In this interview, Aanchal Tomar, Executive Director, Asia Pacific, Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients speaks about Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients' strategic growth, challenges, and sustainability initiatives in the APAC market, showcasing their innovative capsule solutions and health ingredients that cater to the region's diverse pharmaceutical and nutraceutical needs.
To start, can you tell us about Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients and its presence in the APAC market?
With roots back to Capsugel and InterHealth, Lonza has been a manufacturing pioneer and trusted partner for leading global pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies for more than 100 years. This experience and expertise has allowed us to become an industry leader in providing innovative and reliable capsules and science backed ingredients for the use in a variety of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications around the world.
Within the APAC market, our manufacturing sites in China, Japan and India deliver a wide variety of capsule solutions to meet many common applications and patient needs. We are committed to manufacturing excellence, to exceeding industry quality standards and to obtaining global and regional certification to help our customers maintain their regulatory and market compliance.
What are some of the key challenges you face in the APAC market?
The APAC market is highly fragmented, with varying regulatory standards and consumer preferences across countries. With a mix of both developed economies such as Japan and Australia and emerging economies like India and China, customer demands vary greatly, and each market requires a tailored approach. A resource intensive approach is often required to support in navigating varying regulatory frameworks and local requirements.
Additionally, the competition is fierce, with both local and multinational companies vying for market share. With increasing cost pressures on our pharmaceutical customers, the expectation is that we deliver value at an competitive price point.
How is Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients addressing these challenges?
We are focused on delivering value to our customers. From product development to manufacturing, and quality to logistics and distribution, our foundational services allow our customers to access our capsule and health ingredients expert teams. Our experts work with customers to help identify, customize and ship the ideal solution for their next therapeutic or health supplement. This is supported by a world-class infrastructure network, built on industry-leading quality systems and reinforced by our commitment to sustainability and community.
We are constantly evolving and innovating to help customers to deliver products that meet in-demand patient and consumer needs, as well as key market trends. For example, Capsugel® Enprotect® capsules -- one of our recent capsule innovations – has a breakthrough design that protect acid-sensitive APIs, prevent gastric irritation and allow for intestinal delivery. This capsule was recognized as the recipient of the 2023 Medicine Maker Innovation Award.
What opportunities do you see in the APAC capsule market?
There is huge growth potential within the APAC pharmaceutical market due to increasing populations, ageing societies, and demand to expand healthcare services. A rising middle class, and increasing awareness of health and wellness in many APAC markets, is driving significant demand for dietary supplements and pharmaceutical capsules. Pharma industries within APAC - whether innovative or generic, foreign or domestic - are likely to grow as a result.
Alternative medicines e.g. Ayurveda in India and Traditional Chinese Medicine in China are growing segments requiring a distinct go-to-market approach with significant differences in regulatory and quality demands.
In addition, the nutraceutical market boom in APAC that began during the COVID-19 pandemic continues to accelerate looking for green label, plant based capsules for encapsulation.
We also see a growing emphasis on sustainable practices in manufacturing and packaging, aligning with global trends in reducing carbon footprint and waste. These trends create significant opportunities for growth within the APAC capsules market.
What is your focus within the capsule portfolio, within the APAC region?
Lonza offers one of the most diverse capsule portfolios, ranging from plant based hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) capsules to hard gelatin capsules.
The APAC market is still heavily driven by the hard gelatin capsules market, but there is an increasing demand for the HPMC based capsule range and we see huge opportunity for our gold standard vegetarian capsules called Vcaps® Plus. Capsugel® Vcaps® Plus HPMC capsules are a robust vegetarian solution for immediate release, and are suitable for moisture sensitive ingredients. There is potential for hygroscopic APIs currently on the market to move into HPMC capsules, and we are partnering with our customers to drive this transition.
On the nutraceutical side of the market, we continue to see a major transition towards sustainable and animal-free products, with brand owners increasingly keen to meet consumer demand for “green label” products.
Can you provide some insights in Lonza’s health ingredients portfolio in the APAC region?
Our health ingredients portfolio consists of scientifically proven ingredients that are recognized and manufactured with industry-leading standards. With a deep focus on consumer-centric data and the latest advancements in science, our portfolio is designed to give customers an edge in the market.
One of our key ingredients in APAC is UC-II® undenatured type II collagen, which supports joint health and mobility. UC-II® undenatured type II collagen is backed by a comprehensive body of evidence-based research spanning over two decades and over twenty studies, including eleven human clinical study publications. These findings present a significant opportunity for brands to turn cutting-edge science into game-changing products for consumers.
What are your strategic goals for Lonza Capsules & Health Ingredients in the APAC region?
Our primary goal is to work together with our customers to help bring innovative and ground-breaking therapies to life. We aim to expand our product offerings while maintaining the highest quality standards. Strengthening our presence within APAC through increased penetration is a key focus with continued emphasis on sustainability
What role does Sustainability play in the overall strategy for Lonza?
Sustainable value creation is an ethical, social and commercial imperative for our business, and a collective responsibility shared by our global community. Our purpose to enable a healthier world shapes not only the products and services that we deliver to our customers and their patients, but also our approach to sustainability.
At a group level, we continually strive to reduce our impact on natural systems and the environment, with a focus on energy, greenhouse gases, water and waste. We are making meaningful progress towards our goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 or earlier. We have developed a comprehensive climate plan with near-term, science-based emissions reduction targets that have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). As part of this, we have committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 42% by the end of 2030 (2021 base year) and to set a supplier engagement target for Scope 3 emissions.
*This interview was originally featured in Express Pharma, December 2024 Issue, Page 34