The less you produce in-house, the less you are likely to suffer the headaches of labour disputes and tough environment regulations. There is also a technical reason for this swing towards outsourcing. Finding and testing new molecules for treating various diseases has become increasingly complex, sophisticated and expensive. The advent of chiral chemistry and analysis of racemates have increased the average number of steps in synthesis of new molecules, and is pushing process development and manufacturing to the limits. Research and development eats up more than half the 20-year exclusivity period granted to patented drugs.
Manufacturing can often lead to bottlenecks resulting in loss of precious time and money.
For example, drug company Agouron of France had an exclusivity period of only 36 months for its newly discovered nelfinavir. The company settled for outsourcing the bulk drug from Puerto Rico-based MOVA International. Had Agouron tried to make the product in-house, it would have had to spend another fourteen months to construct a new facility from the conceptual stage. Ananth Iyer Click here to go to main article on contract manufacturing A clash of strategies in colour TVs With the colour TV market becoming more competitive, the war has spilled over to market research data. But the main battle rages on in the area of positioning of products.