BIOTHERAPEUTICS: Excitement Builds Around New Application Launch

The African cosmetics and supplementary health industry is rife with opportunity. Pre pandemic, the cosmetics sector was estimated to be worth $400 billion but just 3% of this was African. The continental nutraceutical industry is on a growth path, expected to develop by more than 6% annually until 2027. Clearly, the scope for expansion is enormous. Combine this vast open playing field, with a desire for localisation, and you begin to understand the opportunities that exist for innovators.

The continent is home to a rich bounty of ingredients that boost cosmetics and related products with vitamins, minerals, and other extras that would otherwise be hard to include.

According to global market advisory firm Modor Intelligence, the South African cosmetics and personal care products market is set to achieve more than 6.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2022 and 2027. With retailers desperate for points of difference, and manufacturers hungry for shelf space, there is so much product development underway in South Africa as the war for market share booms. South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria are the three key markets for African business, with the rest of the continent making up the balance. Manufacturers of active and enhancing ingredients are understandably looking to partner with retailers and brands that can access multiple African geographies.   

Based just south of Pretoria, close to the Rietvlei Nature Reserve, Biotherapeutics is recognised as a manufacturing hub of excellence, creating innovative probiotic products for pharmaceutical companies, specialising in additives for a range of health applications. Creating liquids, capsules, tablets, blister packs, and more, the company is known for its immaculate processes and highly knowledgeable employee base. The product portfolio consists of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, fats, oils and fatty acids, digestive enzymes, CBD combinations, oil encapsulation technology, quality assurance, shelf life and stability studies.

However, following strong recent performance – buoyed by incessant demand for vitamins and minerals through the pandemic – Biotherapeutics is set to add to its product range, bringing an all-new trademarked application to the market; something which is generating a lot of enthusiasm internally.

ALWAYS INNOVATING

“We have a newly trademarked application which is still in the development stage, but it is something that we are very excited about as a first for South Africa,” explains Chief Operating Officer, Nazrana Sanker. “We want to get to market in the next six months. We are ready for market now, but we are busy generating interest with our clients. We are working on shelf life and background information and we should have that in the next three months.”

As a third-party manufacturer, this new application will likely be included in recipes for different brands, providing a unique selling proposition.

In the past, Biotherapeutics has been a key supplier of ingredients and related products for major African pharmaceutical brands including Adcock Ingram, iNova, Kenza Health, CPharm, Boutique Formulations, Activo Pharmaceuticals, Future Health, Sfera, African Dynamics, Biogen, USN, and more.

Of course, when servicing client at the top end of the market, quality is non negotiable and Biotherapeutics has been a standard-setter in terms of quality since its formation by CEO Charles Horn – a Ph.D Microbiologist – in 1998. Since then, the company has grown to house modern and complex equipment, a workforce of more than 30 experts, while becoming a contributor to a strong local value chain.

“We focus on being small, but our culture surrounds our clients being happy while we provide the best quality,” confirms Sanker, adding that Biotherapeutics operates in a way that makes it almost an extension of its client’s business, working hand-in-hand to deliver premier quality products.

“We focus on quality in the supply chain – that is a big issue for us. Production is a labour-intensive process and the way we work allows us to keep control over quality. Our products are temperature sensitive and our clients must collect from us with the correct vehicles. We have advanced storage capacity, with HVAC systems to regulate the environment, on site at our manufacturing plant.

“If we have to shift our lead times from two weeks to six weeks, that creates dissatisfaction and that is why we like to be so close to our customers,” she says.

SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN

Clients value Biotherapeutics’ input so highly because of the proven scientific benefits of the products the company distributes. Probiotics are widely accepted as key in aiding digestion and maintaining optimum bacterial health in the gut. Amino acids help to break down foods and grow and repair body tissue. Vitamins and minerals are proven to have multiple health benefits including reductions in stress, healthy aging, improved cardiovascular health, better eyesight, and stronger bones.

In this category, South Africa (and the rest of the world) realised a supply versus demand breakdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumers searched desperately for healthy supplements to keep immunity at an optimum, buying up whatever stock pharmacies and retailers could get. The country’s R7bn complementary health-care market boomed by 22.6% in 2021. Over the counter vitamin sales increased by more than 100%, with vitamin C and zinc at the top of many shopping lists.

“We had big demand during Covid and we had a lot of companies looking to get their products out there while boosting their brand,” says Sanker. “According to our demand, there was not too much immediate impact for big pharma during Covid. More of our small clients grew during that period.”  

With customers growing, a market blossoming, and very few competitors able to deliver the level of quality around which Biotherapeutics has built its name, now is a good time for the business – despite macroeconomic conditions that are giving many companies are reason to worry.

For Sanker, the future looks bright and the focus will always surround quality and client satisfaction.

“Our three-year plan is based on the new trademarked application that we are busy with at the moment. We don’t want to grow too big too fast as we would lose quality and customer satisfaction. We know of big pharma companies that our clients have approached, and they could never get products out in time and to retail within their timescales,” she says.

From the facility in Pretoria – where Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) regulations govern each undertaking – Biotherapeutics will mix and blend and make with a proudly South African mantra, building lasting relationships with clients and bringing first-class products for a demanding and plentiful sector.