PharmaSource Podcast (Life Science Networks)

In the latest episode, we speak to  Payal Gandhi, Management Executive – Business Growth at Blue Jet Healthcare explains how the company transformation from a family-owned business to a publicly listed global CDMO since its IPO in 2023.

Today, Blue Jet Healthcare has positioned itself as a strategic partner in the pharmaceutical and healthcare arena, emphasizing their customer-first approach and technological capabilities that help bring innovations to life.

Read the article here

“The best CDMO is the one you haven’t worked with.” says Audrey Greenberg.”That’s really unfortunate.. it’s not that hard to be a good service provider.”

Audrey is the Founder of Centre for Breakthrough Medicines, the innovative, Pennsylvania-based Cell & Gene therapy Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO).

Audrey launched and then sold the company to SK Pharmteco, where she is currently is Chief Business Officer for their wider CDMO business that operates facilities in United States, Ireland, France, and South Korea.

In the latest episode of PharmaSource podcast Audrey discusses her journey in launching a CDMO that put digital at the centre of operations right from the start.

“Digital infrastructure is an important piece that people underestimate.” say Audrey.

Read the full interview

"We estimate about 8,000 metric tonnes of solvent per year are used by the industry to support solvent-based spray drying. That's a significant impact on cost, maintenance, safety and the environment," says Elizabeth Hickman, CEO of AustinPx, highlighting a critical sustainability challenge in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Elizabeth Hickman brings extensive experience in pharmaceutical contract manufacturing to her new role as CEO of AustinPx, having worked with several CDMOs and held leadership positions focused on developing innovative pharmaceutical technologies and business strategies.

In a recent interview, Elizabeth discusses how AustinPx's innovative KinetiSol technology is eliminating the need for toxic solvents in pharmaceutical manufacturing while improving drug performance and reducing costs in the realm of amorphous solid dispersions (ASDs). She also shares insights on leadership and diversity in the pharmaceutical CDMO sector.

Read the full article on PharmaSource

“Being unique or special in something is crucial, a key factor in order to gain success in this field.” – Angela Molaschi

Angela Molaschi, Chief Commercial Officer at Fisiopharma, and Nicola Cadei, General Manager, bring decades of pharmaceutical industry experience to their leadership roles at this Italian injectable product specialist. Together, they’re expanding the company’s global presence while maintaining its reputation for quality and flexibility.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode ahead of CDMO Live 2025, Angela and Nicola explain how their medium-sized CDMO successfully navigates the competitive pharmaceutical manufacturing landscape by focusing on proactive customer service, quality excellence, and strategic capacity management.

Read the full article

Larger pharma companies are renown for spending a large amount on management consultants and other professionals services, due in part to the pharma industry's unique and high-risk business model.

There is a real opportunity to managing professional services better in life sciences, but it is far from straightforward, as Cameron Smith, Procurement Senior Partner for Professional Services at Novartis explains in the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast.

“Procurement is constantly evolving” says Cameron “I don't think we're anywhere near close to scratching the surface of the value that procurement can bring.“

Professional services meets life sciences

The pharma business model comes with significantly greater risks than industries as "Pharma has to take a long-term view" says Cameron.

"If we're doing a deal with a strategy house, that strategy should help define what the business looks like for medium term, tie-in with the drug development pipeline and look at growth opportunities in market".

Another challenge is that the high-margin nature of big pharma means that a "mindset shift" is sometimes needed before stakeholders are prepared to consider alternatives to their existing suppliers.

Procurement professionals supporting business leaders is these decisions have to be aware of the importance, and politics, of these business issues. "If you're not, you're going to be left behind very quickly. Stakeholders are going to take a fairly dim view of what sort of value you can bring to the table."

7 strategies for transforming professional services procurement

Cameron details his recommendations for how procuerment professionals can manage professional services in the pharma industry.

1. Know your data down to the cent

2. Segment the existing supplier base

3. Find the category experts

4.Benchmark against the market

5. Align with your stakeholders

6. Consolidate your supply base without compromising quality

7. Measure only what is useful

Read the full article here: https://pharmasource.global/content/podcast/how-to-get-more-value-from-professional-services-in-pharma/

“Sustainability is giving more than you take.”

Fred Turco is Vice President of Enterprise Indirects and Sustainable Sourcing Lead at Pfizer.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast he explains how the company is making progress towards its targets by collaborating with suppliers.

The Enterprise Indirects team Fred manages operates across 85 countries and 300 facilities managing the majority of indirect spend, and play a key role in driving the sustainability agenda for the company.

Speaking to the PharmaSource podcast he shares his advice for how to be a successful procurement business partner and how Pfizer are making real-world progress towards a more sustainable business.

Read the full article here

"Digital transformation is not about technology deployment. It's about a new way of doing business that allows you to make jumps which were not possible before, like reducing launch time from 70 weeks to 7 weeks." - Dr. Franziskus Kath

Dr. Franziskus Kath, former J&J executive and now independent consultant, brings over 26 years of healthcare industry experience spanning API manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, consumer health, and digital transformation. He most recently orchestrated J&J's quality digital transformation strategy across all sectors.

Ahead of CDMO Live 2025, Franziskus explains why becoming "bilingual" in both business and technology languages is the key to successful digital transformation in pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality operations.

Full article

Pharmaceutical Packaging is critical for safe and stable drug delivery, and continues to be fast-growing market driven by manufacturers creating increasingly innovative products.

Founded in 1825, Bormioli is nearly 200 years old yet continues to release innovative products for the pharmaceutical industry. While they have strong roots in Italy, today Bormioli Pharma manufactures from nine plants around the globe (including United States, France, Germany and China) and have more than 890 products.

We speak to Andrea Sentimenti, Marketing and Innovation Director at Bormioli Pharma to discuss their Open Innovation programme, exploring their process for collaborating with customers, patients and healthcare professionals to prototype new packaging concepts.

Gene editing and cell therapy, they’re going to be entrenched modalities, much like small molecules and antibodies are today, that will fundamentally reshape healthcare.” says Devyn Smith.

Devyn Smith, CEO of Arbor Biotechnologies and Chairman of the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine, brings a wealth of experience to the cell and gene therapy ecosystem. With a PhD in developmental biology and eight years in strategy consulting, Devyn’s journey led him to Pfizer, where he served as COO of their cell therapy group in Cambridge, UK, before a series of board roles at various biotechs.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, he shares insights on the promise of cell and gene therapy to transform lives and the operational challenges the industry must overcome to realise this potential.

Here's the full article

Clariant, the 5 billion multinational company specialising in chemicals, is releasing a range of new functional excipients

The company is a global leader in specialty chemicals and manufactures a wide range of APIs and Excipients in Germany, Spain and China.

While in the past their reputation in pharma was for manufacturing mainly Polyglycols, Vaios Barlas, Global Director Health Care at Clariant explains that they have been focused on expanding their Excipient offering.

“Excipients are ‘the vehicles of drug delivery systems’ and are growing very fast for us. Four out of ten API’s are not soluble, our body is practically all water, so you need functional excipients to be able to make them bioavailable – soluble and permeable in our organs.”

Clariant have a comprehensive portfolio of excipients including solubilizers, emulsifiers, solvents rheology modifiers, binders, humectants plasticizers and many different kinds of agents. 

Among Clariant’s standout offerings are its high-purity VitiPure® O 80 Superior, a purified Polysorbate 80 as well as the new VitiPure® CO 35 Superior, a Polyoxyl 35 Castor Oil and its low endotoxin and microbial load VitiPure® Meglumine LEX.

Clariant also offers a comprehensive selection of Polyglykols (Macrogols), which serve as universally applicable pharmaceutical polymers. Notably, these polymers boast a spectrum of molecular weights and are fortified with CEP certification and DMF documentation, underlining their quality and regulatory compliance.

Clariant are a “top-ranked” supplier for both generics and originator pharma companies, says Vaios. He highlights a recent independent survey that placed Clariant in the top five suppliers for customer loyalty, as ranked by the global pharma industry.

Greater chemistry between people and the planet

“At Clariant our motto ‘greater chemistry between people and planet’ is our raison d’etre. It’s why we exist” says Vaios.

“In the face of the global challenges of climate change and global health and nutrition issues, we feel we bear a responsibility and have to ask ourselves, what contribution we can make.”

“It’s both a company and a personal commitment to society and to the planet to innovate, find solutions to the challenges and bring technological solutions that are friendly for the people and the environment. That’s the big challenge we’re trying to live up to in Clariant”

As an example, Clariant produce bio-ethanol based ethylene oxide, which will allow them to produce Excipients and APIs with low carbon footprint in future.

“Over time this has to become an industry standard.” says Vaios.

Key Trends: Personalised Medicine and novel Drug Delivery Systems

Reflecting on key trends shaping the industry, Vaios highlights the importance of personalised medicine.

“Pharma companies are using artificial intelligence and big data to develop targeted therapies that are customised to the patient’s genome and the medical history. This is happening at rates faster than ever before.”

The delivery of complex injectables in the form of liposomes is moving the pharmaceutical industry rapidly forward, says Vaios.

“At Clariant we are participating in this, as we did with our methoxy-PEGs and the mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. I believe this has potential to address critical diseases such as cancer, HIV and infectious viruses in a way that was impossible to imagine a few years back.”

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“We hide behind that hubris of science, but we still have a lot of operational challenges to really impact the lives of our patients,” warns Sanjay Srivastava, Managing Director of Accenture’s Centre of Excellence for Cell & Gene Therapy. 

This sobering assessment cuts through the hype surrounding cell and gene therapies, highlighting the critical need to address practical hurdles in bringing these revolutionary treatments to patients at scale.

Sanjay Srivastava blends academic rigour with consulting acumen. With over a decade focused exclusively on cell and gene therapy, including involvement in launching the first CAR-T therapies, Sanjay’s insights stem from hands-on experience in navigating the complex landscape of this evolving sector.

In this PharmaSource podcast episode, Sanjay unpacks the intricacies of cell and gene therapy manufacturing, offering practical solutions to key challenges in scaling production, implementing automation, and balancing innovation with regulatory requirements. 

His analysis provides a roadmap for companies striving to translate scientific breakthroughs into operational success.

Read the full interview

“We are privately owned by a Trust, which means all our profits are reinvested in the company. This translates to steady growth – maybe slower compared to other service providers, but we’re quite proud of that steady growth,” explains Franciane Chevot, Senior Business Development Manager at Almac.

With 55 years of industry experience, approximately 7,500 employees, and 18 facilities worldwide across Europe, North America, and Asia, Almac has established a global footprint. However, it’s their ownership structure that truly differentiates them.

