Scott Martin is an experienced General Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the pharmaceutical custom manufacturing and general fine chemicals industry. As General Manager of Grace’s Fine Chemical Manufacturing Services (FCMS) organization, Scott leverages his deep background in manufacturing and global management expertise to lead the organization’s CDMO services, which are a leading revenue and growth driver for Grace’s pharmaceutical portfolio.

Prior to Grace, Scott spent 20 years with Albemarle, serving as a Vice President for various global businesses including refinery catalysts, polyolefin catalysts, and most recently their fine chemicals business, which was acquired by Grace in June 2021.

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Highlights from our discussion with Scott Martin, General Manager, Fine Chemical Manufacturing Services (FCMS) at W. R. Grace & Co.

Scott Martin: “This is the strongest I’ve seen the CDMO market.”

A North American solution

The strength of the CDMO market right now presents many opportunities, as more and more pharma and biotech companies look to use the strategy of outsourcing. With so many conversations surrounding the trend for ‘on-shoring’ and domestic manufacturing, it was interesting to hear Scott’s view that there is a much stronger determination within the biotech sector, compared with conventional pharma companies, to find domestic sources. He believes that Grace is particularly well positioned for the North American market.

“If you look at innovation in pharma, there are three hot spots,” he says. “Those are San Diego, San Francesco and Boston, and we are very well positioned relation to those hot spots to be a North American solution – we are in the right spot, in the right market, and we have the experience to move products quickly and effectively.”

Speed to market

Against a competitive backdrop, Grace offers to help its customers “accelerate speed to market and provide high quality solutions”. Scott says that this offering comes simply from years of experience and expertise matched with talented staff.

“If you’ve been doing custom manufacturing for 40 years, you’ve seen a lot of chemistry, and you can see a lot of ways to move products faster and improve processes,” he says.

With respect to the trend of continuous manufacturing, Scott doesn’t see it as novel, pointing out that it been around since the turn of the century with petrochemicals. He believes that there is tremendous opportunity for continuous manufacturing in pharma, although many companies in the rush to get to market cannot afford to take the time to develop a continuous route.

“It’s a field that should be explored in the right opportunities, and if the kinetics are right, there is a lot of opportunity to improve processes,” he says.

Looking to the future

Last year (September 2021), Grace joined the Standard Industries family, so we asked Scott how that integration opened new opportunities for the company for the future.

“Grace aquired us [Albemarle Fine Chemicals business] in June of last year, and then Grace was acquired in September, so there has been a lot of change, and a lot of new talented leadership,” he says. “The difference is that we are a private company now, and there is an advantage of that, in that we are not held to quarterly targets and we can look at creating more long-term value.”

Part of that value in a CDMO will always come from new technologies and processes. As Scott explains, the industry has always looked for continuous improvement – better utilisation of better technologies – and two of the key focuses for pharma are sustainability and quality.

“The first thing a company does now is look at the EHS record, because that needs to be excellent,” says Scott. “It shows that the supplier is committed to being safe and committed to the environment. Then comes quality – it’s equally important, but if the supplier isn’t sustainable, there’s no reason to worry about quality… they go hand in hand.”

DCAT Week is the premier global event held annually in New York City for companies engaged in the Bio/Pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain. It is hosted by the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT), a not-for-profit, corporate member-supported, and volunteer-led global business development association for companies engaged in the Bio/Pharmaceutical manufacturing value chain. Learn more at