Chemical marketing aspects

Knowledge of the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals Regulatory authorities expect manufacturers to address this concern in their application to market new chemical entities. Aspects include manufacture (chemical pollution), packaging (waste disposal), pollution in immediate use, e.g. antimicrobials and, more remotely, drugs... 

N early all authors who write about some aspect of chemical market research begin with a definition of these terms. Unfortunately, these definitions vary not only in the particular words which are used, but they are frequently found on close examination to be basically different in meaning. It is not my purpose here to add another set of words or to sit in judgment on previous definitions. I am more concerned today with what market research can be in the future than what it has been in the past. The inability of professional experts to agree on the limits and purposes of the function is to me but a reflection of its newness in the corporate organization. 

Economic Aspects. Trimesic acid being a smaH-volume chemical, availabiUty is in polyethylene-lined fiber dmms in 34- and 136-kg quantities. Mesitylene [108-67-8] the raw material, is readily available, and oxidation to trimesic acid presents no problems. The market size is dictated by commercial uses. 

Production and Economic Aspects. Aspirin is produced in the United States by The Dow Chemical Company, Rhc ne-Poulenc, and Norwich (a division of Proctor Gamble). Globally, Rhc ne-Poulenc has additional production faciHties in France and in Thailand. Bayer is self-suppHed from production units in Spain and Turkey over the years many small plants have been estabHshed around the world for regional or country supply. The aspirin market is increasingly globally suppHed. Aspirin is generally considered mature, and only population increases and new uses will affect its production and demand, which is thought to be of the order of 30—35,000 t for total world consumption. The May 1995 price was 8.30/kg (18). 

The need for weU-trained technical service professionals is expected to continue as an essential aspect of the chemical industry, despite the phenomenal growth ia electronic methods of information storage, retrieval, and transmission. Advanced troubleshooting of complex customer processes and accelerated accurate product development and market introductions should continue to be principal elements of technical service personnel duties. Increased levels of integration, perhaps blurring the lines between suppHer and customer, may come to pass. There are already instances of personnel swapping between customers and suppHers for extended periods to allow cross-fertilization of ideas and provide more accurate perspectives for the companies involved in these efforts. Technical service and research personnel have been those persons most directly involved in such efforts. 

Economic Aspects. The principal market for deuterium has been as a moderator for nuclear fission reactors fueled by unenriched uranium. The decline in nuclear reactor constmetion has sharply reduced the demand for heavy water. The United States has stopped large-scale production of D2O, and Canada is the only suppHer of heavy water at this time. Heavy water is priced as a fine chemical, and its price is not subject to market forces. 

Since the 1993 court decision against Barr Laboratories, 5 tjjg elimination of outliers has taken on a decidedly legal aspect in the U.S. (any non-U.S. company that wishes to export pharmaceuticals or preciwsor products to the U.S. market must adhere to this decision concerning out-of-specifica-tion results, too) the relevant section states that ... An alternative means to invalidate an individual OOS result... is the (outlier test). The court placed specific restrictions on the use of this test. (1) Firms cannot frequently reject results on this basis, (2) The USP standards govern its use in specific areas, (3) The test cannot be used for chemical testing results. ... A footnote explicitly refers only to a content uniformity test, 5 but it appears that the rule must be similarly interpreted for all other forms of inherently precise physicochemical methods. For a possible interpretation, see Section 4.24. 

A weekly publication of McGraw-Hill. This excellent pubheation concentrates on the news and business aspects of the chemical industry. It periodically has excellent marketing and sales studies for various products. It also publishes annually a plant-site-selection issue and a Buyers Guide. The Buyers Guide lists the major producers and the source of supply for over 6,000 chemical products, and has a list of chemical trade names. It publishes, quarterly, the current financial condition of 300 companies involved in chemical processing. 

Chemical substances make a vital contribution to almost aU aspects of the hves of human beings. Chemicals bring about improvements in the health of the population and our quahty of life through new developments in, for example, treatment of disease, food safety, or crop protection. They also make a vital contribution to the economic and social well-being of citizens in terms of trade and employment. The global production of chemicals has increased from about 1 rnilhon tons in 1930 to more than 400 million tons today, and more than 100,000 different chemical substances are now on the market. 

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