This reinvestment approach has allowed Almac to take a long-term view of business development rather than focusing on short-term gains, creating stability that benefits both the company and its clients.Ahead of CDMO Live, Franciane shares how Almac’s unique ownership structure, scientific expertise, and customer-centric approach have positioned the CDMO as a trusted partner for pharmaceutical and biotech companies across the drug development lifecycle.

Read the article

In the face of challenging economic times, procurement leaders can emerge as the unsung heroes, helping to steer their organisations through the storm. 

One such leader is David Ward, Procurement Director at Catalent, who has leveraged his extensive experience from senior procurement roles at AstraZeneca and MSD/Merck to help guide the CDMO through challenging times. 

Catalent, along with other CDMOs, has been instrumental in the fight against COVID-19. The company played a significant role in vaccinating approximately 70% of the United States population through its partnerships with AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson. This massive undertaking saw Catalent’s largest vaccine manufacturing site in Bloomington, US, expand its workforce from around 1,500 employees to around 3,500 in just a few weeks.

David Ward describes this period as a “huge ramp up,” followed by a plateau and now a phase of ‘right-sizing.’ Throughout these stages, procurement has played a crucial role. 

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, David shares his insights on how procurement teams should operate differently during lean times and why he believes that “Procurement is the organisational Swiss Army Knife.”

Cost savings are less important than creating business value.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, we sat down with Jill Robbin, Fractional CPO and advisor to Biotechs at Matchbook, with a wealth of experience in leading pharma procurement teams at Eli Lilly and Elanco.

Jill offers valuable advice to anyone seeking to progress their procurement career within the pharmaceutical industry, including a warning against becoming too focussed on the bottom line.

“Savings often get lost in the shuffle. Finance can agree or not agree, or then they get added back in or taken away from budget. There’s got to be a better metric, and it has to be business value.

Instead, understand what’s important to your particular company and tie the procurement metrics to that.

A solution may cost more, but if you are delivering things faster, or you don’t have disruption in your supply, that is worth the weight in gold."

If you'd like to join a free Expert Workshop hosted by Jill Robbins, head to PharmaSource.global/events and register.

Len DeCandia is an award-winning Supply Chain and Procurement Executive with 40+ years of experience, most recently as Chief Procurement Officer for Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen and Roche.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast Len describes the changes he has seen in procurement, including his experience in mobilising during COVID, and explains why he believes enlightened organisations must prioritise suppliers.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the conversation: 

1. 'Enlightened' organisations prioritise and centralise supplier relationships

2. You need strong sponsorship from the board to be successful

3. The budget owner is the customer 

4. Use technology to create trust and transparency

5. Be early when finding business solutions 

6. Change the story to win hearts and minds

7. Make an impact on the world

"One of the important aspects was our commitment to purposeful spending. And so one of the commitments that we made as a team to the business was we were going to double our spend with women-owned and minority-owned suppliers.

To do that, they needed to engage the budget holder in that conversation, to prove they wouldn't have to sacrifice innovation, We had to educate them on the community impact.

Johnson and Johnson regularly publishes a Health for Humanity report which quantifies the impact they make each year. More than just numbers, Len explains that when investing in local and diverse suppliers you can see the difference yourself "They are the people you're going to church with, on Sunday, or you're seeing in the grocery store, or whose children go to school with their children, because we made it part of their community. They brought us insights and innovations that we never thought of before."

Listen to the full episode podcast for more advice and inspiration.

“Every minute, over 1000 patients are using a product manufactured in one of our sites,” reveals Kerstin Vieluf, Head of Sales at Recipharm.

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Recipharm has over 5,900 employees across 17 sites in Europe, US, India, and Israel and serves more than 400 customers globally.

In this exclusive interview ahead of CDMO Live, the leadership team outlines how Recipharm is evolving its capabilities, with significant investments in digital prediction tools, expanded development services, and sustainability initiatives. Dr. Vincenza Pironti, (Head of Business Development), Dr. Uwe Hanenberg (Head of Product Development), and Dr. Kerstin Vieluf, (Head of Sales) reveal how technology investment is driving growth.

Read the full article

The pharmaceutical industry faces a significant challenge with patent expiries threatening established revenue streams of approximately $300 Billion USD.

Major brands are approaching patent expiry creating urgency for companies to identify new blockbuster opportunities. This is compounded by policy changes like the Inflation Reduction Act, which offers different exclusivity periods for biologics versus small molecules. Adam Siebert and Jeff Holder are partners at L.E.K. Consulting’s life science enablers practice, specialising in biopharma manufacturing and supply chain strategy. With backgrounds spanning operations, services, and drug discovery, they help pharmaceutical companies and CDMOs navigate emerging technology trends. In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Adam and Jeff shared insights on horizon scanning – the critical practice of forecasting drug development and manufacturing trends years in advance. Their discussion revealed key strategies for pharmaceutical companies and contract manufacturers to stay ahead of industry shifts.

Read the PharmaSource Interview

Stephen Sheehan of Alkermes shares their new governance framework for high-performing CDMO partnerships.

As Director of External Development & Manufacturing at Alkermes, Stephen Sheehan brings over a decade of experience in pharmaceutical development, transitioning from small to large molecules, and implementing innovative CDMO management frameworks. Based in Dublin, he’s responsible for managing CDMOs involved in development activities and manufacturing of Alkermes’ drug development candidates.

In this insightful interview, Stephen reveals how a critical batch failure led to the development of a comprehensive CDMO governance framework, and shares valuable insights on building effective CDMO relationships, establishing meaningful KPIs, and implementing sustainable practices in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Read the full interview

Stephen will be hosting an Outsourcing Excellence Roundtable at CDMO Live about KPIs and governance frameworks for managing contract manufacturing networks.

Join the conversation: CDMO Live 2025

What is the best way to make progress towards pharma’s net zero targets? “Get started,” says Chris Shanahan, VP Global Sustainability Supply Chain at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

“Starting can be intimidating and overwhelming. There’s a lot going on, and we don’t always have all the information. But if everyone gets started, we will eventually come together. Don’t put it off.”

Chris Shanahan leads Sustainability efforts for the Thermo Fisher supply chain, following a career in life science procurement at GSK (then Haleon), BD, before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific where he spent the last 17 years as a CPO.

Chris explains why he transitioned from a procurement lead to a sustainability lead. “It’s really about creating something for the future for my own children. Climate change and unusual weather events are here and when you think about the impact we can make on supply chains, we are in a position to influence this and make things happen.”

“Climate-related issues, water waste, human rights, or ensuring fairness for workers in the workplace, these are all topics that are rapidly changing and evolving. In the last 12-18 months, I have seen a lot of change in terms of what expectations are, regulation in Europe and the US, and investors are asking about what companies are doing across sustainability ESG.”

“The way I think about my role is getting things done: executing and pulling through the commitments that companies make. That’s what we’re doing at Thermo Fisher.”

Ambition and Realism

While disruptive events like the COVID pandemic and global inflation may have changed the ability for companies to invest at a quicker rate, senior leadership at Thermo Fisher Scientific have ring-fenced their commitment to make sure that the investment is still there, says Chris.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s net zero targets are broken down by scope and near and long-term targets

“Our ambition is net zero by 2050. My role is to say, how do we really make it happen? What are the things we must do?”

“Infrastructure needs to change, behavioural changes need to happen, you need to bring people along. It’s all about aspiration, and how quickly you can push, but also, what’s really logical and rational to get there. Some of this stuff takes time.”

Chris gives the example of sites, in countries and states where the grids and the infrastructure are not ready. “If we set a 2030 goal or 2040 goal, we know it’s not realistic because we’re dependent on so many other factors.”

“The investment cycle might get slightly delayed. Inflation is a pretty significant impact on costs, but it doesn’t take away from the actual commitments for 2030 or 2050.”

“It’s about balancing the portfolio as we go through this period. Most companies will go through this sort of pain and hurt and cycle. As you look over history, inflation happens but good times come back. It’s really about how do you flatline and balance that over periods and when you get the good times, you might need to accelerate the investment.”

Educating colleagues and the industry

Educating colleagues, peers and suppliers is critical if the industry will progress together, says Chris.

“Sustainability is something we all have to get educated on. It impacts everything – how we buy, where we place things. Education on the basics of scope one, scope two and scope three helps people to understand what sustainability really means and how to address the challenges.”

• Register to PharmaSource for more insights

Thermo Fisher Scientific is at the forefront of providing comprehensive pharmaceutical services from drug development, clinical trial logistics to commercial manufacturing.

With a global presence spanning over 60 locations, the company offers a seamless, 'end-to-end' solution across all developmental phases, including API production, biologics, viral vectors, cGMP plasmids, formulation, clinical trial support, logistics, manufacturing and packaging.

Christy Eatmon, Global SME, Sterile Drug Products at Thermo Fisher Scientific, explains how they support pharma and biotech customers of all sizes.

“Being part of such a big company allows us to rely on a global network of people that have breadth and depth of experience. Customers benefit from reducing risk, improving timelines are often able to leverage our buying power."

“We work with all the big pharma companies, as you would expect, but the majority of our customers are actually small and emerging. " says Christy.

"I know a lot of people feel like they might get lost in such a big organisation, but our services are personalised to the needs of a specific client or programme. Supporting small biotechs has always been the heart of our business. Our goal is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer."

Key trend: Home delivery of pre-filled syringes Christy says that one of the most important changes to the healthcare landscape will be increased home delivery to patients. Thermo Fisher Scientific are currently expanding their capabilities for auto injector assembly in order to anticipate the demand for what will be a “huge” market.

“Pre-filled syringes, filled with whatever drug or medicines a person might need, have the potential to be ground-breaking." says Christy. "Rather than patients having to go into clinics for intravenous infusion, they will now be able to inject themselves at home. "

“I don't see that as much different from what diabetics have been doing for years, having a vial of insulin in their fridge and then dosing themselves.  With prefilled syringes and auto injectors patients don't even have to measure how much to give themselves."

Read the full article

Inside Dechra Pharma's 3-Year Procurement Transformation

Dechra Pharmaceuticals is a global specialist in the development, manufacturer and sales of veterinary pharmaceuticals worldwide.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, we spoke to Kateryna Holovnia, Head of Procurement at Dechra Pharmaceuticals about the global transformation of the procurement function, moving from a fragmented and transactional to a unified and strategic partner to the business.

The organisation is made up of a number of acquisitions which previously operated independently, so they are in the middle of a three year strategy to harmonise and unify procurement operations.

Kateryna explains how their objective is to standardise technology and processes across the nine in-house manufacturing sites they operate, and about 70 different Contract Manufacturing Organisations (CMOs) they partner with.

