Why Small Molecule Products are Still Important and the Relevant Role Adare Holds in the Space
An interview with Tom Sellig, CEO of Adare Pharma Solutions
At the Fierce 2025 virtual JPM Week, Adare’s Tom Sellig discussed the importance and enduring relevance of small molecules, the role Adare plays within the space, and the technological innovations shaping the future of oral solid dose development and manufacturing. Adare’s business success and the importance of client satisfaction were also explored with a focus on the company’s continuous improvement mentality, project management, and its unique governance structure, which ensures Adare’s executive team, including Sellig himself, is directly involved in nurturing customer relationships.
Adare is a mid-size global CDMO with seven sites around the world. It focuses on oral solid dose (OSD) development, commercial manufacturing, packaging and analytical services for a wide range of technologies and platforms, supporting primarily small molecule products. Today OSD is still an exciting part of the market and various new trends, such as GLP-1s, provide exciting growth opportunities. Sellig noted “we’re seeing a lot of transference from the injectable dosage form to oral solids, as roughly 20% of Adare’s proposals last quarter were for GLP-1s or related products.”
There is a significant amount of work being done for paediatric and geriatric focused projects too, and the majority of products in today’s global pipeline are small molecule. In terms of doses taken today, just at a macro level, 80% of doses are still oral and small molecules, which underscores the foundational nature of the dose form. In ration to projects for development and commercial, from a disease standpoint, the most significant areas for Adare include GLP-1, central nervous system (CNS) drugs and those for oncology with non-pain and pain-related products still exceptionally important.
Innovations such as 3D printing are exciting from a technology standpoint, and are a key area of interest for Adare emphasised by their collaboration with Laxxon, a pharma-technology company pioneering a new generation of advanced pharmaceuticals. Printers are already installed at Adare sites, and the focus of the program is now on expansion. Sellig touched on the expenditure saying, “the technological investment provides flexibility for development and actual manufacturing, for example, Adare can combine multiple APIs.” Also, the use of a screen-printing technology accelerates development timelines as the innovation means that different technologies, for example for immediate and sustained release, can be combined, or QR codes can be embedded into the middle of tablets for individual tablet tracking. The shapes, sizes and release profiles of the products are virtually unlimited. Seliig said that Adare currently has an active pilot comparing a traditional development methodology, with the 3D printed methodology, and the company is looking forward to seeing how the ultimate products are developed, in terms of the timelines and meeting the target profile Adare is trying to accomplish.
Adare intends to install commercial-scale 3D screen-printing in 2025, and based on known volumes, which Sellig describes as “mid-scale,” he says, “Adare is very comfortable with being able to achieve the scalability, and ultimately the cost and productivity benefits to challenge traditional manufacturing processes.”
Adare discern themselves from other CDMO’s by using a wide range of technologies and platforms, with mini tabs proving as an important part of their platform. Sellig added, “multi particulate mini tab and micro tab technologies give Adare a great range to support everything from taste masking to combining multiple APIs into one dose, and a variety of other benefits” and noted Adare are “probably seeing more of these opportunities than any other CDMO today.”
Sellig highlights that client satisfaction, supported by a continuous improvement mentality, is “critical for business success and solid demand,”. At the heart of every project, says Sellig, is Adare’s fantastic team with a project manager and/or a commercial account manager depending on the type of project, all “highly attuned to customer needs.” A unique feature of Adare is the company’s governance structure. Sellig stated, “I am personally involved in around 10 of our largest customer relationships and I measure satisfaction by calling key decision makers to obtain valuable, continuous, feedback to build into future investments and strategic decisions.”