Outsourcing

As globalization of drug development and manufacturing gathered steam in the early part of this decade, many pharmaceutical companies in the newly-favoured regions of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America added contract services as adjuncts to their generic API and dosage form businesses. These new units, which in India are known under the unfortunate acronym of CRAMS (contract research and manufacturing services), were opportunistic responses to the growing outsourcing trends. Unfortunately, in many cases, they were not truly strategic commitments to the services business.

Deciding where in the world to locate a new plant is a key decision for any pharma or biotech company - and there has never been more choice. Europe and the US now compete with the Far East and India, and what about the new EU states? Might Lithuania or Estonia turn out to offer advantages compared with France or Germany when it comes to finding the best place to take a new drug forward to the market place?

Actavis Acquires Site From Pfizer, Cardiokine Names President and CEO, More...

Novo Nordisk Drops Inhaled Insulin Product, Neurocrine Appoints CEO and President, More...

Pfizer and Hikal signed a contract manufacturing agreement in which Hikal will supply active pharmaceutical ingredients.

Crucell and Sanofi Pasteur Sign Agreement, WuXi Pharma Names COO, More...

Richard Spoor, senior vice-president of global procurement at Merck & Co., Inc., discusses the company's strategy and progress made in its supply strategy that involves increased outsourcing and implementing lean-manufacturing principles in its manufacturing network. Pharmaceutical Technology's senior editor Patricia Van Arnum moderates.

Merck Sells Facility to Cherokee Pharmaceuticals, Inflazyme Announces Senior Management Resignations, More...

The $6.3 billion Indian pharmaceutical industry is at a crossroad. Aiming to be the international home for quality drugs, which could in itself propel India's market to $20 billion by 2015 according to recent estimates, the generic hothouse is clearly moving beyond its earlier low-cost mindset.

The outsourcing of clinical-trial materials grows as pharmaceutical companies adapt to a changing market.

What should contractors and their clients bear in mind when they collaborate on a project?

The traditional pharmaceutical business model is disintegrating, but the new model is not much different.

News, world briefs, facility roundup, events and other items for January 2008.

How much do you know about parallel trade? Perhaps you may have heard someone mention these words and have then switched off. In a sense, it's hardly surprising given the fact that most media coverage centres on interpretation of complex legal cases. By the time you reach the end of these types of articles, you can't work out what the mentioned companies were arguing about in the first place and on which technical details the case was judged. Yet, time after time, a legal ruling on a parallel trade issue rockets to the front pages of the pharmaceutical press and even, occasionally, the mainstream media.

Although overall pharmaceutical industry investment in R&D in Spain is growing at a slower annual level since 2004, investment in clinical trials remains strong.

The pharmaceutical industry in Asia is gearing up to be at the centre of the global market. Most pharmaceutical companies in the region expect this shift to happen fast. Not only is Asia set to become the largest pharmaceutical market in the world, but many Asian territories will be the powerhouses of the industry. By 2020, the worldwide pharmaceuticals market could be worth around $1.3 trillion, with China being the second or third biggest market.

Millipore and Novozymes Form Alliance, Applied Biosystems Names President and CEO, More

Company and People Notes: West to reduce workforce, Eli Lilly's CEO and chairman to retire, more...

Company and People Notes: Eisai Acquires MGI Pharma, Ceregene Names CEO, More

Company and People Notes: Boehringer Ingelheim Expands Facility, Regulus Therapeutics Names President and CEO, More

Pfizer?s restructuring plans reportedly include major investments in outsourced manufacturing operations, production facility closures, and personnel reductions.

Expansions

Contract service providers exist to help clients meet their strategic and financial business objectives. So any prognostication on what the pharmaceutical outsourcing industry will look like in 30 years is really a forecast of the nature and speed of changes in pharmaceutical technologies and business models.

A surge in capacity in contract microbial and mammalian cell-culture is underway to meet rising production needs for biopharmaceuticals.

The dynamics of the R&D pipeline could undercut recent CRO and CMO successes.