Technology Transfer

Introduction
Technology transfer is a process by which technology developed in one
organization, in one area, or for one purpose is applied in another organization,
in another area, or for another purpose. The success of any program is highly
dependent on the effectiveness of the communication which ultimately proceeds
in implementation. The ultimate goal for successful technology transfer is to
have documented evidence that the manufacturing processes for drug
substances and drug product, respectively, are robust and effective in producing
the drug substances and drug product complying with the registered
specifications and Good Manufacturing Practice requirements.
Transfer of technology is defined as “a logical procedure that controls the
transfer of any process together with its documentation and professional
expertise between development and manufacture or between manufacture sites”.
Technology transfer is both integral and critical to the drug discovery and
development process for new medicinal products. Technology transfer is helpful
to develop dosage forms in variousways as it provides efficiency in process,
maintains quality of product, helps to achieve standardizedprocess which
facilitates cost effective production.
In pharmaceutical industry, “Technology Transfer” refers to the processes of
successful progress from drug discovery to product development, clinical trials
and ultimately full-scale commercialization

Science, technology, product, innovation and

commercialization
There are different aspects for technology:
Cultural Aspect: It contains goals, values, morals, beliefs, awareness and
creativity.
Organisational Aspect: It includes industrial, economical, professional and
technical activities, users, customers and commercial unions.
Technical Aspect: Knowledge, skills, techniques, tools, machineries, sources,
and production are considered as technology.
Commercialization:It is the process of transforming new technologies into
commercially successful products. The commercialization process includes such
efforts as market assessment, product design, manufacturing engineering,
management of intellectual property rights, marketing strategy development,
raising capital, and worker training.

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 Types of Technology
1. Emerging Technology- It is a technology thatcurrently is
undergoing batch scale testing.
2. Innovative Technology- It is a technologythat the under the
scale up.
3. Established Technology- It is a technologywhich already
established in market.

IDEA

Research

Development

Production

Start-up Universities
Research
Firms
Larger Manufacturing
Companies
R & D Firms Institutes

Distribution

MARKET
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Technology Transfer in Pharmaceutical Industry

Why Technology Transfers?

It is an important for developing country which given by the R & D department
for performing several processes during the work is going on. There is very
short time for product development and product commercialisation for entering
into the market so there is very tremendous need of technology
transfer.Insufficient Process Knowledge Results in a Poorly Scaled-up Process
it results inpoorly process reliability increased number of product atypical
decreased production rate, not beingcapable of handling variations of raw
materials, API, Process controls, operators, etc. InefficientValidation.

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Generally scale up involves the transfer of technology and the transfer of
knowledge that has beenaccumulated during the small scale development of
product and processes. The flow dig. Show basis oftechnology transfer in
pharmaceutical development of the drug product.

Pharmaceutical Technology Comersial Product

development Transfer Manufacturing Continuation

Fig. : Stage of Technology Transfer in Drug Development

There are also several reasons to implement technology transfer into
organisations:
 Due to lack of manufacturing capacity, the developer of the technology
may only have manufacturing equipment that suitable for lab and small
scale operations and must partner with another organization to do large
scale manufacturing.
 Due to lack of resources to launch product commercially. The original
inventor of technology may only have resources to conduct early-stage
research and Phase-I and II clinical trials.
 Due to lack of marketing distribution and distribution capability. The
developer of the technology may have fully developed the technology and
even have obtained regulatory approvals and product registrations, but it
may not have the marketing and distribution channels and must
collaborate with another organization that has the capability.
 Forming alliances with partners that can progress the development of the
technology to take it to market.
 Forming alliances with partners with manufacturing capability.
 Forming alliances with partners with marketing and distribution
capability. Exploitation in a different field of application.
Classification of technology transfer
Mansfield (1975) classified technology transfer into vertical and
horizontal technology transfer.

 Vertical transfer:Itrefers to transfer of technology from basic

research to applied research to development and then to production
respectively.
 Horizontal transfer:It refers to the movement and use of
technology used in one place, organisation, or context to another place,
organisation, or context.

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Souder (1987) refers to the former as internal technology transfer and the
latter as external technology transfer. Souder further elaborates upon vertical
technology transfer as a managerial process of passing a technology from one
phase of its life cycle to another. This elaboration is valuable because it serves
to reinforce the fact that it may be possible to horizontally transfer technology at
any stage of the technology life cycle.

