DCAT Week ’17: Noramco CEO Discusses Strategy as Stand-Alone Company
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James Mish |
James Mish, President and CEO of Noramco, provided the strategic direction of the company following its divestment by Johnson & Johnson in July 2016 and now operating as a stand-alone specialty active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturer.
Noramco is a producer of controlled substances APIs with global headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, and with US Drug Enforcement Administration-licensed facilities in Delaware (including API manufacturing) and Georgia. It has research and development operations and logistical operations in Neuhsauen, Switzerland and Athens, Georgia. It also has access to agricultural operations through an affiliate, Tasmanian Alkaloids.
Going forward, Mish emphasized three growth vectors for the company: geography, API portfolio growth, and solutions and services. He said that the a staff of 270 employees is supported by a new management team, including himself, that is committed to growth, which is further focused on building the company’s API portfolio. He also stressed a focus on delivering solutions for controlled substances, including APIs that solve stability, bioavailability, and purity challenges through an integrated API development, manufacture, and regulatory service offering.
Mish announced further developments in cannabinoids. Noramco has been supplying dronabinol since 2007 and cannabidiol for clinical trials since 2016. Mish announced that Noramco and Teewinot Life Sciences, a provider of biocatalytic technologies for the production of pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoids, have signed a letter of intent to enter the commercial cannabinoids market using proprietary CannSynthesis technology. The agreement provides Noramco access to Teewinot’s patent protected processes for producing pure cannabinoids by means of biocatalysis.
Noramco will create 10 to 15 cannabinoid reference standards with the CannSynthesis biocatalytic technology and simultaneously evaluate it for the production of dronabinol on a commercial scale. Dronabinol is known for its effectiveness in pain management, as an antiemetic, in the control of vomiting, as an appetite stimulant in the treatment of AIDS, and for reducing the side effects of chemotherapy.