iformula

By David Calvert

As the football transfer window draws to a close with the world record being broken with the transfer of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, our thoughts turned to the equivalent in the formulation world and some of the more interesting merger and acquisition news in the formulation arena.

In the pharma world, many of the major drug companies have lost their “Gareth Bale” as their big drugs go off patent. Pfizer had exclusive marketing rights for Lipitor, and brought in more than $12 billion in one year at it’s peak, but this exclusivity expired in November 2011. Eli Lilly & Co had the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa (worth more than $5 billion at its peak) but also lost that in October 2011. Still both companies had money to burn with Pfizer holding $23 billion at the end of Q3 2012 and Eli Lilly had $6.9 billion. Both were rumoured to be interested in purchasing Bausch and Lomb, but that company was purchased for $8.7 billion by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in May of this year

When football teams enter a new league, they look to buy those with experience at that level. In the formulation arena entering a new market is no different and Reckitt Benckiser’s purchase of Schiff Nutrition for about $1.4 billion at the end of 2012 will allow them to enter the vitamins and supplements markets, but perhaps more interestingly in their own words will bring “significant synergies” so keep your eyes open for some new “set-piece routines”!

Unlike football, there is now window for acquisitions, so there is no deadline for companies to purchase GSK’s Ribena and Lucozade brands. Following the collapse of the merger with Britvic, AG Barr, makers of Irn-Bru, were rumoured to be considering a bid around the £1bn mark. But as this article was being drafted, they were usurped as the news came through that Suntory have bought the brands for £1.35billion.

So gossip lovers everywhere need not fear with the closure of the football transfer window, there will be plenty of activity in formulation to keep us all interested!

(Image: hinnamsaisuy at freedigitalphotos.net)

Attendees at the new one day training course “Solid State Stability of Formulations” were intrigued to learn how defining the “edge of failure” can help formulators anticipate and diagnose problems with solid stability. Whether it’s chemical degradation in a solid tablet, or physical properties of a powdered solid, understanding and defining the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable performance are the first steps in a stability evaluation programme.

Delegates from across Europe benefited from attended the course held on May 8th near Nottingham, UK and which was run by iFormulate Ltd of UK in association with FreeThink Technologies from the USA. Attendees were drawn from industries as diverse as detergents, pharmaceuticals and packaging and they described the content as “thought provoking” and containing “very good presentations” which were “very detailed” with “a lot of information” which provided “a good basis for rapid stability determination”. Overall the programme was described as consisting of “excellent topics”.

Course organiser, Dr David Calvert of iFormulate Ltd said: “The course tutors from FreeThink and iFormulate were able to draw upon their wealth of practical industrial experience and sound scientific knowledge. So it was clear from the open discussion sessions during the day, as well as follow-up after the course, that the attendees derived a huge amount of benefit in a very cost-effective way”.

It is provisionally planned to repeat the successful course. Details of the course are still available on the iFormulate website and anyone who’d like to know more is encouraged to e-mail info@iformulate.biz for further details.

iFormulate Ltd, May 2013

As the summer finally arrives in the UK, we thought we could take stock as to how formulations help to make it an even more enjoyable experience and highlight some recent patents granted or applied for.

As the sun comes out, protection is needed for your skin and all skincare treatments only function thanks to formulation technology. During our recent training, iFormulate4Nano, we discussed the use of nano titanium dioxide in products such as sunscreens and some of the increased scrutiny that these products are now coming under. Kao Corporation were granted a patent earlier this year (US8343466B2) for hydrogel particles which contained nano titanium dioxide as the UV shielding component.

All those who suffer from hay fever know how important anti-histamine treatments are. First generation products such as diphenhydramine and hydroxyzine were effective but had side-effects such as drowsiness. Products based on loratidine, astemizole and terfenadine eliminated these side-effects, but, if truth be told, were not as effective as the first generation. A patent application published earlier this year (US 20130053400 A1, originally assigned to Nektar Therapeutics) looks to combine the best of both worlds by covalently attaching a water soluble oligomer to antihistamine drugs. As well as this chemical modification, the patent outlines a number of formulation options allowing this to be administered by a number of different routes.