“We are right now integrating our systems, and platforms, bringing all this visibility where we can consolidate where in-house manufacturing overlaps with our CDMOs, what we can leverage to get access to get one-click information."

"We have brought in global category management which has the visibility to have a helicopter view of what's going on, and what are the opportunities are regionally.”

Kateryna found moving to Dechra refreshing, finding the company open and receptive to implementing the best practices she had learned in previous roles and through her network.

Listen to the full epsiode

Onyx Scientific is a Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) that specializes in process R&D, non-GMP scale-up, and GMP manufacture for clinical trials and commercial applications.

With facilities in the UK and US, their dedicated teams in chemistry, solid-state and analytical chemistry guide small molecule Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) products through development and manufacturing.

In anticipation of CDMO Live, we had a conversation with Chris Atherton, the Commercial Manager of Onyx Scientific, who shed light on their business operations.

"Onyx was one of the first chemistry CDMOs to invest in solid-state, and we plan to continue investing in this area in the future." says Chris.

Established in 2000, Onyx Scientific has garnered 24 years of successful experience within the preclinical development space, completing thousands of development projects. Their pragmatic ‘fit for purpose’ approach is centred on intelligent rapid process development with an eye towards future GMP campaigns.

Connect with Onyx Scientific at CDMO Live

“AI doesn’t have to be the first port of call. Many organisations still need to focus on the paper-to-glass journey before they can think about more advanced technologies” 

Vishnu Dwadasi, Director of Life Sciences at West Monroe, brings extensive experience across pharmaceutical operations, consulting and business development from both the sponsor and CDMO sides. His career path through companies including Catalent, BioDuro, PII and now West Monroe has given him unique insights into the evolving pharmaceutical outsourcing landscape.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Vishnu shares his perspective on how private equity investments are reshaping the CDMO landscape, post-merger integration challenges, and the realistic pace of digital transformation within pharmaceutical manufacturing organisations.

Read the article

While pharmaceutical companies have proven the return on investing in digital at early stages of drug discovery, manufacturing has been slower to embrace digital transformation.

To understand how pharma R&D and manufacturing can unlock more business value through adopting digital tools and technologies, we speak to Digital CMC consultant Mark Buswell.

Mark is a chemical engineer by training, with over 20 years in R&D and Manufacturing at GSK, before joining NGT BioPharma consultants to head up Digital CMC services to help pharmaceutical companies navigate digital transformation of their CMC function.

Read the full article on Digital CMC Maturity on PharmaSource

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast we spoke to  Mark Burfoot, Vice President Research Procurement at Novartis about how advances in Machine Learning allow procurement to have a more strategic role in optimising life science research.

Prior to his work at Novartis and Pfizer, Mark’s educational background is in immunology. That knowledge of the scientific process has allowed him to create new frameworks and forms of value that go far beyond cost savings.

“There are different ways of approaching procurement.” Mark says. “You can take the traditional and transactional approach –  build contracts, help your scientists gain access to the array of suppliers and services that they require in order to achieve their work.”

“But with the advent of machine learning techniques and other types of approaches, there are other ways of looking at a problem that can help redefine how we can add value. 

Rather than looking at the cheapest product, or trying to provide the widest range of options to a scientist, we can now offer tools that help the scientist to choose the products and services most likely to lead to success.“

The insight procurement provides has been proven to reduce the number of failed experiments, putting Mark and his team in a far more strategic position to steer and inform decisions about which projects to invest in.

“The nature of research is that there is a huge amount of experimentation and failed experiments. But a lot of experimental failure happens just because we haven’t picked the best reagent.”

“We are exploring tools and approaches that can help us  guide the scientists and give them insights to say, ‘“’Hey, you’re better choosing this set of reagents versus testing all these other ones that most have have a cost effective approach.'”

“There’s a cost gain to that, but it has a productivity impact because now you’re moving faster and getting less failed experiments” as a result of that. “

Mark and his team are now helping the scientists make more informed choices which are proven to increase the success rate of experiments.

“Suppliers will always tell you their product is the best and will meet all your needs. And as I know from when  I was in the lab, scientists are still very dependent on reading materials and methods and what appears in peer reviewed literature.

Procurement is now able to provide a new perspective, offering insights to suggest better ways of doing things – different materials and methods which are more likely to get the end result they are looking for.    

“It has become a very unique partnership. We are redefining the ecosystem and the supplier base and the reagents and the services that are required in order to help drive the science.“

Measuring success

“For me, driving the speed of the science more effectively is so much more valuable than just giving more choices and having the best contracts in place. “ say Mark.

“Adoption of some of the tools that we use in this space have had a 70-80% uptake, across our scientists globally. There is still a massive opportunity in this space to do more, but the desire to play, to adopt is very good.”

“By making these kind of improvements it’s possible to see savings of 10 -20 million USD over a period of a few years in a particular region or class, which you can use for reinvestment in other areas. You can keep exponentially growing.”

“We’ve seen significant increases in productivity as a result of improvements in different types of reagent classes that we purchase, for example. That has a very positive effect. I would say that there’s probably been a four-fold increase in time saved.”

“You’re getting both cost savings on one end, but you’re also getting speed and productivity gains at the other end that’s helping you accelerate the science. It is a really nice position to be in.”

https://pharmasource.global/content/how-novartis-procurement-is-cutting-failed-rd-experiments-with-ai/

“Contract negotiations are often perceived as a POWER GAME but in reality, it has to be a collaboration.” says Dr Roxana Timmermans

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Dr. Timmermans explains why contract negotiations are of critical importance in pharma outsourcing and shares her framework for success.

“Proper negotiation, is the foundation of a strong partnership. In the highly regulated world of pharma contract manufacturing, precise terms are essential."

"Negotiation skills are not just desirable; they are paramount, says Roxana. “If you not trained you will put the company in a very damaging position.”

Read the interview The Art of Contract Negotiations

Supplier Relationship Management is a ‘systematic approach to evaluating vendors that supply goods, materials, and services to an organization. It involves determining each supplier’s contribution to success and developing strategies to improve their performance’.

Anirban Mukherjee, Head of Procurement at Immunovant, argues that while Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) is crucial for achieving high performance in complex industries such as pharma and biotech, it often receives insufficient attention.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Anirban explains the steps to take when implementing a successful SRM programme, drawing on his experience at Ford, Becton Dickinson, and Gilead, where he served as the Global Head of Development for outsourced vendor management.

Anirban is passionate about SRM in driving business outcomes: “Over the course of your career, you realize what you deeply believe in” he says.

Read the full article here

David Caron, Senior Vice-President of CMC, AL102 at Immunome, shares why choosing the right CDMO partner can make or break a biotech’s development timeline: “For biotechs, the main business challenge is to do right the first time. To do this, we need to look at the risks related to each activity.”

David Caron brings over three decades of pharmaceutical industry experience across multiple biotechs, with expertise spanning from bench formulation to senior leadership roles. His background includes extensive work with various dosage forms and regulatory requirements across EU and US markets.

In this latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast David shares crucial insights on how emerging biotechs can optimize their CDMO partnerships, manage costs effectively, and align CMC strategy with business objectives.

David Caron will be sharing advice about how to overcome biotech CMC challenges at CDMO Live 2025. Book your ticket here

• Read the interview here

“You can’t develop medicines without an ecosystem. Suppliers are probably one of the most neglected sections of the ecosystem.”

Tanya Momtahen, Vice President of Integrated Product Solutions at Thermo Fisher explains how understanding your supplier ecosystem is how to make an impact.

“The amount of money that's spent in the supplier world is daunting, to say the least” says Tanya  “yet too often key suppliers are treated transactionally.” While this attitude might make sense when procuring something that already exists “if it's services that are supporting research and development of a medicine it is crazy.”

Tanya spent nearly two decades at Sanofi, over which time she moved from research and development to becoming VP of global scientific and clinical procurement. 

She explains that she moved to procurement with a mission to champion the “neglected supplier world and truly partner with suppliers. That's how I convinced myself to go to into procurement.”

Moving to procurement Tanta faced “ many naysayers” but for her, changing how to partner with suppliers came with a moral responsibility

“I had a mission and the mission was:  if I work on a couple of products (in R&D), those are the only ones I can impact. But if I go and take over outsourcing and drive the suppliers to bring better solutions forward, I can affect many more medicines.” 

 “We owe the responsibility to the world not to waste money that can be spent on additional medicines.   It’s frustrating to see people killing products that may work because there's just not enough money to go around to develop them. Some of the products that are not so publicly known are the easiest ones to kill internally. But they also may be the ones that may work.“

Now working at Thermo Fisher and PPD, her role is to help sponsoring biopharma companies  get the most out of the wide range outsourcing services they offer. This has given her a broad perspective on how to make outsourcing work from both sides of the table.

Advice for negotiating transformational supplier partnerships

Here is Tanya’s advice for sourcing and procurement professionals to get more from their supplier ecosystem.

1. Understand the supplier’s business model

2. Move from transactional to strategic partnerships

3. Identify what’s really important for your business

4. Aim for a Win-Win 

5. Practise negotiations

6. Change come from the top

Francisco Blanco, founder of Conducta consulting, believes the human element in CDMO-sponsor relationships has been lost in the race for efficiency.

“I feel like the human component of these relationships has been lost. When I see five-star client services from CDMOs, it’s typically not because of the strength of their processes – it’s the individual.”

Francisco Blanco brings over 15 years of experience from leadership roles at Thermo Fisher and IQVIA to his consultancy Conducta, where he helps life sciences companies navigate complex supply chain transformations, with particular expertise in cell and gene therapy operations.

In this PharmaSource podcast episode, Francisco shares crucial insights on how biopharma companies and CDMOs can redesign their customer experience approach, particularly as the cell and gene therapy sector evolves.

Read the full interview

“Manufacturing network strategy is about connecting the dots and seeing the interconnectivity between different brands,” explains Daniel Hurni, Director of Manufacturing Network Strategy and Business Intelligence at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS).

Daniel Hurni brings years of life sciences expertise to his role at BMS, where he is responsible for shaping overarching manufacturing network strategies across small molecules, biologics, and cell and gene therapy business units. His experience spans technical transfer projects, incident management, and long-term strategic planning.

In a the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Daniel shared invaluable insights into the complexities of developing and implementing an effective manufacturing network strategy in the pharmaceutical industry.

He explains why a robust long-term manufacturing network strategy is crucial for optimizing costs, improving margins, and ensuring supply chain resilience in an increasingly complex global landscape.

Read the full article

Avantor is a Fortune 500 company with a wide range of mission-critical products and services for the biopharma industry.

