Q&A: Stevanato Group shares how the GLP-1 shortages have affected the globe

Due to the spike in demand for GLP-1, a medication that helps regulate blood sugar and appetite, Medical Plastics News spoke to Riccardo Butta, president of the Americas at Stevanato Group, to see how they’re adapting to meet these demands. 

Could you tell us a bit about what Stevanato Group does? 

We are a global provider of delivery solutions for the pharma and biotech industry as well as a provider of services around precision components, precision moulding and assembly for the diagnostics, life science and medical device industries. 

We operate in 16 different sites in nine countries across the three regions. The company comes with a long 70-year history and have an impeccable track record of growth.  

If you look at our trajectory, we have been growing double digits year over year for the past several years. But more importantly is the track record in terms of customer relationship standpoint and customer satisfaction.  

What we try to do is cover the entire life cycle, engaging during the development phase of either molecules or devices and then we carry through clinical and commercial and life cycle management.  

Why do you think there’s such a demand for GLP-1? 

There has been a spike in demand or at least the attempt to keep up with the demand of the drug. We have been busy with GLP-1 for years on the diabetes care side and there is a lot of pressure on the supply chain. We are in a fortunate position because we started to work on preparing for this wave years ago. We started to invest a lot in Italy and in the US to have additional capacity and support the growth of our customers. 

How is Stevanato Group adapting to meet these demands? 

When you look at Europe, we just completed the expansion of our headquarters in Italy and are now ramping up a second site in Italy, near Rome.  

We are also investing in US operations by building something in the range of 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space in Fishers, Indiana – 30 minutes away from Indianapolis. This space will be fully dedicated to high value solutions, such as ready to use solutions and syringes. The plans are for us to continue to expand there and have the complete set of offerings for the domestic market.  

You have spoken about the impact of the supply chain shortages in the US and Italy. Is this being noticed globally too? 

I would say yes, maybe some commodities more in certain markets than others. I think the shortages that we experienced in the past 2-3 years were across the different regions. The situation is improving in our view, meaning it’s less constrained than it was before and probably there is also a bit more reasonable planning by several players in the market because part of the constraints that we experienced were due to overstocking.  

What do you think could be learned from this to prepare for other possible shortages in the future? 

One point is a better ability to plan tactically but also strategically. The ability to read the market and to have understanding as to what is happening is critical.  

For example, one thing that we noticed over the past few years is the acceleration of R&D activities among our customers, and across the pharma and the biotech industries. These companies are now much more productive and working at a faster and higher pace, which is something that I don't think was visible previously. So, planning is an important aspect to see where the market is going, as well as managing stock levels and ordering components from day-to-day.