Stainless steel firms serve drugmakers

A group of niche manufacturers in the Ozarks has a hands-on role in the fight against illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and various flu strains.

From Paul Mueller Co. to Stainless Technology to Custom Metalcraft, Springfield-made stainless equipment is moving to Europe, South America and Southeast Asia, and local stainless steel manufacturers are making their marks in the biopharmaceutical sector.

Much of that steel is being put to work in the development and manufacturing of new drugs by global pharmaceutical companies that include Merck & Co. Inc. and Eli Lilly Co.

Best product for the job

Manufacturers say stainless steel is the product of choice for drugmakers because of its tendency not to react with the harsh and often corrosive chemicals used in the pharmaceutical process. Stainless steel also can be easily sterilized for reuse.

"Everything they do has to be sanitary - there's no room for contamination," said Craig Burrell, Springfield plant manager for Stainless Technology, 4420 E. Mustard Way. "We polish everything to where it looks like a mirror. That keeps bacteria from growing in their product. Once they run a batch, they can sterilize, steam (the machine), clean it and start over."

Stainless steel is used at multiple stages of the pharmaceutical manufacturing process, according to Gregg Shirey, business unit manager for industrial products at Paul Mueller Co., 1600 W. Phelps St.

Paul Mueller manufactures tanks and distillers for use at multiple points of the pharmaceutical process. One example: the company's PyroPure line of products, which purifies water to the exacting drug industry standards for use in injection drugs. Mueller also manufactures "smart" tanks, which have hardware built into the vessels.

Among Paul Mueller's pharmaceutical clients is Merck Sharp & Dohme, which uses Mueller mixers for parenteral drugs and Mueller pressure tanks to manufacture topical ointment.

But Shirey said his company's products have numerous other uses in the biotech industry as well.

"The biggest part of the business is our process systems, which include bioreactors and modular skids," Shirey said. "We build bioreactors - where they grow the bugs that make a lot of the pharmaceutical drugs. It's like an incubator, but it can be very large, up to 20,000 liters in size."

Biopharmaceutical applications

Custom Metalcraft, 2332 E. Division St., makes products with applications in brewing, food packaging and pharmaceuticals. Working with drug companies including Abbott Laboratories Inc., Pfizer Inc., Eli Lilly and Co. and Bayer Group, Custom Metalcraft co-owner Dwayne Holden said his company's products are primarily used for heating and cooling during mass production of prescription drugs. Specifically, the company's stainless steel vessels are used to process blood plasma and in the production of the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Stainless Technology's Burrell noted that, in many cases, the stainless steel companies only have very general descriptions of the drugs that will be manufactured with their products.

"We don't know a lot of the drugs - some of them are proprietary. But some of them are used for cancer, diabetes, white (blood) cell cultures and blood work. Then they're starting to use our equipment to make some of the flu vaccines as well," Burrell said, noting that Merck & Co. Inc., Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline PLC are among his company's clients.

Other stainless steel manufacturers in Springfield include Precision Stainless, Stainless Fabrication Inc., Holloway America and Tank Components Inc., but despite the competition, Holden said there's not much of a problem with overlapping services.

"We're not all head-to-head; we've all kind of specialized in our own niche in the market," he said. "There are a few areas where we'll butt heads, but you'll see that each one of us handles our own little area."

Shrinking demand

The pharmaceutical industry and the stainless steel manufacturing sector, however, are not without their challenges.

Many of the pharmaceutical companies that order equipment from these stainless manufacturers, according to Stainless Technology's Burrell, are slowing down their ordering frequency - and surprisingly, the reason is not tied to the economy.

Burrell said drugmakers - some that would normally spend billions on clinical trials for new drugs - don't know whether to proceed with testing for new medications because of uncertainty surrounding the proposed health care reforms being discussed in Congress.

"We're still busy here, because we have a backlog, but our industry is really slow right now," Burrell said, declining to disclose specific company numbers. "You don't see a lot of (research and development) right now, and we need that so they need new buildings and new tanks. If they don't keep that going, it will hurt us."

Shirey concurred, saying that while he's optimistic overall about the future of the biopharmaceutical stainless steel market, sales are not at the high levels they hit in recent years.

"Everything has its peaks and valleys, and right now, we're in a valley," Shirey said. "There's some pent-up demand that will happen, but we don't know when. We're still building, but the demand is lower than it was a couple of years ago."