David Coorey, SVP Biopharma Business Development & Commercial Operations at Avantor spoke to the PharmaSource podcast to explain more about the services they offer.

David explains how Avantor supports biopharma companies through R&D scientific discovery, to scale up and full commercial GMP manufacturing materials including custom use excipients and single use consumables.

“Avantor’s has evolved a unique ‘systems approach’ to designing full Fluid handling solutions for customers” says David. “We work with customers to design and optimise a solution that’s tailored to their unique manufacturing process” rather than a rigid, one-size-fits-all approach.

Avantor operates in more than 30 countries, with 14,500 globally. In addition Avantor’s channel brand, VWR offers an integrated, seamless purchasing experience that is optimised for the way our customers do business.

Read the full article here

Pfizer CentreOne is an “altogether different kind of CDMO”. Unlike a pure play contract development and manufacturing partner, they don’t own their own plants and pharmaceutical development centres. Instead their customers can leverage the wealth of expertise and state-of-the-art facilities Pfizer possesses.

Ahead of CDMO Live 2024 we sat down with Tom Wilson, VP of Global Contract Manufacturing at Pfizer CentreOne, to discuss how their integrated business model sets them apart from other contract manufacturing partners.

Pfizer CentreOne offers a comprehensive range of services including small molecule API, solid oral dose, sterile injectables, biologics, and cell & gene therapies.

“Pfizer spends over a billion dollars every year to maintain our global network of 38 plants.” says Tom.

“When we bring a client partner on board, they get access to the same manufacturing work centres, scientists, and analysts that Pfizer uses for its products. We have robust ways of controlling intellectual property, ensuring we’re protecting our clients and our own IP.”

“Pfizer’s main mission statement is ‘time is life’. We bring that patient centricity to our CDMO practice. Clients are usually surprised that we’re not talking immediately about our technology, but instead about their patient’s journey, then how can we help make a difference.”

Read the full article

Virginie Mathieu has deep experience in R&D Procurement having worked at some of the world's biggest Pharmaceutical companies in France and Canada.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast she shares her experiences in supporting the experimental end of pharma and advice for partnering with scientists.

“R&D is a very specialised form of procurement. You really need to know what you're talking about, so it helps to have a scientific background."

When it comes to recruiting team members into the R&D Procurement roles Virginie says it’s hard to find people with knowledge of both (procurement and science) "so we train team members build the skills to learn about the other side “

Find out more https://pharmasource.global/

“Our goal is to be more than a service provider. We aim to be a strategic partner that grows with our clients from bench to bedside.” – Dr. Jim Li

Dr. Jim Li, President of CMC Solutions at BioDuro, brings extensive experience as a chemist and pharmaceutical industry veteran, having held leadership positions at global companies including Pfizer and Henkel before joining BioDuro to build up and manage the company’s CMC business.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Jim explains how BioDuro’s integrated CRDMO model creates higher value outcomes for clients while balancing cost considerations with speed to market.

Read the full article

Rx360 was founded following the Heparin incident in 2008 when the drug supply became contaminated, resulting in 81 deaths in the US and left many more injured.

In response, a cross-industry consortium was formed with a mission to prevent this from happening again by protecting the pharmaceutical supply chain and ensuring the quality of materials are always at an optimum level.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource Podcast we sat down with Rx360 CEO Jim Fries to understand how big an issue counterfeit drugs is in the supply chain today, and how procurement teams should engage with this most critical of issues.

“Let’s face it, in the pharma supply chain there are bad guys and we’re always trying to stay one step ahead. There’s a big financial gain to be made from counterfeiting drugs” says Jim.

“It only takes one incident to have it become a really bad issue again.”

Gilead vs Counterfeiters

As recently as 2022 Gilead were forced to take action to battle the counterfeit drug rings responsible for manufacturing counterfeit bottles of their HIV antiviral pills. It was a high profile case that saw more than 50 counterfeiters identified in a wide reaching investigation. 

“Law enforcement worked with legal experts in conjunction with Gilead to uncover and take down a massive counterfeiting ring. Not only did the industry identify the problem,  it was researched, the people responsible were found and it was stopped dead in its tracks.” says Jim.

“It really set a precedent moving forward that maybe scares the next people before they decide to do something like that.”

Supply contamination is not always deliberate. “Sometimes contamination is by accident. The best way to combat that is to stay vigilant and keep your eyes open”.

“ The amount of time, energy and money that pharmaceutical companies spend on quality initiatives is just immense. I think a lot of people walking down the street don’t understand the amount of audits that they do with suppliers”.

Lockdowns and supply chain disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic presented a major challenge to auditing supply chain integrity. 

“When the pandemic hit all of a sudden, literally in a 24 hour period, we went from doing on-site audits to wondering how we going to audit our suppliers. It’s not like the manufacturing of drugs stopped during the pandemic, it continued to move forward. The issue was how do we optimise and maintain that quality during the pandemic, when we can’t go on-site to do an audit of a facility?”

“In response to this the industry began to focus on remote audit programmes through the use of different technologies. It was exciting to watch it happen so quickly in order to maintain the safety of those drugs throughout the pandemic.”

Jim provides this advice for anyone sourcing pharmaceuticals to include in their process.

“It really comes down to making sure that the audit foundation is solid.” says Jim.

“Make sure that the supplier that you’re working with checks the necessary quality boxes.   Make sure the audit is recent and that it comes from the root source and wasn’t passed along from, from one auditor to another. “

“If you not conducting audits yourself, make sure you’re working with an audit partner that has a background in what you’re trying to accomplish. Get all the background and what’s included in that audit report and the timing of it. “

“If you’re a procurement person at a pharma company, make sure that you have open lines of communication with your quality departments. Those two departments have to work hand in hand to help each other. “

What advice do you have for situations where quality comes into conflict with other objectives such as cost containment or speed to market?

“I think we’d be a little bit naive if we said that internal conflict didn’t exist. But to me, it comes down to one thing: what’s good for the patient?"

Prasfarma is a company full of experts in the manufacturing of cytostatic and highly potent products (HPAPI), with a focus on oncology.   

Ahead of CDMO Live we spoke to Diana Alarcón, Business Development Manager at Prasfarma to understand more about the services they offer by the Barcelona-based Contract Development & Manufacturing organisation, and how they have become Annex-1 ready . 

“Prasfarma has made significant investments adapting their facilities and machinery to Annex 1 requirements for the manufacturing of sterile projects. We have expanded our facilities and increased both production and analytical departments.”

Prasfarma has a reputation for working under an agile strategy. We consider our clients as our partners.

“One of our main value is our flexibility. We work on tailor-made projects and we adapted to our customer’s needs” says Diana. 

Read about their upcoming roundtable on Annex 1 here

“The industry is back, and we’re uniquely positioned to provide end-to-end services, including clinical trials. That’s what we mean by CDMO plus CRO – it’s a complete 360-degree set of operations,” says Dr. Anil Kane, Executive Director and Global Head of Technical & Scientific Affairs at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Dr. Kane leads Thermo Fisher’s technical and scientific initiatives, bringing extensive experience in pharmaceutical development and manufacturing. His expertise spans multiple modalities, from small molecules to advanced therapies, positioning him at the forefront of innovative drug development solutions.

Speaking to the PharmaSource podcast at CPHI Milan, Dr. Kane explained Thermo Fisher’s latest initiative, Accelerator™ Drug Development, which combines their Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) capabilities with Contract Research Organisation (CRO) services from their PPD acquisition. This integrated approach aims to streamline the complex journey from pre-clinical development to commercialisation, offering a truly connected and customisable suite of services.

The 2021 acquisition of PPD marked a pivotal moment in Thermo Fisher’s evolution, enabling the creation of a comprehensive service offering that spans the entire drug development spectrum. This integration brings together:

• Drug substance development
• Drug product development
• Clinical trial packaging and labeling services
• Full clinical trial management
• Specialised GMP laboratory testing
• Regulatory documentation support

“This combination of services brings efficiency, reducing cost and time for our partners to run drug development from very early stage, through clinical phases, to approval and bringing medicines to patients faster,” explains Kane. “We help our clients even put documentations together for IND, NDA, and other regulatory submissions.”

Read the full interview on PharmaSource

“Quality oversight isn’t just about compliance – it’s about building successful partnerships and driving down costs,” asserts Stephanie Gaulding, Managing Director at Pharmatech Associates.

Stephanie Gaulding, Managing Director at Pharmatech Associates, brings over 30 years of experience in quality management within the life sciences industry. Her expertise in quality systems, regulatory compliance, and supplier relationship management provides valuable insights into effective quality oversight practices.

In a recent ⁠PharmaSource podcast episode⁠, Stephanie explains why robust quality oversight is crucial for successful supplier relationships and cost reduction in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

For more insights from Stephanie Gaudling, take ⁠Outsourcing Fundamentals⁠ – a foundational eLearning course on how to master biopharma outsourcing. Use the code POD100 for a discount

"The reality is, we have a lot of CDMOs don't they really know what they're getting into" says Herman Bozenhardt

Herman Bozenhardt, a pharmaceutical manufacturing consultant with decades of experience in facility design and operations, brings a wealth of knowledge from his work with numerous pharmaceutical companies and contract manufacturers. His expertise spans from traditional small molecule drugs to complex biologics and potent compounds.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Herman shares his candid thoughts on the challenges facing the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, particularly in the rapidly growing field of Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs). He explains why many Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) may not be adequately prepared to handle these complex and potent compounds.

https://pharmasource.global/content/podcast/adc-manufacturing-why-herman-bozenhardt-believes-only-5-cdmos-are-fit-for-purpose/

Lonza Capsules and Health Ingredients is the global leader in the capsule manufacturing market, says Julien Lamps, Associate Director of Global Product Management.

Speaking on the PharmaSource podcast, Julien explains how Lonza support the pharmaceutical industry with a range of science-backed capsule innovations.

“We are the most well-known in the market for our Capsugel® brand products” says Julien.

“Our manufacturing footprint is well established. We have 10 manufacturing sites worldwide, in every region of the world, producing 250 billion capsules a year”

This scale means Lonza are able to deliver products worldwide to any pharmaceutical customer regardless of geography or regulatory requirements.

“We are really focused on bringing innovations to the market. We helping our customers find new ways of delivering drugs and enabling people and patients to live a better life”

Along with pharmaceutical business, Lonza have a large customer-base in the nutrition industry where their capsules are used for vitamins and minerals.

Why capsules are the patient-friendly option

The common challenges that pharmaceutical manufacturers face is to “improve the bioavailability of drugs” says Julien. “Making sure that they are delivered with the smallest amount within the body, with efficient and consistent delivery”

“Capsule are by essence the easiest dosage form. They are very convenient to store, to ship and to get into your body in a simple way.”

