POINT Biopharma in choosing Indianapolis for first U.S. manufacturing facility

INDIANAPOLIS – The chief executive officer of Canada-based POINT Biopharma
says location was critical in choosing Indianapolis for the company’s first
U.S. manufacturing facility. Dr. Joe McCann says central Indiana’s logistics
infrastructure, including the massive FedEx Express Indianapolis Hub, was
key for the company, which makes products that have a short shelf life.
POINT
<www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/42173262/biopharma-company-to-s
et-up-shop-in-indy> announced Tuesday it is investing more than $25 million
to purchase and renovate the facility and create more than 100 jobs by the
end of 2024.

In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, McCann said the decision came
down to “people, location and mindset.”

“There’s a great, strong life sciences sector so we have a great pool of
talented individuals to draw from to build the company and then the strong
academic institutions, so great recruits that we can bring on board but as
well, other partners that we can look to license other technologies as we
build our pipeline,” said McCann. “I can’t emphasize it enough, we
manufacture radiopharmaceutical products – radioactive molecules that have
half-lives, so that means that they’re only useable for a short period of
time.”

McCann says the FedEx hazmat hub in Indianapolis will be a “game changer,”
allowing the company to distribute its products throughout the United States
and globally within 24 hours of manufacture.

He adds the “mindset” portion of the decision comes down to the city and
state’s efforts to attract the company, which had looked at other locations
in Canada and the U.S., including St. Louis and Charlotte. “Quite frankly,
Indiana and the city of Indianapolis worked very, very hard to attract us
and out-hustled all of the other locations.”

McCann says the company has been able to manage the coronavirus pandemic
“quite well,” which allowed for the expansion. He says the talent
recruitment effort comes down to the buildout of the facility.

“We need to finish this within the next 12-18 months to hit our commercial
timelines and be able to offer our drugs to patients in need that have
cancer and in Indianapolis exists this specialized skill set actually in the
radiopharmaceutical to build out these components. So we’re not going to be
relying on overseas components or parts or overseas teams, or even teams out
of state to come in; these are all going to be in-house in Indianapolis and
we feel that will be an advantage to try to manage these times.”

From a manufacturing standpoint, McCann says because they will be
manufacturing drugs, the recommended safety guidelines are already in place
so the business, along with other contract manufacturers it uses, are well
prepared for such times.

POINT Biopharma plans to move into the building this year and be fully
operational by 2021. McCann says in the short-term, the company looks to
launch two drug products from the facility within two years.

“We designed (the facility) so that we can actually add capacity there to
manage probably up to 12 drugs. So we can continue to go finding assets and
develop them clinically and then plug them right into this facility. So we
see that it’s scaled for our long-term needs.”

Source: Inside Indiana Business with Gerry Dick