Q&A On Contract Manufacturing Trends

By Dr. Jeffrey Reingold, Manager, Research & Development, Contract Pharmacal Corp.

How have trends in the natural foods/supplements/personal care industry affected the contract manufacturing industry? What's hot?

Increased obligations for written procedures, manufacturing operations, and quality control has forced nutritional organizations to invest a great deal of time and capital. The biggest challenge for contract manufacturers of dietary supplements is the requirement for full testing of all active dietary ingredients. CPC reacted to this new regulation by more than doubling the size of our analytical laboratory and implementing full testing on products – testing to confirm the FDA's requisite of identity, purity, quality, strength, and composition of dietary supplements. We will employ in 2009 approximately 50 full time chemists. Along with comprehensive analytical testing, CPC performs accelerated stability testing as well as validation on products.