Contract Pharma Grows In China

The nondisclosure agreement is a defining feature of business between drug companies and the firms that supply their chemicals. It reflects a culture of secrecy that makes pharma companies loath to reveal their suppliers of fine chemicals and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). It’s not surprising, then, that unsubstantiated anecdotes abound in any discussion of trends in contract manufacturing of pharmaceutical chemicals. One of the most prominent claims lately has been that business is looking up in Europe and the U.S. because a lot of the work that used to be outsourced to China is returning to the West. Fine chemicals firms claim that Western drug companies have learned through experience that doing business with a supplier on the other side of the world is not as much of a bargain as had been perceived. The firms also argue that drug companies have growing safety concerns following scandals such as the ...