Julien points out that capsules are a far better patient experience than using syringes and injection, with all the complications this involves for patients and clinics.

Enteric-coated capsules

The biggest products in the Lonza portfolio are capsules that dissolve in the stomach to deliver their contents in either liquid or solid form.

Julien explains that recently they have developed a new range of Capsugel® Enprotect® capsules, which are designed for release in the intestines.

“Capsugel® Enprotect® capsules are our latest innovation in the pharmaceutical space. It is a dual-layer capsule that will withstand the acid media of your stomach and will deliver only once it has reached the small intestine.”

Enteric properties are built in, the capsule eliminates the need for additional enteric manufacturing steps such as adding solvents.

Smart Pills are on the way

Julien confirmed that ‘Smart Pills’ are a key trend he believes will become a mainstream reality in the next five years, with some projects already in progress.

“Smart capsules communicate more information to patients and healthcare professions. They can share information which can help to improve the efficacy of the treatment and ultimately improve patient adherence” he says.

Collaboration with customers

Collaborating with partners is key for Lonza Capsules and Health Ingredients, Julien says.

To help collaborate with customers, Lonza have recently launched the Lonza Capsule Application Lab, a physical facility in France where customers can visit to define their needs, develop projects and launch a proof of concept is done.

His advice is to look for parter with a strong regulatory background, who will help you understand what constraints and opportunities you face in the pharmaceutical industry, and who can prove the performance of their products with data.

“In capsules there are many players, but customers need to ensure they speak to suppliers who are backed up with scientific research” says Julien.

Read more on PharmaSource

“Trust is what your customers need most. They take a great risk when they sign up with you to make their product. They need access within your organization to feel confident you’ll get things done the way they want.”

Thomas Thorpe, CEO of Afton Scientific, brings 45 years of pharmaceutical operations experience to his founder-led Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO), which has grown from bootstrapped beginnings to a company with close to 100 employees specialising in sterile injectable manufacturing.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Tom explains how his experience working for large pharmaceutical companies shaped his approach to building a CDMO that prioritises customer relationships, regulatory compliance, and strategic growth investments—now culminating in a $200 million expansion plan.

Read the full article

“You don’t just need to be good; you need to be better than others to drive your business,” warns Olaf Birkenmeier, Head of External Manufacturing at Polpharma Biologics, describing the evolutionary pressure facing Western biopharmaceutical manufacturers.

Olaf Birkenmeier leads external manufacturing at Polpharma Biologics, bringing senior leadership experience from Sandoz and Novartis to bear on the challenges facing by pharma companies in an increasingly competitive global market.

In a recent PharmaSource podcast interview, Olaf draws parallels between the pharmaceutical industry’s competitive landscape and the Red Queen hypothesis – an evolutionary biology theory proposed in 1973 that suggests species must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate to survive while pitted against ever-evolving opposing species. This principle, he argues, perfectly captures the continuous innovation and improvement required for Western biopharmaceutical companies to maintain their market position.

Join Olaf Birkenmeier at ⁠CDMO Live 2025⁠

Read the full article on PharmaSource

Olon Ricerca Bioscience is a US-based Contract Research Organisation (CRO) offering speciality chemical manufacturing capabilities.

We spoke to Alessandro Agosti, Senior Director of Scientific Operations about how they partner with customers, and some of the ways they are unique. 

The CRO was founded 1986, before being acquired by Olon SpA in 2017.   Now part of the wider Olon Group, Alessandro explains that "clients can tap into a 'One stop shop' taking them from early phase work to scaling up into full commercial manufacturing - leveraging Olon's technologies and the centre of excellence."

Speed of development is a top requirement, says Alessandro, providing the example of a recent collaboration with a US-based pharma company to develop an oncology drug. They escalated from a very early phase to full GMP manufacturing within one year.

"It was a quite a big jump in terms of scale. It was made possible because of the continuous interaction between the different teams fine-tuning the process, the analytical work, as well as the process engineering that is inevitably needed when you go from a few 100 grammes to manufacturing batches on on large scale on a chemical on a chemical plant."

"A trend that that we are seeing from many clients is the requirement to move research and manufacturing away from the Far East" says Alessandro.

While acknowledging this comes with a higher price tag, moving research to the United States is "has clear advantages in terms of control and interaction with customers", adding that it's more important than ever "to deliver first time and keep to the timeline in these very challenging times."

"We like to provide clients with a roadmap for their development, partnering from a very eary stage. This includes the way we write the proposal, the way we try to understand the client's most immediate needs. That will drives and impact the way we do the process development."

"We want to think that there might be a much larger scale, scale up required further down the road, and we believe that establishing a partnership and providing a process package rather than selling a product is the key to a successful working relationship."

Vitema is a fast-growing Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) based in Sibiu, Romania.

With one of the largest GMP-certified pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities in Europe, new management team and assets worth over €100 million, they have ambitious goals.

Ahead of CDMO Live we spoke to Diana Serban, the Head of Commercial and Business Development at Vitema.

Diana describes the company as “More than just a CDMO: we are a robust ecosystem that supports the entire pharmaceutical development lifecycle.” This includes everything from the research and development of medicines and food supplements to full-scale production. Vitema also boasts specialised capabilities for oncology products and clinical trials.

Vitema has more than 20 years experience in the pharmaceuticals market, and prides itself on its ability to assist pharmaceutical, biotech, and healthcare companies in delivering high-quality medicines and food supplements to their customers. They offer integrated services, full transparency throughout the entire manufacturing process, and highly competitive pricing data.

Read the full article

John Childers, Director of Business Development for Wacker Biotech’s North American operations, emphasises the importance of early CDMO partnerships: “Working with an experienced CDMO partner can really help you stay on track for budget and schedule. Think long term – the investment with an external partner can substantially save you time and money.”

As part of Wacker Chemie, a century-old German chemical company, the biotech division leverages over 20 years of experience in advanced therapy manufacturing for contract development and manufacturing.

Speaking to the PharmaSource podcast ahead of CDMO Live 2025, John shares best practices for successful partnerships and explains how Wacker Biotech is positioning itself for growth in the evolving contract manufacturing landscape.

Read the full article

Laurent Bosseler is Digital Procurement and COE lead at UCB. He focused on making technology for colleagues at the pharma company as simple and seamless as possible.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, he discussed how he is currently grappling with how to make the most of exciting Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology such as ChatGPT - but without exposing his company to preventable risk.

“The power of the tool is amazing” says Laurent but adds “you must keep your critical mind and don’t upload any company content there.

“The risk of a security breach is way too high. There have been a number cases in the press recently with Toyota and Samsung reporting security breaches”

"What you pump into the system could easily be leaked. The CEO of OpenAI even mentioned it himself.“

In March 2023, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said he "felt awful" about leaking users' chat histories and payment details.

How to use ChatGPT responsibly

Laurent’s advice is to use chatbots to validate your thinking. 

“ChatGPT is a gamechanger in helping the professional buyer. Use it to validate your thinking. Use it to discover new ideas, to come up with new questions for your suppliers. 

If you’re not an expert in a category, it can help you write a brief for suppliers.  It really has a knowledge power that no human being can have so use it wisely to enrich your thinking.”

However, he warns against uploading confidential information. 

“Don’t upload anything! Be extremely cautious. Do not upload anything confidential such as a contract. Wait for your company to install a ChatGPT-like tool that is behind a firewall and has the necessary security.”

“The system is clever .Even if I say ‘I'm working in a Belgian pharma company, specialised in neurology and immunology’ but I've not mentioned the name, within three seconds the system will say that you work in UCB. 

Intellectual property is also an important issue to address. "Very few people read the terms and condition when you join those sites, because it's five pages but it says that everything you post is the property of OpenAI.

“I'm trying to block colleagues using ChatGPT and discussing with my IT department to see how we can have a GPT-like, way of working within UCB firewall so that you are safe to upload something.

A case study Laurent is looking at is how NLP can improve the usefulness of their intranet.

“Sharepoint is is very good for storage of document, but we are less good at removing old documents. So if you ask a question, you might find six documents which are expired but end user might not realise. A GPT would be ideal for that kind of question and could highlight all the inconsistencies between documents” 

“The healthcare industry is responsible for 5% of global emissions, which is more than aviation,” says Robert Williams Director of Sustainable Procurement at AstraZeneca.

As Vice Chair of the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Initiative (PSCI), he regularly engages with a wide cross-section of stakeholders from across the industry.

The PSCI is the leading association for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, focused on driving an agenda for safety, environmental, and social outcomes across the global value chain.

The 81 members of the association, and the 1,000 registered suppliers, have a combined turnover of $1.3 trillion USD, representing approximately 80% of the global pharmaceutical industry (which is estimated to be $1.6 trillion USD).

Speaking to the PharmaSource podcast ahead of CDMO Live, Rob explains that working with suppliers is critical if the pharma industry is to realise its ESG and Net Zero ambitions.

“As more than 80% of PSCI member companies’ emissions are in the supply chain (97% in the case of AstraZeneca), the focus has to be on working closely with suppliers to achieve decarbonisation goals.”

“It’s clear that there is more that needs to be done globally, as we go beyond tier one and two suppliers, right back to the raw materials that we use,” he says.

Read the full article

The contract manufacturing sector is navigating through turbulent times as Gil Roth, Founder and President of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association (PBOA) explains.

Caught between the after-effects of the pandemic, changing legislation, and the still-to-be fully realised promise of groundbreaking new treatments, CDMOs are showing real resilience.

“We saw the CDMO rise up heroically to help with vaccine and therapeutic production. While there was a lot of government support on the build-up side, there's been none on the drop-off". Many contract manufacturers had to scale significantly to cope with the demand but "now that things are receding, they are on their own. That's been a real challenge."

Gil says this has been a disappointing for the industry that achieved so much over the pandemic to rush out successful vaccination programmes as part of 'Operation warp speed'.

"A lot of those lessons seem to be forgotten. People start complaining about budgets, and government support starts to dissipate. "They're still arguing over reauthorizing the long standing pandemic and all hazards preparedness act here in the US." says Gil.

“R&D pipelines have been hurt, both by COVID itself or the lockdown period where a lot of research and clinical trials were disrupted. The global interest rate rises post-COVID has also led to some R&D funding drying up."

"The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US is meant to permit Medicare to begin negotiating prices on certain drugs. Some drug companies have said this is going to stymie their R&D efforts, so are leaving fields X, Y, and Z, which is also impacting funding."

