Makers of medicines may be at the cutting edge of science and technology, but, in its attitude towards manufacturing, it is hard to find an industry that has been more conservative than pharmaceuticals.

In consumer goods, carmaking, electronics and fashion, price competition forced companies decades ago to embrace radical changes to their production methods. In the drugs industry, high profit margins, strict regulation and a basic fear of running short of stocks of pills - driven, in part, by concerns about patient safety – have discouraged innovation. All the big global pharmaceutical companies control nearly everything themselves – from research to the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and logistics – but this may be starting to change.

Intense competition on price from makers of generic drugs, falling profitability and a quest to improve efficiency before patents expire on blockbuster drugs are driving pharmaceutical companies to rethink how they make and distribute medicines. The industry is waking up to outsourcing and contract manufacturing.

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