Hayami, Ruttan (1971) and Mansfield (1975) refer to Material

transfer, Design transfer, and Capacity transfer.

 Material transfer refers to the transfer of a new material or product

while.
 Design transfer corresponds to the transfer of designs and blueprints
that can facilitate the manufacturing of the material or product by the
transfer.
 Capacity transfer involves the transfer of know why and know-
how to adapt, and modify the material or product to suit various
requirements.

Steps in technology transfer process

Technology Transfer is not a single way process. The development of new
formulation goes through many stages. During development of a formulation, it
is important to understand procedure of operations used, critical and noncritical
parameters of each operation, production environment, equipment and excipient
availability, which should be taken into account during the early phases of
development of formulation, so that successful scale up can be carried
out.Appropriate care during technology transfer is important to enhance drug
quality as developed by R&D in final formulation as well as to assure quality
for predetermined period of time. The processes are classified into the three
categories:

1. Research phase
2. Development phase
3. Production phase

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1) Research phase (Development of technology by R&D)
/Quality Design:
The quality design is to design properties and functions of drugs, and often
performed in phases from late preclinical studies to Phase II study.
For drug products, the quality design corresponds to so-called pharmaceutical
design to design properties and functions such as:
 Elimination of adverse reactions,
 Improvement of efficacy,
 Assurance of stability during distribution and
 Data based on various data such as chemical and physical properties,
efficacy, safety and stability obtained from preclinical studies.
For drug substances, the quality design is todetermine starting materials and
their reaction paths, and basic specifications of the drugsubstances.

2) Development Phase:
A. Research for Factory Production
To manufacture drugs with qualities as designed, it is required to establish
appropriate qualitycontrol method and manufacturing method, after detecting
variability factors to secure stable qualityin the scale-up validation that is
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performed to realize factory production of drugs designed on thebasis of results
from small-scale experiments. In general, this process is called the research
forfactory production where the quality of design will be upgraded to be the
quality of product.

B. Consistency between Quality and Specification

 When product specification is established on the basis of the quality of
the product determined in the above, it is required to verify that the
specification adequately specifies the product quality 12.
 Relations between upper and lower limits of manufacturing formula
(composition and manufacturing methods) and upper and lower of control
limits of the product specification should be fully understood, and the
consistency between the product quality and specifications should be
maintained.
 In short, the consistency between quality and specification is to ensure in
the products specification that the quality predetermined in the quality
design is assured as the manufacture quality, and the product satisfies the
quality of design.

C. Assurance of consistency through development and

manufacturing
 To make developed product have indications as predetermined in clinical
phases, the quality ofdesign should be reproducible as the quality of
product (assurance of consistency). For this purpose,the transferring party
in charge of development should fully understand what kind of
technicalinformation is required by the transferred party in charge of
manufacturing, and should establish anappropriate evaluation method to
determine whether a drug to be manufactured meets the quality ofdesign.
 It should be recognized that technical information of developed product
are generated fromdata of a limited amount of batches, various standards
have been established from the limited data,and quality evaluation
method established in development phase is not always sufficient for
factoryproduction. For stable production of consistent products, it is
fundamental to fully refer toinformation of similar products of the past
maintained by the manufacturer when research forfactory production is
implemented, and this is a key to successful technology transfer.

D. Technology Transfer from R&D to Production

Transfer of technical information is necessary to realize manufacturing formula
established in the above in the actual production facility. In the past, the
technology transfer was mainly seen as standard transfer or as technology

