Contract research and manufacturing

Within the chemical universe, the fine-chemical industry is positioned between the commodity and specialty chemical industries. They are their suppliers and customers, respectively. Among the latter, the life sciences, especially the pharmaceutical industry, prevail (see Section 9.2). A large variety of enterprises, laboratories, and institutes in both the private and public sectors are providing contract research and manufacturing services along the drug supply chain (see Figure 2.1). 

Virtual companies are based on the premise that core competencies within chemical and pharmaceutical companies he in discovery research and not in development. There are many contract research and manufacturing companies who do have the necessary skills for the product development process and the job of the virtual company is to access these skills and then utilise them in an efficient way. The hub in which such a virtual pharmaceutical company operates is illustrated in Figure B9. 

PBI is being marketed as a replacement for asbestos and as a high temperature filtration fabric with exceUent textile apparel properties. The synthesis of whoUy aromatic polybenzimidazoles with improved thermal stabUities was reported in 1961 (12). The Non-MetaUic Materials and Manufacturing Technology Division of the U.S. Air Force Materials Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, awarded a contract to the Narmco Research and Development Division of the Whittaker Corp. for development of these materials into high temperature adhesives and laminates. 

Fine-chemical/custom manufacturing (CM) companies account for the largest share of the industry, followed by contract research organizations (CROs) and laboratory chemical suppliers. 

Fine-chemical/custom manufacturing companies (discussed in Section 2.1) are active in process scaleup, pilot plant (trial) production, and industrial-scale exclusive and nonexclusive manufacture contract research organizations are discussed in Section 2.2, and laboratory chemical suppliers are discussed in Section 2.3. 

The products offered by the fine-chemical industry fall into two broad categories (1) exclusives and standard or (2) catalog products. Serviceintensive exclusives , provided mostly through contract research or custom manufacturing arrangements, prevail in business with life science companies standards prevail in other target markets. 

In custom manufacturing, supply contracts are product-based (unit price in /kg), whereas in contract research agreements they are service-based (FTEs in /scientist-year). The two types of contract are discussed in more detail below Agreeing on the price for a fine chemical is only one, albeit essential, element of a custom manufacturing deal between the supplier (fine-chemical company) and the customer (specialty-chemical company). The supply... 

A note of caution is necessary for companies seeking to enter contract research in Western countries and Japan. Because of the low salaries of Chinese and Indian scientists and their longer work hours, the cost advantage of Asian competitors is even more dramatic than in other segments of the hne-chemical industry. Whereas the prime cost of Indian custom manufacturers is about 40% of their Western competitors, it is only 20% for contract research Attracted by FTEs of 60,000 in the East versus 200,000 in the West, big pharma in particular is gravitating to these firms at the expense of their traditional USA- and EU-based CROs. 

Responsibilities are often similar across multiple functional groups such as Information Technology, Engineering, Laboratories (QA/R D), Clinical Research, Manufacturing/ Operations, contract developers, and computer technology suppliers. 

Wei Mon Industry Co. was established in 1987 to manufacturing concrete piping materials as well as contracting major civil infrastructure projects such as water supply pipelines, sewerage systems, and land developments. Since 1996, Wei Mon started to research and develop natural and environmentally-friendly products, including Biodegradable Plastic Products. 

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