Fine-chemicals suppliers

Undoubtedly, a big barrier to the introduction of SC technologies in pharmaceutical plants is the high capital and operating costs of such equipment, especially if they are used for the production of a limited number of materials in a complex portfolio. As pharmaceutical companies outsource more and concentrate on in house manufacture for the later stages of the synthetic route, the lack of SC reactor facilities at contractors and fine chemical suppliers limits the development of reactions in SC fluids. 

Obviously, in a relatively small work such as this it is not possible to be comprehensive. Preparations of bulk, achiral materials (e.g. simple oxiranes such as ethylene oxide) involving key catalytic processes will not be featured. Only a handful of representative examples of preparations of optically inactive compounds will be given, since the emphasis in the main body of this book, i.e. the experimental section, is on the preparation of chiral compounds. The focus on the preparation of compounds in single enantiomer form reflects the much increased importance of these compounds in the fine chemical industry (e.g. for pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals, fragrances, flavours and the suppliers of intermediates for these products). 

Specialty chemicals are formulations of chemicals containing one or more fine chemicals as active ingredients. They are identified according to performance properties. Customers are trades outside the chemical industry and the public. Specialty chemicals are usually sold under brand names. Suppliers have to provide product information. Subcategories are adhesives, agrochemicals, biocides, catalysts, dyestuffs and pigments, enzymes, electronic chemicals, flavors and fragrances, food and feed additives, pharmaceuticals, and specialty polymers (see Chapter 11). 

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). 

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. 

Note. As both contract research organizations and laboratory chemical suppliers provide primarily service businesses, their revenues are excluded from the total size of the fine-chemical business, as discussed in Chapter 9. 

Some big and medium pharma companies are hybrids in the sense that they also offer pharmaceutical fine chemicals and custom manufacturing services and therefore compete with their PFC suppliers. 

In order to identify the success factors for custom manufacturing, an antagonistic approach is recommended the selection criteria for outsourcing partners, as established by a major pharmaceutical company, are listed in Appendix A.6. Those fine-chemical companies, which best comply with the 28 criteria, obviously have the best chance to become suppliers. The ranking is typically based on an extensive audit of the prospective supplier. 

Standard products, also known as catalog products or building blocks, pop up first, if one browses through the Websites or brochures of fine-chemical companies. Except for laboratory chemical suppliers (see Section 2.3), they play only a minor role in the product/service portfolio. Contrary to exclusives, standard products derive from a reaction rather than an action approach ... 

Of the top 20 pharma companies, 9 are based in the United States, accounting for just over 50% of the 350 billion sales (see Table 11.2). As there are only a few domestic suppliers, the market is also attractive for non-USA-based fine-chemical companies. Europe follows in second place with 7 of the... 

International commerce prevails in the fine-chemical industry because suppliers and customers are often located in different countries, or even continents, and because transportation costs are almost negligible. For managing their international business, fine-chemical companies have to choose the most appropriate distribution channels. Basically, they can do it with their own means—either directly from their headquarters, or indirectly through a local... 

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... 

Provision 1 above, establishing a strategic alliance or collaborative relationship, is the most difficult to implement. In fact, few arrangements of this kind exist between fine-chemical companies and their customers. There are two main stumbling blocks. From the perspective of the fine-chemical company, it is the request of the customer to have the liberty to switch to other suppliers if these are able to grant better prices or other contractual terms. From the perspective of the customer, it is the desire of the fine-chemical companies to keep the intellectual property rights on discoveries that they make in the context of an alliance. This is especially the case if the customer is an ethical pharmaceutical company (see Chapter 14). 

The ongoing globalization either can develop to the benefit of the emerging Chinese and Indian fine-chemical companies or, if these companies do not succeed in becoming partners of the global life science industry, will allow the top-tier Western companies to maintain their preferred supplier status. 

Global pharma companies either (1) produce APIs in-house sourcing basic, nonregulated PFCs from China or (2) source advanced, exclusive PFCs from Indian fine-chemical companies (shortcutting their traditional European suppliers). 

This book provides an insider s perspective of the status of the fine-chemical industry, as well as its outlook. It covers all aspects of this dynamic industry, with all of its stakeholders in mind, viz. employees, customers, suppliers, investors, students and educators, media representatives, neighboring communities, public officials, and anyone else who has an interest in industrial context. Safety, health, environmental, and regulatory issues are discussed only briefly, as the related subjects are extensively covered in the specialized literature. 

All major chemical companies, and most teaching establishments, now have a computerised stock-control system which enables information about on-site availability and cost of chemicals to be rapidly obtained. Many companies are now linked to a central database (e.g. Chemquest , Pergabase Inc.), which provides information (via text or graphics) on the world-wide commercial availability (from over fifty chemical catalogues) and on relative costs, etc., of fine chemicals. The hazards in use and disposal of all chemicals (see Section 2.3) may be readily checked from the catalogues of major chemical suppliers and other important sources. 

We observe that we have drawn from nonrenewable resources and emitted waste at four times the rate corresponding to that for the reaction. Of course, this is all a consequence of choosing a material, nonrenewable resource, coal, as the reactant and supplier of required chemical work The use of fossil fuel and the inefficiency of processes are responsible for most of the waste in industry. Figures 13.15 and 13.16 give an impression of the size of waste [30], where we should note that in the chemical industry, things quickly get worse if we move, for example, from base chemicals to fine chemicals to pharmaceuticals. 

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