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Consumer Demand for GLP-1s Drove Pharma M&A in 2024Consumer Demand for GLP-1s Drove Pharma M&A in 2024
Ozempic, its rivals, and the overall parenteral drug sector have industry-shaping impact.
3 Min Read
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At a Glance
- NSF's Jacob Foster cites four 2024 M&A acquisitions relating to the growth of GLP-1 and other parenteral drugs.
- M&A activity is driving capacity in-house and among contract development, manufacturing, and packaging organizations.
About 12% of US adults report having taken a GLP-1 agonist including Ozempic (Novo Nordisk), Wegovy (Novo Nordisk), and Mounjaro (Eli Lilly) according to a recent KFF Health Tracking Poll. In that poll, 6% of adults said they were currently taking this increasingly popular drug class for weight loss, to treat diabetes, or to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Fueled by a wave of media attention and celebrity endorsements (primarily for weight loss benefits), GLP-1 drug demand is soaring in the United States — so much so that it has driven many of the notable pharmaceutical industry mergers and acquisitions (M&As) that happened or were announced in 2024.
Packaging Digest asked Jacob Foster, principal program lead of medical device and IVD consulting at NSF. An experienced life sciences advisor in manufacturing operations, quality, and compliance, Foster has led good manufacturing practices, quality management maturity, and corrective and preventive action projects at organizations including Eli Lilly, Perrigo, and Illumina.
What were key pharma M&As in 2024?
Foster: Four major M&A actions stood out to me in 2024: Eli Lilly's acquisition of Morphic Holding and proposed acquisition of an injectable medicine manufacturing facility from Nexus Pharmaceuticals, Roche's acquisition of Carmot Therapeutics, and Novo Nordisk's proposed acquisition of Catalent.
Each of these deals demonstrates the power of consumer demand, and all are related to the shortage of GLP-1 drugs.
While the acquisition of Morphic included a primary product for IBS, the acquisition of existing facilities for expanded packaging operations for parental drugs like GLP-1 was part of the strategic planning for Lilly.
How do these corporate moves generally impact packaging departments? For example, if two companies' drugs are similar, do they combine packaging facilities?
Foster: Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk sought targets intended to add production capacity. These acquisitions were aimed at bringing manufacturing capacity in-house, but they needed scale results in expanded facilities, including packaging operations.
Are more companies packaging medications in their facilities nowadays?
Foster: Market expansion for contract packaging companies has been estimated at 28% year over year. CCL, one of the largest contract labeling/packaging outsource partner organizations, reported $6.7 billion in 2023.
Finally, let's look more closely at the impact on packaging departments (that potentially handle shipping) and packaging design staff. Can you give me an example of a merger and how these aspects were impacted?
Foster: The growing parenteral drug market, represented by products like GLP-1 drugs, has created growing demand for new delivery devices. Examples of this include prefilled syringes, autoinjectors, and "on-body" delivery devices. This has created increased demand for packaging design staff to be closely integrated with the drug development pipeline and included earlier in the development process.
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Four key, related M&A actions as cited by Foster:
Roche acquired Carmot Therapeutics, Carmot announced on January 29, 2024.
Lilly Acquired a New Manufacturing Facility from Nexus, Lilly said in an announcement on April 22, 2024, and estimates production startup by end-2025.
Lilly completed the acquisition of Morphic Holding, Lilly reported on August 16, 2024.
Novo Holdings completed its acquisition of Catalent, a contract development and manufacturing organization, on December 18, 2024; Novo Nordisk acquired three of Catalent’s fill-finish sites.
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