High-containment or high-potency manufacturing
. The survey also examined the extent of spending in specialized areas such as high-containment or high-potency manufacturing
for all product forms. The survey showed that 25.3% of respondents increased their spending on equipment and machinery used
for high-containment or high-potency finished-drug product manufacturing, 55.8% kept it the same, and 18.9% decreased spending
in this area.
Planned expenditures for 2010 are commensurate with 2009 levels. The survey showed that 24.6% of respondents plan to increase
their spending on equipment and machinery used for high-containment or high-potency finished-drug product manufacturing, 52.3%
kept it the same, and 18.9% decreased spending in this area.
Continuous processing
. One area for more robust spending was machinery and equipment used in continuous processing for finished-drug products.
Although the pharmaceutical industry primarily uses batch manufacturing, certain functions in solid-dosage manufacturing may
operate in a semicontinuous mode, and in general, there is ongoing interest in continuous processing under a quality-by-design
paradigm. The survey showed that 30.4% of respondents plan to increase their expenditures on equipment and machinery used
in continuous processing in 2010, 53.4% plan to keep it the same, and 16% plan to decrease it. The number of respondents planning
to increase spending in this area (30.4%) is up significantly from 2009, when only 19.1% of survey respondents increased spending
for equipment used in continuous processing.Approximately two-thirds (62.8%) spent the same, and 18.1% decreased their expenditures.
Innovation trends
The survey examined to what extent companies were involved with specialized manufacturing or newer manufacturing technologies.
Despite the uptick in spending for equipment and machinery used in continuous processing of finished-drug products, the majority
of respondents (61.3%) said they do not use such equipment in their manufacturing process.
Survey respondents, however, were largely favorable of the level of product innovation for equipment and machinery used in
continuous processing for finished-drug products. Almost two-thirds (62.5%) of respondents said that the level of product
innovation in this area has been "high" and "medium" during the past two years (2008 and 2009). Thirty-nine percent said there
has been "little or no" innovation in continuous-processing equipment for finished-drug product manufacturing during the past
two years.
Respondents were fairly satisfied with the level of product innovation in solid-dosage manufacturing overall, but were less
satisfied with the level of innovation for specific equipment types. More than half (58.3%) of respondents said that the level
of product innovation in solid-dosage manufacturing equipment was "high" or "medium" during the past two years. Nearly one-quarter
(24.5%) said it was "low," and 17.2% said there has been no innovation during the past two years.
Respondents were slightly less sanguine about advances in tablet presses and capsule-filling machines. Only about half (52.4%)
of respondents said that product innovation of these equipment types was "high" or "medium" during the past two years. Only
13.6% of respondents characterized innovation for tablet presses or capsule-filling machines as "high," and 38.8% ranked it
as "medium." Almost half (47.6%) of respondents said there has been "little or no" innovation in tablet presses or capsule-filling
machines during the past two years (2008 and 2009). The survey showed that 28.6% of respondents said there has been "little"
innovation, and 19.0% said there has been "no" innovation.
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