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instruction from technology department to production departmentwithin the
same company. In future, since contract manufacturing is expected to increase
under the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Law, the technology transfer between
companies will increase.
When transfer technology of new products from research and development
department to production department, technical information to be transferred
should be complied as research and development report.
R&D provides technology transfer dossier; TTD document to product
development laboratory; PDL, which contains all information of formulation
and drug product as given below:
 Master formula card; MFC: It includes product name along with its
strength, generic name, MFC number, page number, effective date, shelf
life and market.
 Master packaging card: It gives information about packaging type,
material used for packaging, stability profile of packaging and shelf life
of packaging.
 Master formula: It describes formulation order and manufacturing
instructions. Formulation order and Manufacturing Instructions gives idea
of process order, environment conditions required and manufacturing
instructions for dosage form development.
 Specifications and standard test procedure; STPs: It helps to know
active ingredients and excipients profile, in- process parameters and
specifications, product release specification and finished product details.
3) Production Phase: a. Production & Validation
 Production is implemented after various validation studies verify that it is
able to stably produce based on transferred manufacturing formula.
 While the manufacturing facility accepting technology is responsible for
validation, the research and development department transferring
technology should take responsibility for validations such as performance
qualification (PQ), cleaning validation, and process validation (PV)
unique to subject drugs.
 For validations such as installation qualification (IQ) and operational
qualification (OQ), which are not unique to the subject drugs, it is
possible to effectively use data of already implemented validations.
b. Scale up for production:
Scale up involves the transfer of technology during small scale
development of the product and processes. It is essential to consider the
production environment and system during development of process.
Operators should concentrate on keeping these things in mind that their
segment of the production process running smoothly if technology
transfer is implemented thoughtfully. Effective technology transfer helps
to provide process efficiency and maintain product quality.
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4) Procedures and Documentation of Technology Transfer
Technology transfer documentation is generally interpreted as documents
indicating contents of technology transfer for transferring and transferred
parties. The raw data of the documents should be prepared and compiled
accordingly and should be always readily available and traceable.
For successful technology transfer, task assignment and responsibilities should
be clarified and acceptance criteria for the completion of technology transfer
concerning individual technology to be transferred. Quality assurance
department should established confirmation process for all kinds of technology
transfer documentation and should check and approve the documentation.
Organization for Technology Transfer: One of the most significant elements
for successful technology transfer is a close communication between
transferring and transferred parties. Therefore, organization for technology
transfer should be established and composed of both party members, scope of
responsibilities of each party should be clarified and feedback of information
should be ensured. It is desirable that this organization complies with GMP.
Research and Development Report: The research and development report;
development report is a file of technical development and the research and
development department is in-charge of its documentation. It contains:
 Historical data of pharmaceutical development of new drug substances
and drug products at stages from early development phase to final
application of approval.
 Raw materials and components.
 Synthetic route.
 Rational for dosage form & formula designs and design of manufacturing
methods.
 Rational and change histories of important processes and control
parameters.
 Quality Profiles of manufacturing batches, including stability data.
 Specifications and test methods of drug substances, intermediates, drug
products, raw materials, and components, and their rationale; validity of
specification range of important tests such as contents impurities and
dissolution, rational for selection of test methods, reagents and, columns,
and traceability of raw data of those information.
Technology Transfer Documentation: Technology transfer documentation are
generally interpreted as documents indicating contents of technology transfer
for transferring and transferred parties. The raw data of the documents (suchas
development report) should be prepared and compiled according to purposes,
and should bealways readily available and traceable. For successful technology
transfer, task assignments and responsibilities should be clarified, and
acceptance criteria for the completion of technology transferconcerning
individual technology to be transferred.

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Product Specification (Product Specification File): The product specification
is to compile information which enables the manufacture of the product, and to
define specification, manufacturing and evaluation methods of the product and
its quality, and the transferring party is responsible for documenting the file.
 Information necessary for the start and continuation of product
manufacturing
 Information necessary for quality assurance of the product
 Information necessary for assurance of operation safety
 Information necessary for environmental impact assessment
 Information of costs
 Other specific information of the product.
Technology Transfer Plan:
 Describe items and contents of technology to be transferred.
 Describe detailed procedures of individual transfer and transfer schedule.
 Establish judgment criteria for the completion of the transfer.
 The transferring party should prepare the plan before the implementation
of the transfer, and reach an agreement on its contents with the
transferred party
Technology Transfer Report:
 Report the data after technology transfer according to the technology
plan.
 Evaluation the data and the predetermined judgment criteria.
 Both transferring and transferred parties can document the technology
transfer report; however, they should reach an agreement on its contents.
Check and Approval by Quality Assurance Department: It is desirable that
the quality assurance department should establish confirmation process for all
kinds of technology transfer documentation, and should check and approve the
documentation.
For Implementation of Technology Transfer: Avoid as much as possible the
technology transfer from transferring to transferred party only by handing over
the technology transfer documentation.
It is recommended that the both parties should cooperate to implement
technology education, training and validations at facilities where the transferred
technology is actually used.
Manufacturing Related Documents Including Drug Product Standards:
The transferred party should compile documents such as drug product standards
necessary for manufacturing, various standards and validation plans/reports
after the completion of technology transfer. While the transferred party is
responsible for compiling these documents, the transferring party should make
necessary confirmation for these documents.
Verification of Results of Technology Transfer: After the completion of
technology transfer and before the start of manufacturing of theproduct, the
transferring party should verify with appropriate methods such as product