“The CDMO sector is dependent on things making their way through the innovator side, so the R&D drought becomes the CDMO drought”

Cell and Gene Therapy, an area that is predominantly outsourced to startups - has experienced slower than expected growth due to speed of getting treatments approved.

“They're an incredibly promising set of technologies but building up to accommodate it is going to be tough” says Gil.

“The FDA is still working to build up the regulatory framework for a lot of the cell and gene therapies. They are in the process of hiring reviewers, build up that infrastructure and issuing guidance.Protocols that are still being developed for how to do these sorts of trials. The regulatory framework for them is still evolving.”

Gil explains some of the ways that contract manufacturing can adapting and thrive during these challenging times.

“I think they're they're in position, they're adapting. Capital is still accessible when it comes to making new investments. “

"It's worth remembering that Oral solid dosage drugs are still mighty important. In the US 90% of prescriptions are generic, small molecule drugs. That's a big savings on the US healthcare system and one that we helped contribute to by manufacturing for them.”

The onshoring movement is also creating opportunities for CDMOs based in North America and Europe. “There's more to be done for companies are looking for more supply chain security, but there's also geopolitical considerations that licence holders have and they might be interested in moving manufacturing to particular regions that aren't currently served, that might create opportunities for CDMOs in those sectors in those particular geographic regions."

There is still huge opportunities on the horizon with new treatments. “Nobody was predicting a $50 billion market in diabetes drugs that happen to cause weight loss. "

While it can be a gamble to ramp up capacity at an early stage "treatments like this create gigantic demand for certain types of manufacturing that just wasn't there before."

https://pharmasource.global/

Aizon is on a mission to integrate modern computing into the complex arena of GMP manufacturing processes in life sciences.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast we sat down with Claus Abildgren, Chief Revenue Officer at Aizon, and David O’Gara, Strategic Advisor to Aizon to understand how artificial intelligence can make an impact on manufacturing in the highly-regulated industry.

“Our goal is to evolve the industry by taking pragmatic steps towards enhancing manufacturing performance through practical applications.” says Claus. “We aim to optimize the current capacity of manufacturers and utilize artificial intelligence to anticipate and mitigate the risk of adverse events with predictive capabilities.”

When producing drug products under stringent GMP conditions, “ensuring quality is fundamental. This includes securing data integrity and maintaining comprehensive audit trails—key aspects of deploying technology in a highly regulated environment.”

Leveraging the data generated at a plant leads to identifying opportunities for yield improvements, thereby ensuring high-quality production, delivered on time and at reasonable costs. says David.

“Automated quality reports can significantly reduce the workload for quality organizations and production plant chemists.”

Deploying this technology, especially at CDMOs and for their sponsors, can yield substantial returns, particularly with high-value molecules where even a 1% improvement can have a remarkable impact on return on investment.

Read the full article

C2 Pharma (C-Squared) specialises in the production and distribution of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and complex chemical compounds derived from both synthetic and natural sources.

The company was founded in 2014 after the acquisition of Boehringer Ingelheim's phytochemical API product portfolio.

"In 2023 after 9 years hard work we finally reached goal of becoming the global leader in Ophthalmic APIs” says Serge Tarabay, Senior Business Development Manager at C2 Pharma.

He describes the company's ambitious plans to release two to three Ophthalmic APIs every year to expand further into the market.

C2 Pharma's extensive API product catalogue now encompasses a diverse range of compounds, such as atropine, bimatoprost, brimonidine, cyclopentolate, homatropine, latanoprost, pilocarpine, and tropicamide - and have recently received approval for Digoxin China DMF. The company serves the needs of over 200 pharmaceutical enterprises spanning across the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

2024 trends: Increasing security of supply and maintain quality Serge explains that a key issue they foresee in the year ahead will be the need to increase the security of supply and minimise the risk of market shortfall.

"C2 is working closely with external operational teams to identify market needs and make sure we have sufficient stock in our warehouses in Europe to ensure continuity of supply. Customers are looking for redundancy in the supply chain to avoid any disruption in production."

Another key issue is how the industry can maintain product quality at a time when cost-pressure is on. This question has now become critical, says Serge.

"When it comes to APIs, where lives are at stake, price should not come at expense of quality. It is important to find reliable partners rather than the cheapest available in the market."

"We are seeing a lot of pressure on costs and are trying to absorb it as much as possible. We have to support customers and always be fair, but we see that quality is costing more and more these days."

Read full article

“Europe has roughly double the population of the United States but lower pricing, so it’s a balancing act between how much volume can you get and how little price discount you give.” – Joshi Venugopal

Joshi Venugopal, Head of Region Europe for Novartis Gene Therapy & Rare Diseases and Senior Vice President, brings extensive experience spanning R&D, early pipeline development, and in-market commercialisation.

Ahead of his keynote at CDMO Live, Joshi shares valuable insights on how to successfully commercialise gene therapies in Europe, including innovative pricing models and critical success factors. His strategic approach offers essential guidance for biotechs and pharmaceutical companies looking to navigate the complex European landscape.

Read the full interview

“Customer centricity is something that is lacking in our industry, and we knew we could do it differently,” says Adragos Pharma CCO Henny Zijlstra, discussing the company’s mission to transform pharmaceutical contract manufacturing.

Henny Zijlstra serves as Chief Commercial Officer at Adragos Pharma, a rapidly expanding contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) headquartered in Munich. Since its founding in 2020, the company has grown to encompass five manufacturing sites across Europe and Asia, focusing on small molecule drug products.

In this exclusive interview from the showfloor at CPHI Milan, Henny shares insights into Adragos Pharma’s ambitious growth strategy, their customer-centric approach, and how digital transformation is reshaping traditional CDMO services.

Read the full article here

Bayer Consumer Health heavily relies on contract development and manufacturing, maintaining a network of nearly 200 contract manufacturers that account for approximately half of their global sales.

This is set to change with the Project Martini initiative, which aims to significantly “shake up” and consolidate their network of contract manufacturers.

Speaking ahead of CDMO Live, David Buhmann, Vice President of Procurement Finished Goods, explains the new strategy and its critical importance to Bayer.  

“Contract Manufacturers are an integral part of our overall supply chain. We require top-tier partners to ensure that we fulfil our mission of helping over 1 billion people lead healthier lives with the most trusted selfcare solutions in the market. This includes every link in the supply chain, including the CMO network.”

Over the years, Bayer’s contract manufacturing network has grown organically, resulting in a situation where the company now collaborates with nearly 200 CMO sites, accounting for roughly half of the company’s revenue.

“Our priorities shifted rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” says David. “Initially, our focus was on securing materials and supplies at any cost. However, more recently, we’ve shifted our attention to cost management and cash flow, right-sizing the inventories that accumulated during the pandemic.”

Read the full article on PharmaSource

World Courier, a specialist in logistics, warehousing, and transportation services for the pharma and biopharma industry, covers the entire supply chain from preclinical stages and universities to commercial products.

With 50 years of experience in the storage and transportation of time and temperature-sensitive products, World Courier is part of the Cencora group (formerly AmerisourceBergen), allowing it to tap into a wider range of services.

Alan Runacus, UK Sales Manager, explains how World Courier supports pharma and biotechs of all sizes to access important markets.

“World Courier is not just about delivering packages; we ensure that products and samples get to where they need to be at the correct time and temperature for quality.”

As an example, World Courier holds licenses in all 52 states in America, facilitating storage and distribution.

“This makes it easier for European organizations trying to launch in the US or small Biotechs who simply don’t have the scale to apply for them all individually. World Courier can take that on and distribute direct to pharmacies.”

World Courier has been delivering direct-to-patients for over 20 years and today has a dedicated global team for personalised supply chains.

“The market has evolved significantly in recent years” says Alan. “Our network now includes more cryogenic stations around the world. We use liquid nitrogen shippers, the mode of choice for Cell & Gene therapies.”

“We were the first to introduce GPS in all our multi-use packaging systems. Clients can click into an online portal to see where their package is. “

“These therapies have made everybody look at packaging solutions to deliver safety and integrity of the product because it’s going back to a patient. “

Read the full article

"We can cut preclinical development from five years to 18 months. Molecules which are AI-enabled in some way seem to be doing better in Phase 1 than standard molecules." - Dr. Eva-Maria Hempe, Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences EMEA at NVIDIA

Dr. Eva-Maria Hempe leads healthcare and life sciences for NVIDIA across Europe, combining a background in physics with a PhD in healthcare services design to drive AI innovation across the pharmaceutical industry.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Eva-Maria explains how NVIDIA's accelerated computing platforms are enabling breakthroughs in drug discovery, clinical trials, and personalised medicine through parallel processing power that's revolutionising pharmaceutical R&D.

NVIDIA's Toolbox: Accelerating Every Stage of Pharmaceutical Development

NVIDIA has developed a comprehensive suite of specialised tools for pharmaceutical companies, with the Clara platform encompassing multiple technologies targeting different areas of drug development:

• Parabricks: Software for sequencing of DNA and RNA data which accelerates genomic analysis from 30 hours to just 60 minutes
• MONAI Toolkit: Processes medical images for both human diagnostics and cellular analysis
• BioNeMo Framework: Handles biological language models for protein folding and molecule generation
• Holoscan: Enables real-time sensing and edge intelligence for laboratory applications

NVIDIA has recently released EVO 2, an AI foundation model for biomolecular sciences released in February 2025, in collaboration with Arc Institute with contributions from Stanford University and UC Berkeley

"It was trained on 9 trillion nucleotides from 100,000 species across the tree of life," Eva-Maria says. "It can predict with 90% accuracy whether a previously unrecognized mutation would affect gene function or not."

Read the full article

Established in 1942 , Lannett is a US-based pharmaceutical contract manufacturer boasting an extensive portfolio of over 100 product families currently in distribution.

In this episode Grant Brock Vice President of Operations discuss the ‘end to end’ services that Lannett CDMO offers. Lannett has a wide range of customers, says Grant, from “virtual customers looking for a home for their products, to those that have their own operations.”

Customers benefit from their expertise in the development of oral solid dosage forms of small molecules including highly potent, poorly soluble, and DEA controlled substances.

“The world is always changing, and so are we. We’re always looking for new opportunities.” says Grant.

“Our team has decades of experience, but that doesn’t mean we’re stuck in the past. We make sure we leverage that experience and knowledge, by being forward-thinking and coming up with creative solutions that apply today.”

2024: A year of consolidation?

Reflecting on the industry trends for the year ahead, Grant is expecting there to be continued consolidation both in the generic and contract manufacturing space.

That’s being driven by companies looking for opportunities to drive their plant utilisation effectively.