Once you have been protected from the sun and pollen, a good day in the sun is rounded off by an ice-cream. Of course there is a drive towards sugar-free in many foodstuffs and a patent application published earlier this year (US20130164428 A1, originally assigned to Jon Gordon and Candice Johnston) claims an improved sugar-free formulation. The inventive ice-cream is made through a complex multi-phase process utilizing fat globules, ice crystals and air cells producing a highly viscous concentrate. Most importantly, it claims that the resulting product is palatable!

So, in the heat of the forthcoming weeks, formulators can rest easy knowing that their efforts are helping all to have a healthy and enjoyable summer.

David Calvert

(Image: Idea go – freedigitalphotos.net)

By David Calvert

We recently ran a poll on our LinkedIn Group asking the group members what they would regard as a good measure for innovation success. The choices in the poll were inspired by a list issued by Reuters, which used patents as the major measure for innovation success and created a list of the top 100 innovators. The results from our poll are shown in the graphic.

A clear winner from the poll was the opinion that the number of new products introduced was a good metric. Interestingly we saw not one vote for an increase in share price – I wonder how many CEOs of listed companies would agree with that? The comments from respondents suggested that the appropriate measure did depend upon the size and nature of the company in question. For instance a small formulating company may not have a patent portfolio due to the cost of filing and maintaining patents, but the company could still be regarded as very innovative. The lack of patent portfolio does not of course mean that there is a lack of IP.

Thanks to all who took part in the poll. Join the iFormulate LinkedIn Group to take part in our new poll which gives you choices as to what are the major barriers to the introduction of nano-materials. At present stability in the formulation seems to be the biggest factor but that can all change. As the saying goes, “you decide!”

Mastery of formulation technology is a vital matter for companies developing new and improved products in industries as diverse as paints, inks, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and food. Over recent years companies in those industries have become tired of hearing that formulation science and technology belong to the “dark arts” and can only be learned over decades of empirical practice in the alchemist’s lab. Employers and employees alike face a number of challenges, the first being that few colleges or universities provide identifiable qualifications in formulation science, as it straddles a number of traditional disciplines including chemistry, physics, materials and engineering. That presents a problem on recruitment, how do you know whether a candidate’s qualifications will help them to be a formulator? Secondly, once in the job, how can the employee and line manager plot a course for professional development that takes the employee to a highly proficient level? What are the appropriate training courses and qualifications, what level of expertise is needed, and who can provide training and assessment?
For these reasons iFormulate Ltd (which provides innovation consultancy in the area of formulation) has been engaged by Cogent (Sector Skills Council) to work with companies in the “formulating industries” to help them define and realise their long-term objectives in developing and embedding employee skills in formulation science and technology. Recently we drafted a Curriculum for Formulation and expect to develop this further with industry.
Cogent and industry representatives plan for formulation to be a significant part of a major new “Science Industry Partnership” for skills in the process and life science industries. The Partnership will operate at all levels, from vocational through to senior professional and scientific.

Working with industry we’ve helped to draft an innovative new plan for a modular Masters in Formulation Science and Technology, which will be one of the programmes operated by the Science Industry Partnership. Companies with an interest in upping their skills levels in formulation are encouraged to get in touch with iFormulate (initially via e-mail to info@iformulate.biz) to find out how they can benefit.
Jim Bullock

Cogent Sector Skills Council: Seminar for Industry – Free to attend

15^th March 2013, The Heath, Runcorn

Formulation Science and Technology is an essential capability which underpins business success in sectors as diverse as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents, food, agrochemicals, paints, inks and lubricants. However until now there been a lack of coherent provision of skills and training for formulation. As a consequence, employers report that it remains difficult to both find and develop employees with the right skills for scientific, technical and production functions at all levels from vocational to professional. This has an obvious knock-on effect on the ability of those companies to innovate in both products and processes.