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testing andaudit that the product manufactured after the technology transfer
meets the predetermined quality,and should maintain records of the results.
Points of Concern for Post-Marketing Technology Transfer: While there are
no fundamental differences in technology transfer between new development
product and marketed product, some marketed products do not have
development report which canbe used as raw data. In this case, a development
report needs not to be newly documented;however, it is strongly recommended
that the file should be prepared including information ofspecified items. This
file can be used as reference file in case of regular inspection.
5)Check & Approval
1. Production master formula
2. Manufacturing instruction
3. Dispensing instruction
4. Analytical methods
5. Previous process validation
6. Stability report
7. Excipients specification & source
8. Active specification & source
9. Primary packaging material specification & source
10.Packaging instruction
11.Customer complaints
12.Process deviation file
13.Analytical deviation file
14.Reject/Rework file
15.Specimen manufacturing batch record
16.Specimen cartons, Labels

Content of Proper technology

Transfer Research
People’s
Proper
Acceptan
work
ce

6P
Partner
Pricing
ship

Publicity
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Proper Research – By proper research we mean firstly that in which the
result are reproducible and issues such as scale up, stability etc. and other
practical now has been addressed, also that in which problem were taken up in
first place
Proper work- This refers to institutional and guidelines regarding IP
Protection licensing modalities etc. which must be in place beforehand. In the
absence of these, decision get delayed, lack of fairness in decision e.g. case of X
institute, which came up with good technology but since no guidance were
there, kept running around for two years and then gave up.
Pricing – most difficult and critical area of Transfer of technology. - Too
high price can put off buyer, leaving the technology unsold. - Too price a result
in revenue loss. - There are basically two model regarding pricing 1) Price
charged for a technology should depend upon market force i.e. impact of the
technology irrespective of amount spent on developing it. 2)Price charged
should include all expenses involved in developing it.
Publicity – It is important to identify and then approach buyer i.e. adopt
targeted Publicity and not blanket publicity. Specific journal, website, letters to
manufacturer, personal selective visit etc. are some common approach which
help in locating buyer
Partnership – this means working along with industry. Industry takes it up,
manufacturer and makes available to society. Partnership is important to ensure
your technology is successfully adopted simply conveying the details may not
be sufficient.
People’s Acceptance – It is no use trying to develop a technology which people
will not accept e.g. due to religious reason/social concern etc. genetically
modified food, irradiated vegetables processed beef in India, improved capsule
made of non- vegetarian material.

Technology Transfer Team

The technology transfer team is a cross-functional team representing all
departments, suppliers, and customers involved in the transfer. Each
representative provides information on his/her functional area’s needs, works on
action itemsorganizes and directs work on his/her aspect of the project, and
supplies information to the team that is expected to impact other areas.When the
management decides to transfer a given process from development to
manufacturing, the development project team should meet and establish the
technology transfer team. The team is then trained on the technology transfer
process, so that each member is thoroughly familiar with both the business
methodology to be used and the technical aspects of the process being
transferred. The team members must then be trained on the use of the process
tools, to help organize and assemble numerical data, assign action items,

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determine the current level of readiness, and identify areas of weakness or
omission.

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Why/ Reasons of technology transfer?
Many reasons exist why a company would like to transfer its technology to
other parties:
1)Due to lack of manufacturing capacity, the developer of the technology may
only have manufacturing equipment that suitable for lab and small scale
operations and must partner with another organization to do large scale
manufacturing.
2) Due to lack of resources to launch product commercially. The original
inventor of technology may only have resources to conduct early-stage research
and Phase-I and II clinical trials.
3) Due to lack of marketing distribution and distribution capability. The
developer of the technology may have fully developed the technology and even
have obtained regulatory approvals and product registrations, but it may not
have the marketing and distribution channels and must collaborate with another
organization that has the capability.
4)Forming alliances with partners that can progress the development of the
technology to take it to market.
5)Forming alliances with partners with manufacturing capability.
6)Forming alliances with partners with marketing and distribution capability.
7)Exploitation in a different field of application.

