Best-in-class

A best-in-class approach involves the selection or the overweighting of stocks of companies that perform particularly well compared to their peers. A best-inclass approach thus involves the realization of an assessment of corporate ESG performance and behaviour. Such a sustainability rating can be based on a seetor assessment (chemical industry, energy industry, etc) and on the sustainability assessment of individual companies and their peers in different industry sectors.  

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Best in class approach. The best in class approach is based on a continuum in order to compare chemicals or materials within a particular functional class such as surfactants or chelating agents used for cleaning products. 

Both approaches are useful and they are also complementary because it is important to know where a chemical that may be best in its class falls out with respect to hazard. For example, a surfactant that is best in its class will be rapidly biodegradable, but most surfactants have some aquatic toxicity because they are surface active. However, surfactants as a class are typically close to the green end of the hazard spectrum because they tend to have low hazard ratings for most other endpoints. It is also possible to have chemicals that are best in their class but that are still problematic. For example, some dioxin congeners are less toxic than others but one would not presume that a dioxin congener that is best in its class is green . Concurrent use of the best in class approach with the absence of hazard approach is also important because it drives continual advancement within a class toward the ideal green chemistry. Once innovation occurs and a chemical or product is developed that meets the same or better performance criteria with lower hazard, what was once considered best in class shifts. 

Below we describe three examples of frameworks that use the Best in Class approach including another US EPA DfE Program called the Formulator Program, the CleanCredients database and SC Johnson s GreenList . 

Liroff offers a benchmarking tool to assess progress in corporate management of product detoxification. The tool can be used internally by senior corporate management teams or externally by investors and investment analysts to screen investments, assess best in class ... 

Nonetheless, it is now generally accepted that it is worthwhile front-loading projects with ADME/PK and toxicology information in order to improve the chances of compounds achieving registration and becoming best in class [4]. 

As ADME/PK has become incorporated into drug discovery it has become necessary to reconsider the purpose of the studies. If the science is really going to reduce the attrition rate in development, then it is essential for the studies to allow predictions of the PK in man to be made. This means predicting the likely size and frequency of the dose. A review of the top 10 medicines of 1999 (Table 6.1) shows all of them to be once-a-day compounds. It is clear that to be best in class , and to be able to maintain that position as follow-up compounds come along, it seems probable that a compound will need to be suitable for once a day dosing. 

The clinical efficacy of R406/788 (14/15) has heightened interest in Syk inhibition as a therapeutic strategy in RA. There is a clear best-in-class opportunity for Syk inhibitors with improved selectivity and safety profiles (Figure 3). 

Benchmarking quantify the operational performance of similar companies and establish internal targets based on best-in-class results. 

Best Practice Analysis characterize the management practices and software solutions that result in best-in-class performance. 

Determine the best-in-class for each benchmark item... 

As of today, Cediranib (AZD2171) has the potential to be a best in class angiogenesis therapy. It is one of a new generation series of orally available, highly potent inhibitors of KDR kinase. The compound inhibited VEGF-stimulated HUVEC cell proliferation with an IC50 value of 0.4 nM and was specific for this type of proliferation. 

Often, the best examples of process efficiency can be found outside the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical industries. Other fields such as electronics, space, and software industries have evolved their documentation, training, quality, and change control systems to the point of best in class. These industries are more time sensitive to get product to market and have often evolved their processes to be efficient and decision processes to be very quick. Process owners may expand their knowledge by investigating other industries to find best practices and apply them internally. 

Theme Level 1 (No Formal Approach) Level 2 (Process Defined) Level 3 (Proactively Managed) Level 4 (Continuous Improvement) Level 5 (Best in Class)... 

Economics The low-pressure technology and ease of operation ensures that the Innovene process is inherently safe, best-in-class environmentally and economically attractive with regard to both investment capex and opex. 

Performance feedback. High-performing companies like DuPont or Eastman Chemical are also excellent at providing feedback. Companies that excel in managing performance measure units against external benchmarks (the capital markets, their industry peers, the best-in-class performers from other industries, etc.) or internal benchmarks. They then rank them and many make the results public. 

Fundamentally, this audit tool is designed to improve accountability and business planning processes, which, in turn, boost corporate adaptability and market responsiveness to enhance the economic, social, and environmental triple bottom line of participating corporate partners. As the field of CSR/SRI continues to develop and mature, we anticipate that tools like the CAP Gap Audit will be refined to assist industry leaders in benchmarking best-in-class standards for particular industries. 

EHS hazard assessment and communication, which carries out comprehensive material hazard testing and assessment to produce best-in-class safety data sheets ... 

This could fuel a rapid expansion of the product offerings based on integrating social and environmental issues into investment decisions. As noted above, this is already a growing segment, but off a relatively small base. Overall, several of the best-in-class funds have sufficiently long track records of good performance to remove some of the standard barriers to attracting institutional investment. 

Freire E (2008) Do enthalpy and entropy distinguish first in class from best in class Drug Discov Today 13 869-874... 

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