In the months leading up to its pending acquisition by Novo Holdings, Catalent has meaningfully boosted its revenue for the first time in over a year, making headway while other contract manufacturers struggle.
On Thursday, the CDMO reported that its quarterly revenue grew to $1.3 billion, up 23% compared to the year prior, and that its EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — was up by 150% to $305 million, compared to the same period last year.
Catalent and other companies that service biopharmas are closely watched as bellwethers of how the industry is performing. And Wednesday’s results are a sharp contrast from a year ago, when Catalent reported revenue downturns, staff cutbacks and leadership reshuffles in a bid to turn the company around.
There were hints of this more positive outlook during Catalent’s previous third-quarter report in May, which showed its first revenue uptick in over a year — an increase of 4% compared to the same period last year. Prior to this, all of Catalent’s earnings in 2023 had seen a revenue decline.
The latest quarterly results were strong across the board, with Catalent’s biologics division up 51% and its pharma and consumer health business up 7% compared to the same period last year. And Catalent seems to have avoided the worst impacts of such pharma companies as Bristol Myers Squibb and Bayer cutting back on R&D, which other manufacturers like Evotec and Charles River Laboratories signaled were hurting their business.
In terms of Novo’s $16.5 billion purchase of Catalent, little was revealed on the status of the deal, apart from Catalent sticking to the original timeline that the acquisition will be closed by the end of the year, despite requests from the Federal Trade Commission for more information to conduct its antitrust review.