Our strategy in action

In Europe, diesel cars have received a lot of bad press because of the impact of their emissions on urban air quality compared with their petrol counterparts.

But for some people, those who drive a lot of miles, the higher fuel economy of diesel makes diesel powered cars cheaper, over the long term, to run. Higher fuel economy means CO₂ emissions from a diesel car are lower too. So the incentive was there to clean up diesel and give consumers a viable choice that was better for their health, the planet and their pocket.

Regulators, quite rightly, also responded and set tighter emission limits to protect our health. Meeting these posed a technical challenge… exactly the sort of thing that JM loves best!

JM has applied its science and successfully reduced NOx emissions by a further 50%. In doing so, we have developed the most advanced catalyst system for diesel vehicles yet. Auto makers agree and have made it their number one choice. As a result, JM’s market position has increased by some 20 percentage points, to around 65%.

This all means a new diesel car in 2019 can run just as clean as its petrol equivalent. So consumers no longer need to choose between economics and the environment.

Unique expertise in the development, scale up and manufacture of complex molecules is what JM brings to both innovator and generic pharmaceutical customers in the attractive and growing small molecule API segment.

And that’s why Immunomedics has chosen JM as its strategic manufacturing partner for the large scale production of the drug linker used in IMMU-32. IMMU-32 is Immunomedics’ breakthrough therapy for metastatic triple negative breast cancer. It's classified as an antibody drug conjugate (ADC), so unlike typical chemotherapy, it's intended to target and kill only cancer cells and spare the body’s healthy cells. This significantly cuts down on side effects experienced by patients.

JM’s role in getting this breakthrough treatment to patients will be to manufacture the drug linker used in the IMMU-132 ADC. Linkers are a critical component of ADCs, providing the bridge for the antibody to selectively deliver the drug to tumour cells and at tumour sites. This significantly reduces the amount of the drug that enters the body.

Thanks to JM’s early R&D work, we have already improved the productivity of the manufacturing process over 20-fold and have provided the necessary quantities of API to treat patients in clinical trials.

The IMMU-132 treatment is at the forefront of new cancer therapies and with one woman losing the battle against this devastating disease every single day, JM is excited to be contributing our science and technology through this partnership.