One small problem in the lab can become a million-dollar problem at scale

One small problem in the lab can become a million-dollar problem at scale

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Last week I visited our client Pharmaron for their 4th Chemistry for Life Science Symposium - a day of sharp talks on AI-based drug discovery, peptide synthesis and targeted covalent inhibitors.

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But the moment that really stuck with me wasn't from the main stage.

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It was during the tour of the pilot reactor.

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One line from the tour I won't forget:

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"If your phase separation protocol doesn't work well in the lab, imagine how it will look on the pilot reactor."

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Simple. Obvious in hindsight. But it captures something the best process chemists live by - discipline and rigor at the milliliter scale is what makes cubic meters possible.

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What impressed me most was seeing how deeply process chemists stay involved across the entire journey: from the first flask in the lab, all the way to full pilot-scale manufacturing. No handoff culture. Just ownership at every scale.

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At @ReactWise, this resonates deeply and it sits at the heart of our strategy - From Plate to Plant. From zero-shot predictions via transfer learning, to kinetic modeling for mechanistic understanding and scale-up support, our goal is always to surface the problems before the reactor does.

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Thank you to the entire Pharmaron team for a genuinely inspiring day.

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