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COVID To GLP-1: Catalent Plants Ride With Novo To Next Public Health Crisis

 
• By Bowman Cox

A complex transformation is underway as client proposes to acquire CDMO facilities that vaccinated the world against the COVID-19 pandemic for pivot to the obesity epidemic.

Wegovy pen
Time for the next big thing • Source: Shutterstock

Catalent, Inc’s big response to the COVID-19 pandemic proved its undoing, with the contract development and manufacturing organization’s eventual acquisition now pending by client Novo Nordisk A/S. But the story of Catalent’s demise is no cautionary tale about responding to public health crises. Far from it.

Key Takeaways

  • Novo’s proposed acquisition of Catalent is a reflection of the CDMO’s COVID cliff and the drug firm’s ‘remarkable’ obesity patient dynamic.

  • Catalent is resolving its manufacturing issues which, while a blemish, are likely well understood by Novo

Under the Danish multinational’s banner, the three fill/finish plants Catalent ran to produce billions of COVID-19 vaccine doses will, under a proposed agreement, help meet the surge in demand for glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists

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