Accord’s success story continues through growth on many fronts

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As a physical embodiment of the ambition of Accord Healthcare to establish itself as a leader in the global health landscape, the company’s new office in Stockley Park, London, is as impressive as it gets.

The ultra-modern, high-tech 36,000 square foot, two-floor facility near Heathrow Airport reflects the unwavering commitment to innovation, productivity and collaboration of Accord and its parent company Intas Pharmaceuticals.

But it is far from the only evidence of Accord’s remarkable growth and increasing contribution to the production and supply of medicines globally.

Major acquisition in blood plasma

Another came recently with its execution of an agreement to acquire 100% of Prothya Biosolutions and each of its subsidiaries, a leading plasma-derived medicinal products (PDMP) business based primarily in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Acquiring what is one of Europe's largest plasma fractionators and its team of around 1,200 people shows Accord's long-standing ambition to establish a global presence in the PDMP market.

Paul Tredwell, who has been with the company for eight years was recently appointed Global CEO, spoke to The Pharma Letter about the Prothya deal and Accord’s broader trajectory.

“We’ve been in blood plasma in India since 2015, when we built a blood fractionation center,” he explained. “It was about a million litres that was built initially. We've since expanded that and we're putting on a further half a million, so about 1.5 million litres of fractionation, and it's all brand new, state of the art.

“There's always been a strategic intent to get into the PDMP space.”

The reasons for making a major acquisition in this market—currently occupied by five big global players—make sense from both a business and patient perspective.

“PDMP is a $30 billion-plus market today and, in the next 10 years, it's expected to grow to a $50 billion market,” Mr Tredwell said.

“There are big inequalities in terms of usage across the world. There’s very low usage in India and even if I take the UK, historically, products like intravenous immunoglobulin have required demand management plans to be implemented. So, for these products, patient access hasn't been optimal and it’s our driving force as a company to increase accessibility to medicines for patients around the world.”

Good strategic fit

Accord therefore deemed the Prothya acquisition a good strategic fit. Rather than representing a move away from generics as it might appear, they remain incredibly important to Accord, be they generic oncology injectables supplied to hospitals, or retail generics. But what this move into blood plasma provides is a further platform to spread the risk, adding to a strong presence in specialty brands, including biosimilars and new chemical and biological entities.

It is not a move that was decided on overnight, either.

“In the past, we've worked with various governments in the world, to look at how we might set this up,” Mr Tredwell explained. “We've looked at everything from building a greenfield site through to acquisition, in both Europe and the USA.

“And Prothya gives us one of the biggest plasma fractionation platforms in Europe with a substantial size in terms of the capacity. 

“And when I look at what we offer as an organization, Accord operates in 85 countries throughout the world. We have a platform to sell PDMPs which Prothya doesn’t have today. They're limited to a handful of countries. We also have expertise in manufacturing, running 18 and now 20 manufacturing sites with the acquisition, globally.”

Despite some short-term costs, buying and integrating Prothya is expected to pay off and deliver growth over the long-term. Its predominantly CDMO model is well-suited to Accord, certainly for the time being, as it already manufactures for other companies.

“I think over time, we will look at entering markets around the world with our own differentiated products,” Mr Tredwell said. “As we grow capacity, that capacity can be taken up, in part, with our own products and sold through our own platform moving forward. “Nevertheless, our partnerships with other companies in PDMP’s are important, and we aim to continue and expand these relationships in the long term, as we do with our Intas B2B business, this model works for us across the organization.

“Our aim will be to extend the technology, increase yield, increase effectiveness within the manufacturing and drive through a much more efficient business in the future, which will allow us to significantly build out the existing platform across not only Europe, but into other markets. Blood Plasma will be run as a global vertical. So, it won't be fully integrated into the overall core business. A global vertical within the organization under a plasma company, if you like.”

A new role within a global organization

Binish Chudgar remains the Chairman of Intas and is still the driving force behind the organization. Mr Tredwell’s new appointment is to align the business across Speciality & Generics, whether that’s in-license or the extensive novel in-house programs that are in place.

“When we look back at the history of Accord, it's been run, in part, with separate business units, with India, the USA and Europe,” he said. “And I think we've got to the scale now where we need to start to harmonize across the business.”

For example, for Accord’s recently launched new biological entity in oncology, which has obtained approvals in multiple markets around the world, launch and marketing activities have been organized globally, rather than through a siloed approach across regions.

