Pharma Now Debuts “Inside CDMO” Series With HIPRA's Managing Director Eduard Viladesau

MUMBAI, INDIA — September 24, 2026 — Pharma Now, a global pharmaceutical knowledge platform dedicated to sharing insights that shape the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing, technology, and leadership, today released the premiere episode of Inside CDMO: Behind the Glass, a new podcast series examining what it actually takes to build and run a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) today. The debut episode features Eduard Viladesau, Managing Director of HIPRA Biotech Services, in conversation with Pharma Now's Kadambari Bendre.

Mr. Viladesau spent 18 years at Boston Consulting Group, where he served as topic lead for contract manufacturing and external supply in pharma, advising pharmaceutical companies and CDMOs around the world. In January 2025, he left BCG to become Managing Director of HIPRA Biotech Services, the newly launched third-party CDMO arm of HIPRA — a 70-year-old, family-owned Spanish company best known for its animal-health vaccines and, since 2020, for developing Spain's only domestically produced COVID-19 vaccine.

In the episode, Mr. Viladesau describes the moment he decided to leave consulting to build something of his own, and the unusually fast start that followed: HIPRA Biotech Services secured its first client nine months after launch — well inside the 12-to-18-month sales cycle typical of the CDMO industry — and a second client within thirteen months. Nineteen months in, the business has two active clients and a third in advanced discussions. He also discusses the platforms the business was built around — mammalian and microbial drug substance, and fill-and-finish — its focus on mid-sized biotech companies in Phase II to late Phase III development, and how HIPRA's modular, EU GMP-compliant facilities are built ahead of demand without accumulating idle capacity.

“It cannot be that the world doesn't know about this. It became my mission to make sure the world knows about this, and can take advantage of it.”

— Mr. Viladesau, on his first visits to HIPRA's facilities

“Every guest in this series works with a kind of pressure most industries never talk about — zero safety stock, and clients who see everything, in real time. We call that 'behind glass,' and Mr. Viladesau's story, choosing to carry that pressure himself after nearly two decades of advising others on it, was the right one to open this series.”

— Kadambari Bendre, Marketing Head, Pharma Now, host of the episode

The episode also includes an invitation from Mr. Viladesau to biologics developers attending CPHI Milan this October, where HIPRA Biotech Services will be exhibiting, to visit the company's stand and discuss complex development or manufacturing challenges directly with its team.

Listen and subscribe: watch the full episode on YouTube and Spotify.

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Pharma Now is a global pharmaceutical knowledge platform that brings together industry leaders, experts, and innovators to share insights that shape the future of pharmaceutical manufacturing, technology, and leadership.