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This study investigates the conformance quality benefits of colocating manufacturing with research and development (R&D) activities. Findings from a panel data set of U.S.-based pharmaceutical plants over a 13-year period reveal that colocation of manufacturing and R&D relates to better conformance quality, on average, across the entire sample. We find that these benefits of colocation persist throughout the time period we study (1994-2007), which is surprising, given the rapid development of information and communication technologies during that time. These benefits are particularly enhanced for manufacturing plants operating with processes that involve a high level of tacit process knowledge and that belong to large firms. Our findings highlight the importance of matching organizational design with process and firm characteristics in settings involving knowledge interdependence. They also highlight the continued value of physical proximity through geographical colocation between manufacturing and R&D activities to achieve desired quality outcomes. Keywords: colocation; knowledge interdependence; organizational design; intraorganizational learning; quality management; pharmaceutical manufacturing; information technology History: Received January 4, 2012; accepted October 20, 2014, by Serguei Netessine, operations management. Published online in Articles in Advance May 18, 2015., 1. Introduction Should manufacturing activities occur in close proximity to research and development (R&D) activities? The question of whether colocation--i.e., reducing the physical distance between organizational units--can benefit manufacturing performance [...]

Chemical manufacturing is conducted using either batch systems or continuous-flow systems. Flow systems have several advantages over batch systems, particularly in terms of productivity, heat and mixing efficiency, safety, and reproducibility (1-4). However, for over half a century, pharmaceutical manufacturing has used batch systems because the synthesis of complex molecules such as drugs has been difficult to achieve with continuous-flow systems (5, 6). Here we describe the continuous-flow synthesis of drugs using only columns packed with heterogeneous catalysts. Commercially available starting materials were successively passed through four columns containing achiral and chiral heterogeneous catalysts to produce (R)-rolipram (7), an anti-inflammatory drug and one of the family of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) derivatives (8). In addition, simply by replacing a column packed with a chiral heterogeneous catalyst with another column packed with the opposing enantiomer, we obtained antipole (S)-rolipram. Similarly, we also synthesized (R)-phenibut, another drug belonging to the GABA family. These flow systems are simple and stable with no leaching of metal catalysts. Our results demonstrate that multistep (eight steps in this case) chemical transformations for drug synthesis can proceed smoothly under flow conditions using only heterogeneous catalysts, without the isolation of any intermediates and without the separation of any catalysts, co-products, by-products, and excess reagents. We anticipate that such syntheses will be useful in pharmaceutical manufacturing., Although the chemical and biotechnology industries have preferred to use continuous-flow systems because of their high productivity and efficiency, fine chemical production has been conducted using batch systems because the [...]

The analysis of pharmaceutical peptide samples to determine the peptide and associated counterion typically requires multiple methods. For example, current USP and EP monographs for oxytocin use high performance liquid [...]

A column chromatographer's goal is to produce separation methods that provide baseline resolution of each analyte peak in a reasonably short analysis time. One way chromatographers have defined the effectiveness [...]

Introduction The relevance of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement to developing countries has been widely discussed at international fora, particularly regarding the impact of pharmaceutical product [...]

Food and drug encapsulation and the available technologies, including in situ polymerization, vapor-phase deposition, Wurster coating, interfacial polymerization, matrix/entrapment, and pan coating are discussed. There are other processes that are proprietary, and there are various purposes for encapsulation. Microencapsulation, carbonless copy paper, and the process of coacervation are explained. Companies whose products are discussed include Ronald T. Dodge Co., Nutravail, Wright Group, 3M of Canada, and Southwest Research Inst.

Combination of platinum and gold as nanoparticles promise the development of highly efficient catalysts, but researchers have long struggled to push the catalysts for industrial use. Rice University chemists have [...]

Value-added substances can be removed from plant materials to be used in pharmaceutical products, foods and nutraceuticals through the use of chromatography techniques and other separation methods. Chromatography can be used to identify desired peaks; then the components can be separated as they come from the 50- to 60-L columns on an industrial scale. The largest supercritical chromatography plan is at Industrias Quimicas Asociadas in Spain. The process is from KD Pharma, which owns the patent and uses the process to separate fatty acid fractions for nutraceuticals from fish oil. Hauser of Boulder, CO, extracts and purifies plant material compounds for dietary supplements, flavors and food additives and uses various separation techniques from nutraceuticals ingredients, among them chromatography. At MBI Intnl, formerly Michigan Biotechnology Inst., researchers are working on separation processes related to nutraceuticals.

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