New Advancements in Pharmaceutical Grade Lactose: The Newly Adopted Strategy of New and Existing Market Players

Published On: November 2017

Global pharmaceutical grade lactose market forecast till 2023

The pharmaceutical grade lactose market is currently dominated by few players. Many organizations especially in Europe and Asia Pacific region have their own manufacturing units, while, some organizations outsource their facility of manufacturing to other organizations. Asia Pacific being one of the fastest growing markets, companies are grabbing opportunity and are keen on expanding their units in this region. Moreover, there are other small and medium scale players that are able to generate revenue from the local markets. Kerry Inc. has been recognized as a global leader with a broad range of products serving Pharmaceutical as well as Food & Beverage industry. Kerry Inc. has a global presence, however more than 60% of its share come from the European region. This shows the company’s strong grip on the European market, however, only 40% of the share comes from the rest of the world, which includes countries like India, China, etc. DFE Pharma is another well-established player in the pharmaceutical grade lactose market. The company is well-known for its broad range of lactose offerings in the pharmaceutical industry. Their position among the key pharmaceutical grade lactose manufacturers is due to its global footprint through distributors and agents. The company is more inclined towards the expansion of its functional units in the developing countries. For instance, the company opened a new sales office in Shanghai, China, in October 2014, to effectively meet the escalating demand for excipients products in China. In April 2014, the company had also opened a new sales office in São Paulo, Brazil to strengthen its position in South and Central American countries. The other prominent players in the market include BASF SE, Merck KGaA, MEGGLE, Armor Pharma, and Alpavit.

Merging and Acquisition— a key to sustain

In today's dynamic environment, many businesses are on the hunt for companies in the same industry for horizontal mergers, and acquisitions. Integration among companies offer various benefits such as diversification of products and services, selling of products to larger market, reduction in the cost of production, and the amount of external competition. Merck KGaA holds a strong position in pharmaceutical grade lactose market. Over the past years, the company has evolved from a supplier of pharmaceutical and chemicals into a global science & technology company with the acquisition of various companies such as Sigma Aldrich in the year 2015. The company has portfolio in three business sectors: Life Science, Healthcare, and Performance materials. Kerry Inc. also has a history of acquiring market share by signing up for partnerships and collaboration with other players. The strategic alliance of Foremost Farms, Sheffield Bio-Science, and Kerry Group is expected to promote the pharmaceutical grade lactose products. The lactose is sold internationally under the Fast Flo trademarks and Foremost trademarks. Acquiring Lactose (India) Limited, was also a part of strategy.

Products tapping on the new opportunities in pharmaceutical grade lactose market

In recent years, pharmaceutical grade lactose is widely accepted as an inactive ingredient in various drug formulations but there are issues associated with lactose such as, lactose induced allergies, lactose intolerance, and others. Co-processed excipients are novel excipient that offer broader opportunities to deal with various lactose related problems such as hygroscopicity, disintegration, sticking, flowability, compressibility, and many others. However, many co-processed excipients lack the official acceptance in pharmacopoeia. Various lactose based co-processed excipients are available in the market such as, Ludipress, Cellactose, Pharmatose DCL 40, StarLac, and others. New production machineries and formulation technologies will escalate the demand for such new excipients. A narrow pipeline of new excipients and the pressure to improve formulation and production processes in the pharmaceutical industry will propel the development of novel co-processed excipients.

Drug formulation coupled with nanotechnology also holds tons of opportunities for the growth of the market. As per a study published in Nanomedicine journal in 2015, it is found that inhalable nanoparticles are gaining considerable attention in respiratory research and clinical therapy. Owing to the FDA approval for DPI use and large supply of lactose, lactose is preferred as excipient for many inhalable drugs. Furthermore, lactose has been tested as an inactive ingredient in nanoparticles based drugs for lungs. The major inhalation lactose available in the market are Lactohale 100, Lactohale 200 , Lactohale 210, Lactohale 220, Respitose ML003, Respitose SV010 by DFE Pharma, and Monohydrate Inhalation 120MS, Anhydrous Inhalation 120MS, and others by Kerry Inc.