UK, the primary maker of Byetta-filled cartridges. Wockhardt is also ramping up its capacity.
“The demand is such that we need the second supplier as well,” Bahner said. “We do see this as a temporary solution.”
Byetta sales were $68 million in the first quarter, Amylin said, but Wall Street analysts see the drug as a potential blockbuster, generating more than $1 billion in annual sales within the next three years.
Baxter would not say how much it will get from manufacturing Byetta, nor would it disclose terms of its contract with Amylin, but Baxter said it had begun making the cartridges and has the ability to expand capacity if needed.
“Cartridge capabilities are one of several investments Baxter has made recently to provide an expanded offering in contract manufacturing services,” said Baxter spokeswoman Deborah Spak. “These new capabilities, including cartridge filling, are aimed at meeting the specialized needs of the industry’s growing biologic pipeline. .”
Baxter’s contract manufacturing for biotech companies is part of the company’s medication delivery business, which generated nearly $4 billion in sales last year out of total company sales of nearly $10 billion.
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