Using Match
Match does three things in one chat: answers questions about CDMOs, recommends a ranked shortlist for your program, and writes a full report on request.
Ask about a specific company
Ask in plain language. Match looks answers up in PharmFindr's CDMO data — capabilities, facilities, certifications, FDA inspection and compliance history, and verified reviews — rather than answering from memory.
- What sterile fill-finish capabilities does Catalent have?
- Has this facility had any FDA warning letters in the last five years?
- How do reviewers rate their communication?
Match only answers CDMO selection and pharma-manufacturing questions. Off-topic requests, and attempts to extract its internal instructions, are declined.
Get a recommendation
Describe your program and Match returns a ranked shortlist. The more specific you are, the better the match. Useful details to include:
| Detail | Examples |
|---|---|
| Modality / molecule type | small molecule, biologic, vaccine, cell and gene therapy |
| Dosage form | oral solid, sterile injectable, topical |
| Development phase | preclinical, Phase 1, Phase 2/3, commercial |
| Capabilities you can't compromise on | lyophilization, high-potency containment |
| Geography | US only, EU facilities, near a specific region |
| Anything you'd like to avoid | recent warning letters, no reviews |
If something important is missing, Match asks a clarifying question first instead of guessing. You can also use the suggested follow-up buttons that appear under a reply, such as Get a recommendation after a Q&A answer or Generate a full report after a recommendation.
Reading a recommendation
Each candidate shows a rank, the company name (a link to its full PharmFindr listing), an overall score out of 100, and a breakdown across four criteria:
| Criterion | Default weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 35% | How well the company's capabilities and dosage forms match what you need. Required capabilities are a hard gate: a company missing one is excluded rather than scored low. |
| Regulatory | 30% | FDA history, with citations and compliance actions deducting points and older findings counting less (they fade out over five years). A routine inspection with no findings doesn't count against anyone. |
| Fit | 20% | Overlap between the company's molecule types, specializations, and regions and what you asked for. |
| Reviews | 15% | Verified review rating, smoothed so a single review from a company with very few reviews can't dominate. |
A badge above the list names the weight profile Match applied. The weights shift to suit your program: early-phase work (preclinical, Phase 1) leans toward capability, late-phase and commercial work leans toward regulatory history, and complex modalities (vaccines, biologics, cell and gene therapy, sterile injectables) weigh capability and regulatory together. The profile is chosen by fixed rules from what you told Match, not by the AI model.
Scores and order are calculated by fixed formulas, not written by the AI model, and paid placement on PharmFindr's listings never reaches Match. The model chooses which companies are in scope and explains the result; it can't change a score or reorder the list.
PharmFindr has no structured data on financial stability, current capacity, or cultural fit, so those aren't in the score. Treat the ranking as a defensible starting shortlist, then do your own diligence on those points.
Limits
A recommendation or report covers up to 10 companies at a time. If your request implies more, Match asks you to narrow it down rather than quietly dropping some.
Tips
- Refine instead of restarting: Relax the sterile requirement and re-rank keeps the same conversation and context.
- Ask why a company ranked where it did; Match can explain using the same data.
- Use Stop if a turn is heading the wrong way.