“When you’re operating a pharmaceutical plant, you have overhead and infrastructure costs, that that don’t go down. To combat the ever-increasing year over year costs, one way to stay competitive is to utilise the plant effectively and control your costs.”

Read the full article here

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast Johannes Galatsanos, Novartis talks about how the River Rhine went from being the polluted, post-war “sewer of europe” to the swimmer-friendly river it is today, and how data quality can be improved in the same way.

Based on his experience in rolling out a global #ERP system at Novartis, this is essential listening for anyone interested in how data science - founded upon better data quality - can improve pharma business operations.

Maurice van Rotterdam, Co-Founder of Netherlands-based digital marketing agency Sciential, believes many pharma suppliers and CDMOs are still missing the mark when it comes to effective digital marketing.

"If I look at pharma supplier or CDMO websites, they typically have a broad service portfolio and multiple target audiences that need to land on a specific webpage. You might attract a lot of leads, but customers then land on a page that is not working."

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Maurice shares his playbook for how pharma suppliers can level up their digital marketing game in 2025.

He explains key strategies for developing a strong brand identity, distributing highly relevant content, and building personal connections instead of just pushing for leads. It is part of the Niche Demand Preference Model that Sciential have developed for life science companies.

Read the full article

Exclusive interview for PharmaSource ahead of CDMO Live

“We’ve combined these two solid legacies into a new, agile CDMO with a unique focus on high-value small and medium-scale production,” says Bruce Vielle, CEO of the newly formed Meribel Pharma Solutions.

Bruce Vielle, an experienced industrial business leader with extensive expertise in lean manufacturing and managing multi-site operations across automotive, aerospace, and pharmaceutical sectors, is spearheading the launch of Meribel Pharma Solutions. Most recently serving as President and CEO of Synerlab, Bruce now leads this ambitious new contract manufacturing venture backed by Blue Wolf Capital Partners.

Ahead of CDMO Live next month, Bruce shares insights about this significant new entrant to the European pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, formed through Blue Wolf Capital Partners’ strategic acquisition of Recipharm sites and Synerlab. The new venture brings together 13 sites across Sweden, France, and Spain with specialised capabilities in development, sterile multi-dose products, and lyophilisation.

Meribel Pharma Solutions represents the culmination of a carefully orchestrated merger between Recipharm’s carved-out sites and Synerlab, completed at the end of 2024. Bruce explains that the integration brings together complementary capabilities that create significant market synergies.

“Our first challenge for 2025 is to bring the company under a single vision, building our culture, integrating systems, and aligning our operations,” Bruce says. “We’re accelerating investment in high-added value processes such as sterile multi-doses and lyophilisation, expanding our development services, and reinforcing our role as a premium partner for small and medium-sized pharma and biotech companies.”

The company operates across 13 sites in three countries, with three specialised in development and ten focused on manufacturing. This geographic spread provides both local expertise and international reach for clients seeking European manufacturing solutions.

“There is always in such integration a strong focus on people,” Bruce emphasises. “We really want to bring everyone together around this transformation and merger.”

Full interview

“What’s in it for the CDMO? That’s the crucial question. We’re not buying a service; we’re establishing a partnership. There has to be interest for both partners.” says Eduardo da Fonseca.

Eduardo da Fonseca, Head of Supply Chain at Bioeq, brings over five years of experience in building a virtual manufacturing operation from scratch. With a background in global companies like Nestlé, Roche, and Acino, Eduardo now leads Bioeq’s innovative approach to supply chain management.

Bioeq is a new Biosimilars company with a clear vision focused on launching specific products in key markets, utilising an out-licensing strategy for commercial distribution and an outsourcing strategy for manufacturing and supply.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Eduardo explains how he’s built up their value chain from raw materials to delivery of finished products, building a network of external partners and internal teams, to get them to where they are now.

Read the full interview on PharmaSource

--- Learn the essentials of successful biopharma outsourcing.

Outsourcing Fundamentals is a new eLearning course that consolidates best practices from 100+ expert interviews into 10 engaging modules.

Podcast subscribers can use the discount code POD100 to get money off. Sign up here

“Other CDMOs couldn’t handle these products, but we figured it out through technical grit and deep expertise,” explains Jackie Klecker, Executive Vice President of Quality and Development Services at Lifecore Biomedical.

In a CDMO Live Preview episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Jackie and Ryan shared insights into how Lifecore Biomedical has built its reputation as a contract manufacturer capable of handling the most challenging manufacturing projects, particularly as it celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025.

Jackie Klecker brings 30 years of medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing expertise to Lifecore Biomedical, where she’s spent 15 years evolving from technical operations to her current position leading quality and development services.

She is joined by Ryan Swanson, Director of Process Development, who brings 11 years of industry experience, including significant CMC expertise from his time at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Read the full interview with Lifecore Biomedical and meet you them at CDMO Live 2025

“We seek long-term partnerships where our technologies can bring genuine value-add that sustains growth. It’s not about geography – it’s about matching specialties and capabilities with companies who share our vision for innovation,” says Rocco Paracchini, Director of CDMO Business Unit Morpho at Alfasigma.

Rocco Paracchini brings a blend of a biology background and extensive pharmaceutical manufacturing experience to his role as Director of Morpho at Alfasigma. After transitioning from biotech to CDMO operations in 2011 in different CDMOs across Europe, he joined Alfasigma in June 2024 to drive its Contract Development Manufacturing transformation and growth.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Rocco shares insights into how Alfasigma, a global pharmaceutical company founded over 75 years ago in Italy with 4,000 people across four continents, is evolving its CDMO strategy to meet growing market demands, with particular focus on customer-centric manufacturing solutions and technological innovation.

• Read the full article onPharmaSource

“The market for lipid nanoparticles really exploded during COVID-19,” says Alexander Aust, LNP manufacturing expert.

Alexander Aust, a consultant specialising in lipid nanoparticle (LNP) manufacturing, brings years of experience from companies like Sigma-Tau Pharmaceuticals and Exelead. His expertise spans from commercial liposomal drug products to cutting-edge mRNA and gene editing technologies.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Alexander explains why LNPs have become crucial in drug delivery, particularly for mRNA vaccines, and shares insights on manufacturing challenges, regulatory considerations, and future applications of this technology.

Read the full article

“What we’re witnessing is the rapid dismantling of the US research infrastructure… It’s also an opportunity for us here in Europe to step up” Dr. Oliver Schacht, Managing Director of Life Science Nord

Dr. Oliver Schacht, Managing Director of Life Science Nord and Chairman of the Board for BIO Deutschland, spoke at German Biotechnology Days 2025 (DBT) in Heidelberg about the challenges and opportunities this disruption presents for Germany and the European biotech ecosystem.

In an interview for the PharmaSource podcast, Dr. Schacht explains that in this rapidly evolving landscape, Europe now has a unique opportunity to strengthen its biotech position, fostering a more entrepreneurial research culture, developing strategic partnerships with China, and crafting a forward-looking regulatory framework that supports innovation and competitiveness.

Read the full interview

Clinical research is a vital part of developing new treatments and cures for diseases. But it is also a complex and challenging process that faces many obstacles and inefficiencies.

Scott Schliebner is a Clinical Development Executive and advisor to early-stage biotech companies, helping them to design and execute clinical trials.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, he shares his insights on some of the current problems and opportunities in clinical research, and how biopharmas can navigate the complex CRO industry in 2024.

Read the full interview here

For us, it’s not a transaction. It really is a partnership,” says Nikki Whitfield, CEO of Upperton Pharma Solutions.

Nikki Whitfield brings over three decades of pharmaceutical development experience to her role as CEO of Upperton Pharma Solutions. A chemist by background and self-described “formulator by heart,” she has significant experience developing sterile and non-sterile dosage forms for small and mid-sized pharma companies, including a tenure at Quotient Sciences, before taking the helm at Upperton in 2021.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast , Nikki shared insights on how CDMOs can better serve small and emerging biotech companies, highlighting the importance of flexible partnerships and scientific expertise in driving successful drug development programmes. Her perspective, shaped by experience on both sides of the CDMO relationship, offers valuable insights for companies seeking manufacturing partnerships.

Read the full article

How should a 100 year-old pharma company partner with a tech giant such as Google?

Sharmeen Lalani-Fade, Global Procurement Lead for online media, creative and data for Bayer explains how they are partnering with Google to bring their Advertising technology (AdTech) stack in house.

The project is designed to connects the 'demand side' (Bayer's marketing campaigns) with the online advertising 'supply side' (websites that show as such as Google, YouTube etc) - without the need of advertising agencies.

"The goal of the project is to be less reliant on agencies and more accountable" says Sharmeen.

“The holy grail of procurement is cost transparency. When you're buying everything through a media agency, however good they are, they're just not built to give you transparency. “

There were challenges with 100 year old company trying to interface with a new breed tech company.

“Not all advertisers directly contract with tech platforms." says Sharmeen "It's a decision that a company can't really take lightly. It requires a great deal of upscaling of the organisation… marketing, procurement, accounts payable all need to go on the digital journey together”

As Sharmeen explains, the project "required a great deal of due diligence. You need to be prepared for some of the common pitfalls".

7 takeaways from the Bayer / Google partnership for procurement professionals.

1. Aim for a true strategic partnership

2. Educate yourself about the tech landscape

3. Help the supplier to understand your world

4. Ensure contracting processes align

5. Marketing effectiveness has to be measured in-house

6. With great data ownership comes great responsibility

7. Stay strongly aligned with stakeholders

Read the full article here:

UK Biocentre is a respected leader in sample management, high-capacity bioprocessing & analysis, and automated storage.

With the capacity to store 35 million individual sample, it is the main processor for many of the UK’s government genetics projects, including the ambitious Our Future Health project which aims to collect and analyse the genetic samples of 5 million residents.

We sat down with Dr Tony Cox OBE a molecular biologist and CEO of UK Biocentre to discuss the centre’s pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they have returned to supporting ambitious biopharmaceutical projects.

“I’ve always been fascinated by DNA and the concept of information moving between generations. It blows my mind that something as simple but as complex could have arisen,” says Dr Cox. “We have a vibrant life science sector in the UK. It’s a fantastic place to be doing genetics."

Read the full article

This episode is a live recording from our first Women in Pharma Procurement meetup.

Pharma is an industry where 90% CEOs are men, and the gender pay gap is still a very real issue. In this session we learned that pay disparity is  no.1 challenge women are facing in their roles.

Since we launched PharmaSource community, it’s been clear that driving a real and meaningful change for women is an area that many of our members are passionate about. 

