When a problem occurs once, it could be a fluke. But when it happens again—and again—patterns start to emerge. So too was the story at Fierce Pharma Manufacturing in 2022, when shortages, recalls and layoffs became almost weekly affairs.
The flagship story of the year touched on what’s now become a common pain point in the industry: drug recalls driven by the presence of suspected cancer agents. And in Pfizer’s case, March’s purge of blood pressure drugs Accuretic and Inderal in Canada came down to—what else?—nitrosamines.
Pfizer wasn’t alone on the carcinogen contamination front this year, either, with Novartis also recalling meds after testing flagged unacceptable levels of a potential cancer agent dubbed NMOA, or Nitroso-Orphenadrine.
Other 2022 recalls, such as Moderna’s product pull of a COVID-19 vaccine batch, came down to simpler manufacturing flubs like particle contamination.
Supply crunches and shortages formed another motif in 2022’s production tapestry. Chief among those was a nationwide shortage of the popular ADHD medication Adderall, which started with generics juggernaut Teva before eventually touching a host of drugmakers like Sandoz, Amneal and many others.
Elswhere, Eli Lilly reported that shortages of Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 drugs Ozempic and Wegovy had been a boon for its own Type 2 diabetes meds Trulicity and Mounjaro. But executives cautioned supply disruptions could be coming.
Meanwhile, the layoff sweep that’s plagued the biotech industry affected manufacturing jobs as well.
Thanks as always for joining us on our trek across the manufacturing front this year. We’ll see you back here in 2023.
Here are Fierce Pharma Manufacturing’s top 10 most-read stories in 2022:
1. Pfizer recalls 2nd blood pressure med in a week, again on potential carcinogen fears
2. Moderna recalls vaccine batch after foreign substance found in CDMO-made vial—again
3. Sandoz, Amneal and Rhodes join Teva in nationwide generic Adderall shortage as demand spikes
4. As monkeypox cases emerge in US and Europe, Bavarian Nordic inks vaccine order
5. Eli Lilly walks diabetes tightrope as Novo Nordisk shortages drive demand for Trulicity and Mounjaro
6. Teva runs into Adderal supply hitch as ADHD diagnoses mount, pledges prompt restocking
7. AbbVie and BMS slash 360 jobs in California, the latest in a streak of biopharma layoffs
8. Novartis halts US production of cancer radiotherapies, citing potential quality issues
9. Novartis’ Sandoz, following Pfizer’s lead, launches 2nd carcinogen-related drug recall this week
10. Emergent destroyed up to 400M COVID-19 vaccines, far more than previously known: report