“We’re now working with global medical teams and global scientists,” Mr Tredwell said. “We're looking at clinical trials across territories. You need a global organization to move into the next generation of products which we're launching. 

"This will make sure we drive further efficiency, make sure that all of the messaging as an organization is fully aligned, whether that's product, company, or even what we've built here in terms of a new office, and how we go around doing business and treating our clients.”

Accord can boast impressive figures showing the strength of its position in certain markets. The company has more than 75 cancer-related treatments across its portfolio.

Indeed, one in four injectable oncology medicines dispensed in Europe are from Accord. With 19 molecules in cancer, the company is the European market leader. Accord is not stopping here and is continuing to show industry-leading growth in key areas. Its ambitions include launching 20 biosimilar products by 2030. The company already has six in the European market and three in the USA. Its platform allows for the launch of novel products, too.

Rapid rate of growth

When the company does introduce new products, the market penetration is often immediate and impressive.

This has been shown by the performance of a recently-launched treatment in prostate cancer.

“We now have 50,000 patients on that particular treatment in Europe,” Mr Tredwell explained. “So, that's not only a huge benefit to patients, but obviously looks at how we address a market and shows what, as an organization, Accord can do when we launch a novel product into the European market.”

Indeed, this new chemical entity is the fastest-growing treatment in its space in the European market currently, and is moving to double-digit market shares across Europe, at just a year post-launch in most countries. Similarly, early uptake of their recently launched oncology new biological entity is also very encouraging.

“That gives you some idea of the growth rate we have as an organization,” Mr Tredwell said, before citing the new biological entity’s very recent introduction to the Indian market.

“The product was delivered from our partner at 5am on the day of launch,” he said. “We had a meeting with 5,000 of the salespeople in India, with myself present, and then the following day the first patient was dosed.

“One month after launch, we now have more than 1,000 infusions taking place, which shows the nimbleness as a company, the huge capability of our team in India, and just the pure focus, not only on ensuring patients get access to innovative medicines, but the ethos that if you facilitate access, and do the right thing for the patients then the revenues flow off the back of that.”

Investing in infrastructure—and people

Achievements over the past year have not just been with the medicines themselves. As well as opening the new London site and the Prothya announcement, Accord has recently completed its significant acquisition of part of the oncology business from Coherus BioSciences, along with an accompanying team.

The company has also rapidly built up a site in Greece that acts as a test and release hub for Europe.

“It gives us the flexibility as a company to have a low-cost manufacturing base, but also we can bring close-to-market products through very rapidly and pack on demand,” Mr Tredwell said. “If I combine that with our two sites in the UK, where we can produce more than five billion tablets every single year, and pack to demand locally, for both in house and partnered products, allowing the most flexible of supply chains.”

Overall, Accord’s facilities give the company a unique flexibility to supply from India, mainland Europe and the UK—where one of its sites specializes in device construction and development and further investments are planned—to markets all over the world. This includes the USA, where generic imports will not face tariffs. However, Mr Tredwell did not rule out an American acquisition at some point to avoid any constraints there.

“Our strategic manufacturing portfolio becomes really important,” he said. “Again, this is aligned with my new role to look at how we work collaboratively with the operations team in ensuring that we can bring best value medicines to patients where they're needed the most.”

These medicines are a mixture of in-licensed products and others developed in-house, with Mr Tredwell saying that Accord will continue to look for inorganic opportunities, either by in-licensing products or M&A deals.

Looking ahead, product launches are planned of generics, biosimilars and novel products, along with Accord’s in-house portfolio of novel products in CNS and oncology, with the first predicted in mid-2026.

‘Implementing the plan’

“In terms of where I see Accord in five, ten years’ time, I'd say more than a global leader in generics and biosimilars,” Mr Tredwell said. “We were very careful about how we constructed our five-year vision. Blood plasma was always included, as are more novel product launches in Oncology and CNS.

“So, nothing dramatically has changed. We're implementing the plan that we have. What I would say is that our success around launching speciality brands has meant that we’ve had a huge amount more interest in us as a platform. With the commercial structure in the USA, of 200 to 300 people, and in Europe now with more than 2,000 people, the commercial platform is one of the most significant in our space.

“And we've proven that we can launch significant novel products, from the USA, Canada, Europe and globally, including India, which is one of our fastest-growing most capable businesses.

“So, I think in the future, we’ll see more strategic partnerships, more in-house launches and of course accelerated growth. Importantly, given the significant branded talent we’ve built into the platform, we welcome more strategic partnerships on the novel side of things as well.”