Life sciences market

A special word is necessary with respect to the Sigma-Aldrich-Fluka conglomerate Fluka has taken the lead in biocatalysis, while Sigma serves mostly the life science market. Especially since the Sigma catalog is a book in itself, only enzymes from Fluka are listed. The reader should be aware that the majority of enzymes is available from Sigma as well, and with respect to enzymes not typically used in biocatalysis, the portfolio may be even greater. 

Data-Star. This is Europe s leading on-line database service (39) and covers worldwide business news, financial information, market research, trade statistics, business analysis, healthcare / pharmaceuticals, chemicals / petrochemicals, chemical industry, biomedicine /life science, biotechnology, and technology, with an emphasis on Europe. It was originally formed as a joint venture among BRS, Predicasts, and Radio Suisse (the Swiss telecommunications company) (37). Data-Star offers access to about 300 bibliographic, abstract, directory, and fuU-text on-line databases, of which approximately 150 are also available on Dialog (40). 

Radioactive tracers account for about 20% of the worldwide market for consumables and reagents for life science research. In 1994 the value was estimated at about 300 million. The principal fuU line manufacturers are Du Pont—NEN Research Products (Boston, Massachusetts) and Amersham International (Amersham, U.K.). These companies share roughly equaHy about 85% of the radiochemicals worldwide market. In addition to an extensive line of catalog products, these suppHers offer custom labeling and custom synthesis services. The rest of the market is shared by producers of a limited range of products or services, such as ICN Biomedicals (Costa Mesa, California) and American Radiolabeled Chemicals (St. Louis, Missouri). 

Typically, funding to embark on information and/or knowledge management initiatives within the life sciences only occurs after a serious failure within the business, such as a project failure or a withdrawal of a medicine from the market. Recently, COX-2 programs across the industry are under close scrutiny since the highly publicized withdrawal of Vioxx [10]. Of course, there has been no withdrawal of aspirin, paracetamol, alcohol, or tobacco products, which are well known as toxic. 

In the approaches to data standards, the authors make no apology for using the OMG s life science research group as a structured approach to building new data standards (as both authors have a wealth of experience in bringing standards to the market via this organization [22, 23]). As only a handful of readers will be conversant with the OMG, here is a brief overview on how the OMG works to deliver standards to the life science community. 

The new partnerships are currently seeking for new applications in nanomaterials development. The business strategy includes the introduction of their products into the life-science research, industrial, and biothreat markets. 

In the production of life-science products, adhesives, coatings, fine chemicals, etc., the trend towards small production volumes of application-specific high value products continues, and the time to market and the time in market of the products decrease. Therefore in the production of these chemicals flexibility and cost efficient and timely production of small amounts of material are key factors for economic success. 

While large-scale commercialization of the 3D chip has taken considerably more hme than expected, several companies now offer such surfaces. Motorola Life Sciences abandoned the Mirzabekov gel (Chapter 3) in favor of SurModic s PhofoLink surface chemistry (www.surmodics.com), chemistry which it then brought to market as the CodeLink . Amersham Biosciences acquired CodeLink from Motorola in 2002 and obtained a license to the Southern patents in 2003 to expand the product into the clinical diagnoshc arena. 

In Table 9.2, the approximately 75 billion fine-chemical market is subdivided into major applications according to their relevance, namely, fine chemicals for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and specialty chemicals outside life sciences. Furthermore, a distinction is made between captive (in-house) production and merchant market. 

Animal health is a segment of the life sciences industry at the interface of pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Global sales were 15 billion in 2005 ( 14.5 billion in 2004, 13.8 billion in 2001, inflation-adjusted). Of the top 10 companies, 9 are business units or spinoffs from pharmaceutical companies (see Table 11.9). The industry is rather concentrated, with the top 10 companies accounting for 75% of total sales. As they do in pharma, US companies dominate in animal health products. Many of the veterinary products in the portfolios had originally been developed for human use or as pesticides. In the pet (respectively companion animal) segment, which comprises cats, dogs, birds, some rodents, reptiles, and horses and represents about 40% of the total market, the association with human health is particularly prominent. 

The development of new products for new markets (e.g., electronic chemicals for a fine-chemical company thus far dealing only with life sciences) is the task of corporate development. The latter is a staff function reporting to the CEO. It deals with activities outside the authority of the operating divisions. Apart from new products for new markets, it also looks after joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and divestitures. 

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. 

Market intelligence in the following areas Life science industry in general... 

Among other companies listed in Table 1, the largest in the computational chemistry market is Accelrys and has product offerings ranging from chemistry to the life sciences to materials science. Tripos, Inc. is another large company with a broad range of software products and services. New companies pop up on the scene from time to time, so a search of the World Wide Web will likely turn up additional vendors of niche software. 

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