March 7, 2011

The solid dosage form remains a pillar of the contract manufacturing industry. Maybe it's not as sexy as the prefilled syringe or as esoteric as the metered-dose inhaler, but it's still a dominant dosage form for small molecule drugs. Knowing it's a many-headed beast, we spoke to a series of manufacturers about the state of the business in 2011. Most were optimistic and talked in terms of an upward spike in business, but some were downbeat about their prospects. While some CMOs cited a decline in major clients as a result of big pharma rationalization, and a dropoff in smaller clients because of straitened finances, others felt that differentiating technology and customer service helped them weather the storm of the recession.