Biopharma CEO: ‘No Choice’ But Indy
Dr. Joe McCann is the CEO of POINT Biopharma.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe 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 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.”
McCann says the decision came down to “people, location and mindset.”