The good news is that now something serious is being done about skills provision for formulation. Cogent Sector Skills Council would like to invite you to a free Seminar where you can hear about Gold Standards in Formulation- (tools that your company can use right away – as well as get involved in the plans for a proposed new Industrial Partnership for Formulation Skills and Training. There will be a chance to hear from industrial speakers about why skills and training in formulation are so important to them in as well as to hear about the major new developments to support innovation and R&D in UK industry which will result from the Special Interest Group (SIG) for Formulation, sponsored by the Technology Strategy Board.

To register to attend this free seminar, simply e-mail your full contact details to Ryan Jones at Cogent SSC: E: ryan.jones@cogent-ssc.com or T: 01925 515245.

This seminar is supported by Chemistry Innovation KTN and iFormulate Ltd www.iformulate.biz.

Agenda

9.00 Registration: tea/coffee & networking

9.50 Welcome. Jenny Clucas: Cogent SSC

10.00 Why is Formulation important to industry and what are the opportunities? Paul Stott – AstraZeneca – Director, Formulation Science

10.30   Cogent’s Gold Standard Framework and the new Gold Standards in Formulation. Jenny Clucas:  Cogent SSC

11.00   Professionalising Formulation – Members Opinions and the Role of Professional Bodies. Hilda Coulsey:  IChemE

11.20   Break – tea/coffee

11.35   The proposed Industrial Partnership – How could it work for industry? Jenny Clucas:  Cogent SSC

12. 05  What Could a Formulation Curriculum look like? Jim Bullock: iFormulate Ltd

12.30   Lunch: Networking

13.30   Interactive workshop session:

What are the most pressing needs and challenges of companies?

What are the examples of best practice in industry?

How should an Industrial Partnership function?

Which other elements are important and should be incorporated?

What should be in a formulation curriculum?

14.15   New opportunities for industrial innovation in formulation – the new TSB funded Formulation R&D call and the proposed National Formulation Centre. Darren Ragheb: Chemistry Innovation KTN

14.45   Wrap up & close

The Technology Strategy Board is to invest up to £5m in feasibility projects and collaborative research and development to accelerate the development of new ways of designing, improving and manufacturing complex high-value formulated products in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents, food, agrochemicals, paints, adhesives, lubricants and formulated process chemicals. A further £1m is available for collaborative research and development from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The formulated products market in the UK is worth around £180bn a year. This competition is designed to support innovative developments which overcome the challenges facing the formulated products industry.

This competition has two strands:

Strand 1 makes up to £5m available for collaborative R&D projects. These must be business-led, include an end user formulating company, and last one to three years. Businesses can attract up to 50% public funding for their project costs (60% for SMEs). Projects will focus mainly on industrial research.

Strand 2 offers up to £1m for feasibility projects. These must be business-led, may be collaborative or led by single companies, and should last six to nine months. Businesses can attract up to 65% public funding for their project costs (75% SMEs).

Projects are expected to have a total value (including grant and private sector contributions) of up to £1m for collaborative R&D and up to £100k for feasibility projects. Projects larger than this are eligible to apply but applicants should first contact competitions@innovateuk.org before submitting their expression of interest.

The official call document is now available from the competition page on the TSB website or from this link.

Applicants may also be interested in via the Formulation Special Interest Group pages on the  _Connect website.

An overview of the TSB Sponsored Special Interest Group can be downloaded here. As well as providing information on the R&D Competition in Formulation, the overview describes the current progress to create a major new UK National Formulation Centre.

(Image: Baitong333 at freedigitalphotos.net)

We were delighted to have a presentation and discussion slot at Nutraformulate 2013, held in Birmingham in March and run by Step Exhibitions. The exhibition was, as usual, busy and full of lively discussions at and around the stands. We found it an excellent show to visit and were able to make a number of excellent new business contacts as well as catch up with some old faces.

