Q&A with Tony MacDonald, Spectrum

Q&A with

Tony MacDonald, president of Spectrum Laboratories

PharmTech:

What is the biggest industry challenge you're now facing?

MacDonald:

The biggest industry challenge that we see is reducing the cost of single-use technology. Making the technology more affordable would broaden accessibility to the rapid scale-up of vaccine production and help avoid batch-to-batch contamination.

PharmTech:

How do you stay abreast of new developments in the industry?

MacDonald:

Spectrum Laboratories stays abreast of new developments in the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and biotech markets by maintaining direct contact with end users through our direct sales and marketing team and our distribution partners across the globe. We also attend industry conferences and seminars frequently.

PharmTech:

Do you see a new industry trend emerging?

MacDonald:

The industry trend that is emerging is the replacement of processing equipment that entails a large capital expense, such as stainless-steel vessels, with low-cost and adaptable single-use flow paths. More and more single-use processing components are becoming available, thus increasing the amount of production-scale manufacturing that relies on single-use technology.

PharmTech:

What is the most common demand your clients are currently making of you?

MacDonald:

The most common demands from our customers are traceability of raw materials and materials that are free of animal byproducts.