BASF at CPhI Worldwide in Milan

Exclusive service on behalf of customers

Carrying out confidential and exclusive work on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, BASF manufactures customized active ingredients and highly refined intermediates. BASF’s experts offer support through the pharmaceutical ingredient’s entire lifecycle – from analysis to registration, from kilo laboratories to manufacturing on an industrial scale, from the early development stages and market launch right through to the post-patent stage. Throughout, BASF uses its unique chemical know-how as well as a broad portfolio of basic technologies and differentiation technologies. This includes, for example, phosgene and azide chemistry, asymmetric hydrogenation and low-temperature reactions. In more than 600 cubic meters of flexible multiproduct reactors, all the essential processes can be carried out under cGMP conditions (cGMP stands for current Good Manufacturing Practice).
top of page

Highly functional excipients for better drugs

Formulation with pharmaceutical excipients by BASF helps to create more successful medicines from the pure active ingredients. The product range comprises binders and disintegrants from the Kollidon® family, the Kollicoat® coating polymers and a number of other excipients particularly including solubilizers.

At CPhI 2007, BASF will be unveiling its product innovation Ludiflash®. This new excipient markedly improves the quality and manufacture of rapidly disintegrating tablets. The patient benefits because the tablets quickly dissolve into a fine, creamy solution in the mouth and the active ingredient is released instantly. The tablets can be taken simply without water. The pharmaceutical manufacturer in turn saves time and money: It can produce the tablets using direct compression on standard tableting machines. Ludiflash facilitates the production of mechanically stable tablets that are suitable for packaging in all standard packaging materials.
top of page

Reliable quality with active ingredients from BASF

BASF provides generic active ingredients for many therapeutic fields of application, making it the market leader for the substances caffeine, ibuprofen, pseudoephedrine and theophylline. Customers throughout the world can be supplied with products of consistently high quality from a total of five production facilities. Almost all production methods at the sites have been developed by BASF itself. These have been optimized over the years with the aim of satisfying official specifications and cGMP requirements. Refusing to take the properties of the active ingredients for granted, BASF’s experts are continuously refining them to give customers a crucial competitive edge.
top of page

Catalysts for environmental and chemical applications

With its new Catalysts Division, BASF is today one of the world’s leading suppliers of environmental and process catalysts. The company offers exceptional expertise in the development of technologies that protect the air, produce fuels and ensure efficient production of a wide variety of chemicals, plastics and adsorbents.

BASF’s new “Blocking Group Removal” catalysts technology was developed in response to the specific needs of the pharmaceutical and fine chemical marketplace. Characterized by a unique deposition technology used in conjunction with strict adherence to a narrow range of catalyst supports, BASF’s Blocking Group Removal catalysts are designed to achieve significant cost savings in reactions requiring a deprotection step. BASF’s Blocking Group Removal catalysts ensure fast, optimal removal of blocking groups used in organic synthesis. In addition to high catalytic activity and superior selectivity, these catalysts exhibit enhanced filtration characteristics.

BASF continually develops new intelligent solutions based on the latest catalyst technologies for its customers. The company delivers these “Enabling Technologies” to the fine chemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical markets to make its customers more successful in their dynamically changing environments. The portfolio of enabling technologies, including precious metal and base metal hetero- and homogeneous catalysts and metal scavenging materials, is continuously strengthened by focused R&D and licensing of new technologies:
top of page

Tailor-made intermediates and comprehensive service

Developing new intermediates targeted specifically at the pharmaceutical market, BASF can support customer projects from the lab scale to the commercial stage. The company has access to the world’s largest range of chemical intermediates, more than 600 of them are directly available in the Intermediates Division.

The brand name ChiPros® represents BASF’s broad and growing range of chiral amines, alcohols, epoxides and acids. The pharmaceutical industry is a major market for ChiPros, using them in complex drug synthesis. Chiral molecules are found as two varieties that mirror each other: A small, subtle difference that has a great impact on the effect of medical drugs. In many cases, only one of the molecule types will achieve the desired medical effect.

BASF also has one of the most extensive technology platforms for manufacturing achiral specialties for the chemical and life science industries, for example specialty amines and heterocycles.

As reaction media in chemical processes BASF’s ionic liquids open up opportunities not achievable with any other solvent. Compared to conventional products the use of ionic liquids leads to higher efficiency and improved yields, less by-products and less energy consumption. BASF offers a broad range of ionic liquids and is also prepared to advise and otherwise support customers in applying ionic liquids to fine chemical & pharmaceutical synthesis. As ionic liquids have so many positive characteristics they are increasingly used in industrial applications, especially in the pharmaceutical industry.

High-end standard intermediates for the pharmaceutical industry

BASF’s broad range of standard intermediates is aimed at meeting the demanding needs of customers in the pharmaceutical industry. The company manufactures products like tetrahydrofuran (THF), N methylpyrrolidone (NMP) and pharma-grade diazabicycloundecene (DBU P) to the excellent quality standards required in the sophisticated production processes of the pharmaceutical industry. It also offers customized services, such as support in implementing REACH, development of customized intermediates, quality management audits, support with toxicological and analytical questions and even with product safety issues.

BASF is the only supplier in the world offering tetrahydrofuran (THF) with an extremely low residual water content of 0.01 percent maximum. The outstanding purity of this intermediate, which is used as solvent, is essential because the purer the ingredients, the lower the risk of causing undesirable side effects. High-purity THF is especially well suited for use in those new and complex water-sensitive reactions occurring frequently in the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. These are based on organometallic compounds that would disintegrate in contact with water, for example Grignard reagents.

A globe-spanning network of production sites gives BASF maximum flexibility in supplying standard intermediates. BASF supports the growth of its customers at all stages of the market and offers highly dependable supplies. A growing global network of pharmaceutical experts works to meet the specific demands of the pharmaceutical industry, helping customers to become even more successful in this challenging market.

From lab to launch: Inorganic specialties

BASF offers its customers an extensive portfolio of inorganic chemicals with a strong focus on reagents for organic synthesis, including alkali metals used for reductions, alcoholates used as strong bases and catalysts, boron trifluoride and a wide range of liquid boron trifluoride complexes used as lewis acid catalysts, borane chemicals used for highly selective reductions and hydroborations, new boron products that support the rapidly growing chemistry technology known as Suzuki coupling, as well as hydroxylamine and its derivatives which are used for organic synthesis.

Driven by customers’ needs BASF continuously works on the expansion of its inorganic specialties portfolio and presents innovative solutions targeted at pharmaceutical as well as contract research and contract manufacturing companies. Recent examples of new product launches include hydroxylamine-O-sulfonic acid, a versatile aminating agent, O-benzylhydroxylamine hydrochloride as well as new reagents to make boron enolates, like dicyclohexylchloroborane (DCBCl) and dibutylboron triflate (DBBT).

BASF also provides regulatory support and pharmaceutical development services. Providing full analytical support, BASF has the facilities to generate all the relevant safety and toxicology parameters. The services the company offers thus help its customers to be more successful.