Cangene Corporation was a biopharmaceutical company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was founded in 1984 and specialized in hyperimmunes, contract manufacturing, biopharmaceuticals and biodefense. Cangene was 61% owned by Canadian pharmaceutical giant Apotex and was publicly listed on the TSX under the symbol CNJ.
Business model
Cangene's business model shifted several times during its existence. There is some consensus that the company came to rely on revenue from United States stockpiling and bioterrorism contracts and did not adequately prepare for the disappearance of this revenue.
At one point, the company attempted a shift away from contract manufacturing to research & development, but abandoned this track after about two years and subsequently moved to marketing of ready-for-launch products developed by other companies.
History
Cangene was founded in 1984 and had an employee count of 650 in 2004.
In 2009, the number of personnel in the Winnipeg facilities alone was 550, with another 100 in Cangene bioPharma, 35 in its sales force, and about 100 across its plasma collection facilities.
By the end of 2011, the overall number of employees was about 700, but significant cuts in personnel were conducted early in 2012.
Such cuts were a continuation of a set of personnel reductions which began in mid-2010.
In 2010, Cangene obtained United States distribution rights for WinRho from Baxter, which had held them since 2005.
Development of the new IVIG product was subsequently cancelled in 2012, representing a strategic turn away from R&D toward marketing in an attempt to return to profitability.
In 2012, the company obtained exclusive United States distribution rights for Episil.
In 2013, the company purchased rights to development and commercialization of three drug candidates, recombinant blood clotting factors Factor VIIa, Factor VIII and Factor IX, the latter of which is in clinical trials.
In February 2014, the company was acquired by Emergent BioSolutions.
Corporate governance
As of 2010, Paul Brisebois served as the company's vice president for commercial development.
At the time, the company was in the process of expanding its sales force and shifting focus from contract manufacturing to a "strategy to optimize our commercial assets."
In 2011, the company's "longtime CEO", John Langstaff of Winnipeg, resigned and leadership went to John Sedor of Philadelphia as president and CEO.
Operations
Cangene's two manufacturing and plasma collection facilities were located in
Winnipeg, Canada.
The contract manufacturing subdivision, Celegene bioPharma, maintains facilities in
Baltimore, United States.
The sales and marketing office was located in
Philadelphia, United States.
Most of the company's senior leadership were also based in Philadelphia by the time the company was sold in early 2014.
Products
As a result of their
biodefense focus, Cangene had three products included in the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile: Heptavalent botulism antitoxin, Vaccinia immune globulin, Anthrax immune globulin.
2012 revenue from the biodefense products amounted to .
Cangene also had four approved commercial specialty products: WinRho, HepaGam B, VARIZIG, and episil.
2012 commercial product revenue was , while their contract manufacturing revenue was .
Cangene bioPharma
Cangene bioPharma is the
Baltimore-based contract manufacturing division of Cangene.
As of November 2010, Cangen bioPharma had 100 employees in two facilities,
and 30 customers.
From May 2008 to at least November 2010, Cangene bioPharma supplied assembled Fusilev product to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals under a supply agreement.
External links
Further reading
