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Passersby of SOLA Pharmaceuticals’ Highlandia Drive offices likely have no idea that the modest complex is home to the Capital City’s only FDA-approved pharmaceutical manufacturer.
With a current product portfolio of 24 drugs across 45 SKUs, SOLA—Business Report’s Company of the Year (fewer than 100 employees)—has seen explosive growth over its 12 years in business, thanks to meticulous, data-driven systems that monitor dynamic drug markets and guide rapid-fire decisions.
A small team uses proprietary technology to select which products to carry based on a series of criteria, including efficacy and safety, patient demand and whether onboarding a drug meets defined margin requirements.
SOLA’s pursuit of excellence is also guided by something loftier, says founder and CEO Keith LaNasa.
“At the end of the day, what the effort here is about is getting these products to patients,” he says.
LaNasa launched the company as a self-funded startup in 2014. It’s grown to produce a range of mostly generic prescription and over-the-counter products, including extended topical medications such as creams, ointments, gels, lotions and patches. SOLA’s drugs are sold to nationwide pharmacies through major distribution channels from its Baton Rouge FDA-approved, cGMP-certified and FDA drug supply chain-compliant headquarters and distribution center.
The company’s business model is built on scooping up generic drugs once the patent protections for their branded equivalents expire. One of the main ways it stays profitable is by working with FDA-approved contract manufacturing organizations, or CMOs, to produce drugs, a trend in the industry since 2012, LaNasa says. This approach helps companies like SOLA avoid the exorbitant costs of building manufacturing facilities for each drug type, a massive investment that is required before FDA approval is even secured or the first products roll off an assembly line.
By working with CMOs and contract development and manufacturing organizations, or CDMOs, SOLA can affect product excellence while also staying nimble in what it chooses to sell. It’s not pigeonholed by certain categories of drug, LaNasa says.
“We’re able to very quickly target shortages and product lines that fit our margin requirements,” he says.
The strategy continues to serve SOLA well, but the company is now in a stage where it sees upside in building its own transdermal patch manufacturing facility, an anticipated $15 million investment in Baton Rouge, where the company will remain. SOLA currently produces between 30% to 40% of the patches in the U.S. market.
“We build so many patches, that it makes sense for us to invest in bringing the technology here,” LaNasa says.
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