Michael is currently director of differentiating technologies for the Drug Substance business at Evonik Health Care. He has over 17 years of experience in pharmaceutical process development, and the pharmaceutical and CMO industry. Michael holds a PhD in organic synthesis from the University of Heidelberg in Germany, and completed a PhD research fellowship at Texas A&M University in the U.S. He began his industry career as a laboratory head at Archimica in Frankfurt, and then transitioned through various roles in R&D and process development at Archimica’s successor companies Euticals and AMRI, as well as at Evonik Health Care, before taking on his current business role. Michael’s main areas of interest include catalysis, continuous processing, high potent manufacturing and the sustainable production of APIs and intermediates.  

Abstract

Being part of today’s Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) industry feels significantly different to two decades ago, when I began my professional career as a chemist. Back then, CDMOs were referred to as Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs), and the concept of contract manufacturing as a business model was just starting to take shape…

Being part of today’s Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) industry feels significantly different to two decades ago, when I began my professional career as a chemist. Back then, CDMOs were referred to as Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs), and the concept of contract manufacturing as a business model was just starting to take shape. At that time, the tasks of chemists were often relatively rigidly defined and primarily limited to the implementation of existing processes – innovative impulses were less in demand.

Since the 1990s, as pharmaceutical companies sought to consolidate and focus on their core value-generating competencies, a lot has changed. While the CDMO sector has evolved into a substantial industry in its own right, the profile of its scientists and their competencies has also transformed. Today, there are more than a thousand companies worldwide offering highly differentiated services to global pharmaceutical firms, generating more than US$180 billion revenue and employing tens of thousands of scientists (1).

Unlike any other industry, the global healthcare supply chain has become a w ...