Speed-to-market is crucial for healthcare product launches. For any pharmaceutical or nutraceutical company releasing a new product, hitting your launch date increases your earning potential while providing a host of additional benefits.

Conversely, missing your launch date jeopardises retailer contracts, while potentially costing up to millions in lost revenue. In this increasingly competitive market, delays are unacceptable.

To ensure speed-to-market, healthcare product makers commonly use Contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs) to handle the development and production of new products. By outsourcing this work, companies can stick to what they do best, be it product design or sales and marketing.

But outsourcing alone doesn’t guarantee a successful product launch. Things can still go wrong.

One particular area that slows things down is the analytical step. Testing products for microbiological quality and safety is fundamental in good manufacturing practices, and can even be required by law, depending on which countries you operate in.

“Speed alone doesn’t guarantee a successful launch – you must also ensure your product is safe and high quality, and that involves testing your products in a lab” – Christian von Dach, Head of EMEA at SFI Health Solutions.

Most contract manufacturers outsource this step, a process which includes mailing samples to an outside lab. The lab must then incubate the materials over the course of five days. If the materials test free of contaminants, a certificate of quality is then issued, enabling the company to launch the new product. However, if ingredients are contaminated, the whole process begins again, costing valuable time and money.

Regardless of the test result, outsourcing analysis can add up to two weeks to your launch timeline, compared to when analysis and production is handled by the same company, according to von Dach.

Because of this, companies want a CDMO that can streamline the analytical step and ultimately ensure a timely product launch.

Case study: a faster launch via streamlined analysis

A leading Swiss pharmaceutical company wanted to introduce two new herbal products into the Swiss market, but its in-house analytical lab didn’t have the expertise to perform the microbiological analysis of the raw ingredients.

It considered using a third-party lab to perform the analysis before sending the materials off to production, but that would introduce complexity and costly delays to the project. With retail contracts, product sales, and the company’s reputation on the line, it urgently sought a CDMO that could deliver fast results and help ensure timely release of the products.

SFI Health Solutions team in EMEA specialises in herbals and extracts and so took over the microbiological analysis of the raw ingredients along with production from its manufacturing facility in Switzerland.

As part of this process, SFI Health Solutions developed an industry-first IT system to expedite analysis and certificate delivery. Whereas most labs simply notify clients when results are ready – a communication gap that can introduce stress and delays to a project –SFI Health Solutions’ automated system enables clients to track their analysis from start to finish, and access certificates in real-time via an online portal.

“Most labs communicate with clients via email which can leave more questions than answers,” says von Dach. “Our portal lets clients track every step of the analysis, which helps with planning and offers peace of mind.”

SFI Health Solutions additionally sped up the analytical process by introducing a six-day work week to fast-track incubation times.

With SFI Health Solutions, the client was able to launch the new products in a safe and timely manner. In addition, by switching to SFI Health Solutions for analysis, the client was able to cut five days from the production process, helping bring its new products to market much faster.

“In the end, we provided a unique solution combining our herbal expertise, IT technology, and state-of-the-art facility to deliver fast results,” says von Dach. “Given the success of this project, we’ve begun developing new products for this client as well.” 

Agile yet global

SFI Health Solutions empowers pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies to bring their health products to life, from private label products to custom formulations. As a full service CDMO, SFI Health Solutions partners with businesses to design, develop and deliver natural healthcare products through commercial-scale manufacturing and packaging.

In Europe, SFI Health Solutions’ analytical lab is part of its Swiss manufacturing facility, enabling clients to streamline product launches across the region.

Photo: SFI Health Solutions manufacturing site in Bioggio, Switzerland.

“Most clients, regardless of their size, don’t have analytical labs, especially not for microbiological analysis. The same is true for midsize CDMOs,” says von Dach. “Having everything under one roof is a big differentiator for SFI Health Solutions. As soon as we get positive lab results, we can start manufacturing. This enables our clients to launch products much faster.”

As a global company with long standing experience in the natural healthcare space, SFI Health Solutions is well suited to help any client, regardless of its size or location. With world-class contract manufacturing facilities in the USA, UK and Switzerland, SFI Health Solutions can help with all your production needs, including sourcing ingredients, product design, product development, labelling, and whatever else you need to realise your opportunities and address your challenges, wherever in the world your markets are, and wherever in the world you want your products to be.

Visit sfihealthsolutions.com to learn more.