When technology transfer is done?

 Idea to Discovery Lab
 Discovery Lab to Development Lab
 Development Lab to Pilot Plant
 Kilo Lab to Pilot Plant
 Pilot Plant to Semi-works (other pilot plant)
 Pilot Plant to Manufacturing
Manufacturing to Manufacturing 14 Various stages of formulation development
were as follows
 Preformulation studies.
 Bench scale - (1/1000th of X)
 Lab scale – (1/100th of X)
 Scale up- (1/10th of X or 0.1M whichever is maximum)
 Commercial (X) Where X is the final commercial scale batch size.

Implementation of technology transfer

 Avoids the technology transfer only by handing over the technology
transfer documentation 29.
 Both parties should cooperate to implement technology education training
and validation at facilities where the transferred technology is actually
used.
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Verification of result of Technology Transfer
After the completion of technology transfer and before the start of
manufacturing of the product, the transferring party should verify with
appropriate methods such as product testing and audit that the product
manufactured after the technology transfer meets the predetermined quality and
should maintain records of the results.

Factors Influencing Technology Transfer

(A) Drivers for Technology Transfer
Good business and manufacturing practices: The Company’s success is
primarily the result of its adoption of good business and manufacturing
practices, particularly in the areas of product identification and formulation
technology.
Potential for competitive pricing: Balance cost to remain competitive by
having higher private sector prices and very low public sector prices.
Strategic planning: Create an enabling environment for vertical integration,
with prospects for higher capacity utilization and eventual lowering of
production costs.
Promising market scale and accessibility: While it is not easy to define the
market size or type that will make for viable economic production, it is
generally the case that, the larger the country or geographic bloc, the greater
the market potential and investment appeal.
Adherence to regulatory standards: The pharmaceutical industry is one of
the most heavily regulated, to ensure quality, safety and efficacy of its
medicines and the well-being of patients. The ability to meet international
regulatory standards, or at least those of the major markets, is a precondition
for many technology transfer activities. Regulations and standards apply also
in low- and middle-income countries. For example, governments require
product registration and data submissions to demonstrate quality, safety and
efficacy.
Skilled workforce: Human capital is an essential element of the technology
transfer process. The successful absorption of technology or know-how in
the recipient country and its translation into greater economic development
hinges on the availability in the host country of an educated workforce with,
for example, engineering and management skills.
Innovation- friendly environment with sound Intellectual Property
Protection and Enforcement: To successfully attract imported technology
and to build the necessary preconditions for adapting imported technology,
countries need a supportive environment that includes strong intellectual
property protection and enforcement. Effective enforcement of any
intellectual property laws and regulations already in force provides
transparency and certainty for investors, licensees and customers. The level

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 of intellectual property protection tends to be directly and positively linked
to the rate of technology transfer.
Proper access to information or increased information exchange: Where
adequate intellectual property systems are in place,attention should be given
to supporting access to information. This has a number of dimensions, from
better documentation of available resources, to the longer-term issue of
addressing the complexity of the global knowledge market. In the absence of
effective systems for disseminating market-relevant information,
technology-holders may find it difficult to identify precisely who is
interested in purchasing their technology, while technology-demanders face
a similar challenge in finding entities willing to transfer their technology.
Opportunities for contingency supply: Multinational pharmaceutical
companies are inclined to transfer technology to local manufacturers with the
potential to receive when they foresee an inability to meet time scales and
volume demand from large procurers.
Access to new machinery, training, know-how and business partnership:
This makes the prospect of technology transfer very desirable to local
pharmaceutical manufacturers since the technology, equipment, etc. could be
applied profitably beyond the initial purpose.

