CPHI Frankfurt 2022: Innovator Interview – Procaps Group

In this series of interviews, we speak to the companies on the CPHI Frankfurt show floor who are driving innovation in pharma for a better healthcare future. We interviewed Rosella Del Vecchio Herrera, Marketing Director at Procaps Group, to discover how the Colombian company has grown and to celebrate their 20th anniversary of participating in CPHI events. 

Could you please give an overview of your role at Procaps? 

Del Vecchio: I’ve been in the corporation for 12 years now. Essentially, my role involves all related activities to global marketing, branding, advertising, digital marketing, PR, customer experience, sales training, and ultimately all that has to do with driving growth and brand value. For this show in particular, I support our team of experts in giving them the tools and exceptional experiences to bring our best to our customers and prospects. 

CPHI Frankfurt marks 20 years of participation at CPHI events for Procaps, a significant achievement as one of the few Colombian-based companies present at CPHI. What does this milestone mean for Procaps as a business and also the Latin American pharmaceutical sector? 

Del Vecchio: It’s been a long journey of 20 years and counting. We’re really excited to be here. If I’m not wrong, we were the first Colombian company to exhibit at CPHI shows, and one of the very few Latin American pharmaceutical companies to still be here. We knew, 20 years ago, CPHI was a great place to meet with new companies and to get acquainted with everything going on in the pharma space, but we really didn’t know how big and how important it would be for our business today. CPHI has been one of the foundational milestones for our business model to grow over the years. I can say that one of the many important partnerships we have today, we met with them and have nurtured those relationships here.  

Ultimately what we do is to help people live better lives – this is the foundation of our work. This is the space where we meet not only with our current partners but also with prospective partners. It is also where we can spot trends and innovation and bring it back to our teams to start working on new projects and strategies to bring to our partners and to their patients. 

Are there any specific challenges for Latin American pharma companies, and how is Procaps facing these situations? 

Del Vecchio: COVID definitely hit us in many ways, especially because we were used to face-to-face events. We had to quickly change our strategy in going digital, delivering content to the world and connecting with our customers in different ways. We made it through but in terms of overcoming challenges presented by COVID, Procaps has made a huge effort in continuing its operations so that we could deliver those essential medicines and products, not only to our business in Colombia but to our customers worldwide.  

As a Latin American company, we’re still facing a lot of challenges. We are obsessed with innovation and with capturing time-to-market opportunities, allowing us to give patients in Latin America access to products at affordable prices. We help our customers bring new products to the market that deliver their patients an exceptional experience when taking their medication. This is where our innovative DNA stems from – bringing new formats to patients and consumers to treat themselves without an unpleasant delivery experience. 

Procaps recently when public on NASDAQ last year in September. How is a company like Procaps advancing the regional pharmaceutical industry in South America, and the region’s economy, as a whole?   

Del Vecchio: We have seen over the past year how our company has grown in terms of expanding its capabilities in manufacturing and development, as well as how our research development increased substantially so that we can capture those time-to-market opportunities and bring products to the market. Ultimately for our integrated CDMO business, that expansion of our capabilities allows us to be closer to our customers in their own markets. Proximity has allowed us to offer better time-to-market, reduce supply chain redundancies, and more importantly offer them our innovative softgel and related technologies wherever they are.  

Procaps Group is divided into two business model: B2C and B2B. On the B2C end, we are very strong in Latin America. We have our own presence in 13 countries with speed and organisation lets us bring not only more products to patients each year, but also more innovative products. Innovation is the heart of our organisation, and you can see it through the technologies we have. There are the traditional soft gelatine capsules, but we also have a derivation and proprietary technologies that are patented by our company and are first-to-market for the company. This allows us to combine different ingredients in one product. We have innovations in chewable formats for consumers with difficult swallowing or need more affordable products. We’re not only diversifying our technologies but we’re also discovering where to fit our products into what type of patient and categories along all therapeutic lines. 

We have a specialised team and more than 5000 hearts beating at the same time in the whole of Latin America working for one purpose, which is to bring innovative solutions to the market for healthier lives. 

Through our B2B model, as we call ourselves, an iCDMO, we leverage on our B2C knowledge and expertise on how to bring innovative products understanding the patients´ needs and markets, our broad suite of technologies and formats, and our deep scientific, manufacturing and development expertise, to deliver all this to our strategic partners both in the healthcare and nutritional fields.  

What have been some of Procaps’ highlights this year at CPHI? 

Del Vecchio: In terms of extended manufacturing and development capabilities, we bring news of our first US Softgel facility. We’re coming to the show this year as not only a Latin American company, but also as an American Softgel and Gummies CDMO. The strategic location of South Florida is a huge milestone for us not only because of the proximity it presents for US pharmaceutical companies, the facility is a centre for pharmaceutical excellence. It has a research area specialising in new drug delivery systems, as well as specialised and dedicated services for hormonal capabilities and other complex oral modalities. We have clinical and preclinical development for new chemical entities. Being in the USA allows us to be closer to companies developing NCEs and new molecules. We also specialise in nutraceuticals, which this facility will also allow. This development presents Procaps as a multi-site business. 

Our innovative technologies are also a highlight for us at CPHI Frankfurt. Unigel is a proprietary technology patented by Procaps. It’s a softgel that can include different formats inside. You can a tablet within a softgel, a softgel in a softgel, two tablets in a softgel etc. You can now combine different APIs that may have been incompatible in a traditional softgel capsule. Incorporating tablets within a softgel can overcome this incompatibility with the APIs. In terms of patient compliance and adherence, you can now combine two different products in a single dose, reducing the number doses a patient needs to take. With Unigel, we have brought a broad suite of formulations for both Rx/OTC drugs and specialised nutraceuticals.  

We also have brought our chewable softgel technology, which is a novel format for patients or consumers with difficulty swallowing, in paediatrics etc. The mastication experience is also very unique – you have to chew the capsule and once you chew it, there is a burst of flavour. The onset of active ingredients is immediate. We had a lot of technological challenges on masking the flavours and acidity of the APIs, but our team of experts are always searching and working with new alternatives to sweeteners and flavours to combine with the APIs. 

Any further comments? 

Del Vecchio: Wherever CPHI is, we know that when we are there with them, it will be a huge opportunity for us to expand our services and continue delivering our products.