Many existing drug manufacturing companies already work with contract manufacturing companies to produce one or more of the pharmaceutical brands and products they offer. For new companies, or for existing drug companies that are seeking an alternative, looking for the best pharmaceutical contract manufacturing companies will be an important exercise.
Ideally, start considering the various pharmaceutical contract manufacturing companies as easily in the drug development process as possible. Often these companies can provide insight into packaging options and manufacturing choices that can help to reduce the cost per unit in packaging, which is an important consideration in branding and marketing.
Capacity and Capability
There are some pharmaceutical contract manufacturing companies that work only with very large production runs. For new and startup companies or for those providing a specialized pharmaceutical solution for a niche market, these large order requirements can be a challenge.
Talk to the various companies under consideration about the scope of the order both now and in the future. Companies that can scale up production as needed are ideal for new medications.
Compliance and Quality Control
Always check the FDA and other governing bodies to determine the production record of the contract manufacturers under consideration. Ask the company directly as well as check through the records to find out if there were ever recalls on pharmaceuticals they were packaging.
Quality control should be a central consideration with all of these companies. Check to make sure they have been recently inspected by the governing bodies, including the FDA, DEA, and MHRA as well as any other regulatory agency required for your product.
Ability to Work to Your Orders
Along with capacity and capability, verify with the company the turnaround time to start production and to complete orders once the pharmaceutical product has been approved for production.
For an existing approved medication, find out if the company is able to start production immediately of if packaging orders will need to wait until there is processing capacity available.
