EVENT PREVIEW
A renewed focus on supply chain
ChemOutsourcing takes place in September . We spoke with founder Mark Alexay about the changing face of this event
ChemOutsourcing , the largest US-based API and pharmaceutical ingredients event , returns for the second time post-COVID at the Hilton Hotel in Parsippany , New Jersey , for three full days on 6-8 September . Mark Alexay , president , CEO and founder , says that it will be bigger and better in terms of exhibitors , attendees and content than last year .
“ We made a concerted effort to ensure that the 2022 show would be better than the 2019 show and it was ,” Alexay says . “ We ’ re keen to build on that for 2023 .” Last year , there were about 700 attendees and he is expecting over 1,000 this year . For the first time in 12 years , he has hired some new staff members in order to make this happen and to attract the pharma buyers who have not attended before .
The format is substantially the same as before . ChemOutsourcing – also known as Pharma ChemOutsourcing - comprises a no-frills exhibition with small booths , alongside multiple tracks of panel debates and conference sessions . It focuses on the API development supply chain , spanning raw materials , registered starting materials , catalysts , drug discovery , process and chemical development , analytical , QA and QC , intermediates and the commercial manufacturing of branded and generic small molecule APIs and drug product .
Attendees are generally executive buyers from pharmaceutical companies and consultancies responsible for sourcing these materials . They are all used to working with CROs , C ( D ) MOs and other service providers from North America , Europe and Asia , who make up most of the exhibitor base .
On the content side , this year the focus will be heavily on the supply chain , as in 2022 . The pharma industry has seen considerable supply chain disruptions , while the world as a whole continues to witness a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape that affects this industry and many others .
“ All this affects the supply chain going forward and we want to provide useful information to pharmaceutical and specialty chemical companies , as well as the CDMOs , ” Alexay says . “ It ’ s all about ‘ What just happened ?’ and ‘ Where are we going ?’” This can be a difficult , even contentious subject , he adds , but ChemOutsourcing has always ‘ pushed the envelope ’ in terms of trying to get speakers to open up about subjects that people need to know about .
The more technical part of the conference content will focus on chemistry , manufacturing and controls ( CMC ) both on the small molecule and the large molecule side . These will be the two tracks into which the sessions are divided .
Although ChemOutsourcing remains primarily a small molecule event , it will make some forays into the biological side as an avenue for growth for its existing client base . The aim is also to attract CMC people and other process chemists working in different areas . A full preview will be in the next edition .
Another major feature this year will be workshops . “ This is something I have previously de-emphasised but which I am now reinvigorating because it is so important to be able to speak privately with people on particular topics ,” says Alexay . “ There is only so much you can accomplish in a public room .”
“ There will be both closeddoor private sessions because some matters can become contentious and may become more so , but people still have to get their chemistry , their scale-up and their contract manufacturing done . To accomplish that , they can talk with each other in private workshops , in the corridors of the hotel , as well as in public sessions .”
In addition , the usual array of networking events take place alongside the event , from the breakfasts and lunches that take place on-site to gala evening events . The intention is to foster casual , high-level networking after hours in a way that is not always possible at exhibitions and conference that close in the late afternoon . ●
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58 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981