Pharmaceutical Fine Chemicals: The industry is advancing with new chemistry, new technology, and expanding

Fine chemicals producers serving the pharmaceutical industry are busy increasing their capacities, acquiring new technologies, and offering new chemicals as intermediates and reaction auxiliaries. And in the universities, academicians are devising new chemistries of their own that seem feasible to scale up to commercial production. With these activities, the world's pharmaceutical fine chemicals industry continues its progress. Enrico T. Polastro, vice president and senior industry specialist for pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals at Arthur D. Little International, Brussels, estimates 1999 worldwide pharmaceutical fine chemicals sales at $22 billion, growing at 7 to 8% per year through 2004. These figures are for merchant sales only and do not include the value of intermediates and bulk active drugs made captively by drug firms Speaking at Performance Chemicals magazine's Fine Chemicals Conference in London in November 1999, Polastro concluded that pharmaceutical fine chemicals producers will remain profi...