Sigma-Aldrich

Sigma-Aldrich is a major supplier, via our Fine Chemicals division, of large quantities of our products used by the health care industry.

Pharmaceutical companies account for over 50% of our Fine Chemicals sales. These customers have a single focus, to be first and fastest to market with a steady stream of new drugs. Our strategy is to be the leading supplier of starting materials to help them achieve their goals. Companies seek us out since our experience, expertise and stability in the industry help streamline the process. They recognize that Sigma-Aldrich has the know-how and quality products to meet their exacting requirements.

In the Pharmaceutical industry, once a good drug candidate has been identified by research, larger quantities are required for toxicity testing. Companies then need a fast, reliable source of the intermediates for the scale-up of the drug. With unsurpassed, varied manufacturing expertise and sourcing capabilities, our Fine Chemicals division is ideally suited to meet these needs. Another of our major advantages is that we have both organic and biochemical manufacturing capabilities. Certain compounds can be made by combining these techniques. And demand is high, as few drugs in development actually survive the rigorous testing required to make it to market. Consequently, there are always new drug candidates in production, all of which present opportunities for Sigma-Aldrich indicated by our excellent USA sales results in 2001.

Biological Buffers, St. Louis, MO.
New 5,000 gallon reactor doubles production capacity.

cGMP KiloLabs, Gillingham UK
The segregated labs enable small-scale custom synthesis and ensure smooth technology transfer as projects progress through scale up.

Cell Culture Production, St. Louis, MO. FDA-registered and cGMP-compliant plant.

As a drug enters human clinical trials, even larger quantities are needed and product purity and consistency become even more crucial. With cGMP(current Good Manufacturing Practice)-compliant and FDA-regulated manufacturing plants located in St. Louis, Missouri; Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Gillingham, United Kingdom; and Buchs, Switzerland; Sigma-Aldrich can provide increased quantities of products used in this phase of the drug development process to customers anywhere in the world.

When a drug makes it to market, Sigma-Aldrich is well-positioned to supply the key intermediates (especially those involving very complex synthesis) or in some cases even the drug itself. We do, in fact, manufacture several drugs, some of which are used in the treatment of rare cancers.

Looking ahead, Biotechnology production of proteins for Pharmaceutical applications will require larger scale fermentation and, in many cases, for economic reasons, the use of transgenics. Here a human gene that "produces" a specific protein is placed in either a plant or animal, which then produces the required human protein. Using this technique, human proteins are being extracted from plants (corn/tobacco/rice) and animals via their milk (cow/goats) or eggs (chickens). We are already working with companies in this area and commercialization is only a question of time. With lots of experience in such extractions ("grind and find"), this is just another potential opportunity for Sigma-Aldrich.

We are also a major supplier of Cell Culture media and chemical buffers for the production of both human and animal vaccines. Sales are growing very nicely. Our large-scale Cell Culture facility in St. Louis, completed in 1998, is among the best in the world. Demand for products from our Cell Culture plant in Scotland has also been high and we are adding capacity with a $7 million expansion. We are also a leading supplier of buffers (to control acidity/alkalinity) used in nearly every Biotechnology application. It's our largest volume product line - we make many hundreds of tons every year.

We have major sales to most of the world's leading Diagnostic producers of constituents for their reagents. Again, our quality systems and FDA and ISO-9001 certified cGMP manufacturing facilities are key to obtaining business, as Diagnostics is a very regulated industry.

It's worth noting our latest acquisition, Isotec, supplies isotopes through the Scientific Research division for the non-invasive (Positron Emission Topography) diagnosis of cancer, cardiac and neurological disorders and stomach ulcers.

Sigma-Aldrich supplies a wide range of chemicals and biochemicals. We're also the only supplier of synthetic cholesterol in kilogram quantities in the world. This is a bit ironic as we also help make products to test and lower cholesterol!

Our Diagnostics division is focused in the areas of clinical chemistry, especially for cardiac profiling and coagulation. We provide both instruments and reagents for laboratory testing to hospitals, doctors' and commercial laboratories and universities worldwide.

Here Sigma-Aldrich is a small supplier in a market dominated by very large companies. We made two acquisitions in 2000, both of which adversely affected our profitability in 2001.

First Medical (USA) is an innovator in the fast-growth, cardiac point-of-care market. Sales were well below expectations.

The sales of Amelung (Germany) coagulation instruments and reagents developed satisfactorily.

Health care will be a growing market in the future and we are well-positioned, particularly in Fine Chemicals, with our production and sourcing capabilities.