(B) Barriers of Technology Transfer

Lack of awareness knowledge and efficiency: Automation of production
processes to improve efficiency and lower costs.
Lack of government focus low market share: Local producers face
significant challenges in meeting International Quality Standards and
capturing a critical market share. Greater market share would increase
profitability.
Web access and scientific publication: Limited access to scientific journals
led to enormous problems for developing nations scientists.
Cost of prequalification: There is benefit in meeting International
Standards since it opens up the opportunity for trading across the entire
world.
National security issues and restrictions on exports of particular
technology: International controls designed to protect national security and
to prevent the proliferation of important technologies also restrict the flow of
technologies.
Inadequate funding in important areas and possible treaties: There are
areas of research of importance to the developing world that are being
funded inadequately.
Labour issues: The pharmaceutical sector demands relatively skilled labour.
High labour turnover and absenteeism owing to unattractive conditions of
service is negative contributor.

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(C) Approaches to overcome barriers in technology transfer
Commercializing publicly funded technologies: The basic pattern envisioned
is to give institutions receiving public research funds the right to obtain and
exploit patents on inventions developed in the course of research.
Political stability and good transparent governance: A country’s relative
political and economic stability will influence the rate of inward technology
transfer and can be seen as a pre-condition for any technology transfer. Even
when research-based pharmaceutical company technology transfers are
philanthropic in nature, they need to be sustainable in order to achieve their
goals. Political leadership is critical to address global and local health
challenges and, more importantly, healthcare system capacity strengthening.
Research tool patents and freedom to operate for the public sector: Patents
sometimes make it difficult for public researchers to carry out their research or
to make the products of that research available. It is intensified by the tendency
of some publicly funded research laboratories to avoid use of a patented
technology without permission even in nations where no relevant patent is in
force.
Appropriate Capital Markets: For many governments seeking to expand
technological capacity, attracting direct investment is very important, but there
is also a question of making the most of the spill over benefits of investment.
This can reveal a need for adequate capital markets. Governments can also
promote inward investment through tax breaks and other forms of incentives
designed to encourage technology transfer, in compliance with international
trade rules.
Alignment with Economic Development Priorities: The finite or limited
resources available to governments imply that measures taken to promote
technology transfer need to both be realistic and to fit with overall policy goals.
A technology transfer policy dedicated to the creation of completely new types
of economic activity and one which is as complex and as highly regulated as the
pharmaceutical sector can present a much bigger challenge than building on a
sector that already exist.
Co-operative research agreements: Global support for public sector research
might be encouraged is through co-operative research agreements designed to
meet specific goals. It would seem more feasible to focus efforts on
technologies of significant social benefit to the developing nations.
Possible treaty on scientific access: There has also been a proposal for an
international treaty on access to knowledge and technology negotiated on the
basis of the type of reciprocity found in normal international trade negotiations.
The concept is mean to be non- zero sums in the sense that, like free trade in
goods, free trade in scientific ideas benefits all and such arrangements could be
made bilaterally as well as multilaterally.

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Success of Technology Transfer
The different “C” for successful technology transfer is:
 Communication
 Certainty
 Challenge
 Capacity
 Commitment
Communication: The technology transfer chain is often long, in terms of both
distance and time. Effective communication is thus another essential ingredient
in the recipe for successful technology transfer. Efficient and effective two way
communication and corporation between key stakeholders will do much to
remove barriers.
Certainty: A lack of certainty, and the consequential high levels of risk, both
real and perceived, are recognized a major impediments to the successful
establishment and on-going operation of functional markets. Removing barriers
to technology transfer often translates into increased certainty, and decreased
risk, for the key stakeholders such as developers, suppliers and recipients.
Challenges: There are many barriers to successful technology transfer. All
along the transfer path, from the supply side of technology to demand side,
impediments occur at very node and, due to restrictions on movement of
information and materials, for every linkage in technology transfer chain.
Capacity: Enhancing the transfer of technologies that support sustainable
development in largely about creating favourable circumstances for technology
transfer-ensuring all stakeholders have the ability to fulfil their roles and meet
their responsibilities, expeditiously. All key players and stakeholders must have
the necessary knowledge and skills to perform the roles and tasks expected of
them.
Commitment: For a successful technology transfer there may be a good
commitment to overcoming the challenges, providing technology users with the
choice they deserve and desire, increase certainty, reducing risks, enhancing the
communication between technology transfer stakeholders and building and
strengthening the enabling environment and thus the capacity for technology
transfer.

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