During the long downturn in R&D productivity, a handful of biopharmaceutical companies have consistently bucked the trend. How did they manage it? After all, they have experienced the same industry pressures as their peers - pressures such as lengthier R&D cycle times, higher costs of failure, and sharper regulatory scrutiny.

RFID technology company eAgile is marketing a solution known as eSeal that aims to enable the automatic tracking of containers of medication from the point of manufacture to the drugstore counter or a patient's hospital bedside.

Hope and expectation surround the chemical industry's increasing adoption of biotechnological manufacturing - but today, their lengthy development times and complex processes mean frustration is a major byproduct.