We presented on Open Innovation, and in particular our novel Open Innovation (OI) Roadshow format. In  the presentation we provided a case study which demonstrated the benefits which can be realised if a number of companies can be brought together to share their knowledge, experience, ideas and challenges. Formulation is an excellent topic on which to base the OI Roadshow because companies can be drawn from industries which do not compete with each other. So, even without the need for complex secrecy agreements we found that attendees were able to be exceptionally open with each other and this engendered an excellent atmosphere for sharing ideas and challenges. In the first OI Roadshow series the four companies were from the food, pharmaceutical, pesticide and household products industries.

We are now planning for a follow-up series of OI activities along similar lines and any companies who are interested in finding out about taking part are encouraged to get in touch with us, initially by e-mail on info@iformulate.biz.

For further information, have a look at our Nutraformulate presentation.

Jim Bullock, March 2013.

The Natural Colour Summit 2013, held in Amsterdam and run by FI Conferences, brought together delegates from around the world to hear about challenges and opportunities with Natural Colours. With growth in the market driven by consumer and regulatory pressures, the opportunities are clear. Regulations are not straightforward however and we heard from several speakers about the importance of keeping abreast of changes in regulatory systems across the world.

With the increased uptake of Natural Colours, the technical demands on those products are increasing too. Unlike with synthetic colours, it’s not possible to design out poor application properties by designing new molecules, instead new approaches to formulation and stabilisation have to be tried. A number of speakers from amongst the colour suppliers were able to talk about the advances they have made, particularly in stabilisation of these often very sensitive products to changes in temperature, heat and light. We also heard about the challenges of reformulating food and beverage products to replace synthetic colours with natural products.

The presentation from iFormulate concentrated on some interesting and novel approaches to formulation drawn from other industries which might be usefully applied to Natural Colours. There is a big opportunity to transfer technologies from industries such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics to the food industry and we expect to see these approaches grow over time.

Please contact us on info@iformulate.biz if you’re interested in any of these approaches.

Jim Bullock, iFormulate 2013

Employers in the chemical-using and process industries have been telling us that it is critically important to make sure that their formulation scientists and technologists have the skills they need to do their job properly.

Formulation skills and understanding are critical to the companies in many sectors who are conducting laboratory R&D, process development as well as pilot and full-scale manufacture of complex formulated products such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, detergents, paints, inks, agrochemicals and processed foods. Additionally the lack of a systematic framework for line-managers to help develop their employees has also been identified as one factor which hinders innovation in formulated product design and manufacture.

To help employers identify and develop the necessary competencies in formulation science and technology Cogent Sector Skills Council has consulted extensively with employers during 2012 and produced three “Gold Standards” for typical job roles relevant to companies engaged in formulation.

The Gold Standard sets the national standard for Continuing Professional Development across key job roles. It operates across four key areas of competency: technical, business improvement, compliance and functional and behavioural. Your employees can begin a journey that will see them work their way towards a world-leading skills set. They can start this at any point on the Gold Standard, depending on development needs.

Before these Gold Standards were finalised, we gave industry a final chance to comment on them and to suggest improvements. To find the draft Gold Standards for Formulation, as well as further information on Cogent’s Gold Standards, just go to the links lower down this page.

Please send any comments or questions you have on the Gold Standards to us at iFormulate Ltd (E-mail address: info@iformulate.biz).

Document Downloads:

GS_Formulation_Scientist_December_2012

GS_Senior_FormulationTechnician_December_2012

GS_Process_Technician_Formulation_December_2012

GoldStandardJourneyFS

Gold_Standard_-_First_Line_Supervisor__Chemicals__Polymers__Final_Report_rev_3__3_

Gold_Standard_-_First_Line_Supervisor__Chemicals__Polymers__Final_Report_Welsh

Jan 22nd 2013