The panel debate you’re about to hear was chaired by Alicia Ryan, Principal Consultant  Proxima, with Tanya Momtahen,  VP Integrated Product Solutions. Thermo Fisher Scientific, Sharmeen Lalani-Fade, Global Procurement Lead: Online Media & Data, Bayer, along with contributions from members.

To find out more about this session and to get involved in future events, head to /https://pharmasource.global/content/tackling-the-gender-pay-gap-is-the-no-1-challenge-for-women-in-pharma-procurement-video/

In today’s episode we talk about real-world applications of AI and Pharma 4.0 and how it can make a difference to Pharma Manufacturing.

Our guest is Daniel O’Mahoney a Digital Transformation consultant in the Life Sciences, working for Körber Pharma, and Part-time Lecturer in Pharma 4.0 Bio-Industry 4.0 NIBRT National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training

In this interview, we talk about how to get started with Pharma 4.0, a concept that applies the principles of Industry 4.0 to the pharma sector, and some of the ways that technology can be used to improve the productivity of pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Read the full interview on PharmaSource

“Our job is to add value, rather than sell stuff and make money.” – David Anchell, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Camida

Camida are a specialist supplier of pharmaceutical raw materials, fine chemicals and intermediates to the life sciences industry, founded in 1988.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, David Anchell shares his journey and insights on the challenges and opportunities in pharmaceutical raw material sourcing, emphasising Camida’s problem-solving approach and customer-centric focus.

David explains how the pharmaceutical industry has shifted from traditional chemical synthesis to biopharmaceutical production methods. This change has created new challenges in raw material sourcing:

“Biopharmaceutical production uses products that weren’t traditionally used in pharmaceuticals, like buffers, cleaning solutions, minerals, sugars. These were previously used as commodities, but now they’re critically needed for pharmaceutical production, which upgraded the quality needs.”

He further elaborates on the pain points this creates:

“Whereas the pharmaceutical raw material needs are USP, GMP, EP, etc., these products were made in hundreds of tons. I’m talking about things like phosphoric acid and sodium hydroxide, some of the phosphates. They were manufactured in huge quantities by commodity producers, and this industry suddenly needed this high quality. I don’t think that has been solved yet.”

Read the full article

"Seven out of ten medicines dispensed in Europe are generic products. When we only look at price, we don't take into consideration all the efforts European companies make on sustainability. This is an industry we must protect," says Elisabeth Stampa, Vice President of Medicines for Europe.

Elisabeth Stampa, Vice President of Medicines for Europe and Chair of the Board at Medichem, brings over two decades of pharmaceutical industry expertise. She has transformed Medichem from a pure API player into a vertically integrated B2B company and now champions sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing across Europe.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Elisabeth explains why Europe's focus on lowest-cost procurement threatens both supply chain resilience and environmental goals, calling for a fundamental shift in how we value medicine manufacturing.

Read the full article

Dr. Avencia Sánchez-Mejías is CEO and co-founder of Integra Therapeutics, a Barcelona-based biotech company developing next-generation gene-editing tools. With a background in molecular biology and clinical genetics, she brings over 15 years of experience in genetic therapy research across Europe, the US, and Asia.

In this exclusive interview, Avencia shares insights on transitioning from academia to entrepreneurship, building a sustainable biotech company, and leveraging strategic partnerships to bring innovative gene therapy solutions to market.

“Having a technology that can address genetic conditions and new diseases that today are not treatable, can have a huge impact. Not only for the patient but also for the cost of the health system.”, she says.

One of Integra’s most significant strategic decisions was expanding beyond being purely a platform technology company to developing their own therapeutic products. This transition required careful consideration of sustainable growth and market validation strategies.

“This is probably one of the most strategic decisions that we had to take,” Avencia explains. “We think hard and long on which first indication should be to be successful. It also changed the type of company that we were. We were very technological, and now we are building therapeutic products. So the kind of talent that you need also changes.”

Read full article

Bernardo Estupiñán has a career spanning chemistry and business development, and now working as a consultant to guide companies developing new biopharmaceuticals through contract manufacturing

In this interview we talk about his advice for how biotechs can successfully navigate the contract manufacturing landscape in order to bring new products into the clinic on budget.

“The biggest challenge? Money. “ says Bernardo.

Key considerations for Biotech contract manufacturing 1. Manufacturing Location Matters

2. Standardise processes to reduce costs

3. Find the right size and cultural fit

4. Document everything for a Smooth Tech Transfer

Read the full article How to navigate contract manufacturing in biotech

“Sustainability is not just a trend; it’s integral to our DNA,” says Teva’s Global Head of Sustainability

Amalia Adler-Waxman, SVP, Global Head of Sustainability and ESG and head of Corporate Affairs of International Markets at Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, brings a wealth of experience from her roles in government, international affairs organisations, and the pharmaceutical industry. Her unique perspective bridges the gap between public and private sectors, offering invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of corporate sustainability.

Amalia Adler-Waxman’s journey with Teva began in 2016 as a consultant. Since then, she has led the company’s transformation into one of the ‘World’s Most Sustainable Companies’, as recognised by Time magazine.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Amalia explains how Teva’s commitment to sustainability has become a key strategy for driving positive impact and improving business performance.

"In underserved markets, there's always a challenge of reaching patients due to political and economic pressures. Through smart packaging, logistics, and distribution, we're committed to providing healthcare solutions across our network of more than 100 distributors," says Samir El Nasharty, Chief Operations Officer at Acino.

Samir El Nasharty leads an experienced global team of over 1,000 Tech Ops professionals at Acino, a Swiss pharmaceutical company established in 1836. As part of the Arcera Life Science platform, established by ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, Acino focuses on delivering high-quality pharmaceutical products to emerging markets across the Middle East, Africa, Ukraine, CIS, and Latin America.

Speaking to the PharmaSource podcast at CPHI Milan, Samir provides detailed insights into managing complex manufacturing networks, implementing digital transformation initiatives, and steering the company's strategy through challenging market conditions while ensuring consistent medical supply to underserved regions.

Read the full article

On International Women's Day 2024, the PharmaSource community hosted an important debate, asking "how can the biopharma industry do better at supporting and elevating women into leadership roles?"

The panel included Elke Geysen, SVP Head of Global Procurement and External Supply at Grünenthal Group, Roxana Timmermans PhD, Supply Chain Procurement & Global Alliances Leader and was chaired by Alicia Ryan, Principal Consultant at Proxima.

Read the full Women in Pharma article on PharmaSource

Hanns-Christian Mahler, Chief Enablement Officer at ten23 health, is redefining leadership in pharmaceutical manufacturing: “I believe collaboration at the workplace should be primarily based on trust and motivation, not on typical carrot and stick command and control models.”

Founded in 2021, ten23 health has a mission to be a human-centric and sustainable strategic partner of the pharmaceutical industry. With extensive experience at companies including Merck, Roche, and Lonza, Hanns-Christian brings a fresh perspective to the CDMO space, combining technical expertise with innovative leadership approaches.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Hanns-Christian shared insights into how ten23 health is revolutionising the CDMO sector through three key pillars: expertise-driven services, human-centric leadership, and sustainable operations. The company’s unique approach demonstrates how CDMOs can differentiate themselves in a competitive market while prioritising both people and planet. Read more

Connect with ten23 health at CDMO Live 2025, 7-8th May 2025 at the World Trade Center, Rotterdam. Find out more about the event here

Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM), as the name suggests, is a leading sterile injectable drug manufacturer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Following significant investments in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, GRAM has capacity for fill-finish biologics, small molecules, and vaccines.

Ahead of CDMO Live, we had the opportunity to sit down with David Powell, Vice President of Business Development at GRAM.

“We strive to have the latest manufacturing technology. All our equipment is always cutting-edge. But at the same time, as a good old Mid-west company, customer focus, authenticity, and transparency are the hallmarks of who we are.” say David

During the COVID-19 pandemic, GRAM helped manufacture the vaccine. “We pivoted and quickly invested in more capacity. Now, post-COVID, we have a significant amount of capacity available to our customers, with a total of three fill lines and a fourth on the way,” David explained.

With newer capabilities and facilities, GRAM has pivoted to specialize in biologics fill-finish.

“That is where our sweet spot is. We’re not into drug substance, we’re not in oral solids, we are really just focused on fill-finish and helping our customers, large or small, take their products through and get it to market.”

GRAM have announced plans for a third manufacturing facility focused on syringe and cartridge filling to complement existing capabilities.

“We’re leaving plenty of space to also get into more downstream auto injector and other device manufacturers assembly for our syringe and cartridge customers. We realize we need to continue to expand in there to match the market demand.”

• Read the full article on PharmaSource

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource CDMO Sessions, we speak Stephan Fritchi, Executive Vice President Business Units for CARBOGEN AMCIS.

Stephan is responsible for operations across all CARBOGEN AMCIS manufacturing sites worldwide, including sites in France, four in Switzerland, United Kingdom, Netherlands and China.

The contract manufacturer supports customers at all stages of drug development, from clinical trials to being released on the market as a commercial product. Their services include Highly Potent API facilities and a clean room for Antibody Drug Conjugates. 

“We are specialists in providing services in developing chemical processes and produce drugs up to the final product. Depending on the nature of the projects, we can either run our activities from a single site or using multiple sites together." says Stephan.

“We normally start our relationship with clients at a very early phase through clinical phases and then we build up a trustworthy relationship. This normally lasts five to 10 years when finally, if the product is successful on the market, we will produce commercially.”

“I believe that if a quality culture is really embedded, the quality organisation starts reducing, because the more quality is embedded in the organisation, the less you need quality to help you think.” – Liesbeth Foesters

Liesbeth Foesters, Vice President and Head of External and Clinical Supply Quality at UCB, leads a multinational team of over 130 quality professionals who collaborate across various functions including CMC, supply chain, external manufacturing, and more. With a background in biochemical engineering and extensive experience across multiple quality roles, she brings a unique perspective to quality leadership.

In a recent PharmaSource podcast, Liesbeth shared invaluable insights on embedding quality excellence across external manufacturing operations, building effective partnerships with over 100 contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs), and developing leadership approaches that drive engagement and performance.

The pharmaceutical supply chain is undergoing major change, driven by advances in science, technology, and evolving patient expectations. 

To keep up will require fresh approaches to supply chain logistics, says Fernanda Teles, Head of Global Clinical Logistics for DHL Supply Chain. In the latest PharmaSource Podcast she explains some of the key trends from their recent report Delivering Next-Level Healthcare, and shares advice on how supply chain leaders must adapt including:

• Patient-Centric Models
• Biopharmaceuticals driving cold chain network growth
• Supply chain digitisation & sustainability
• The importance of people and technology

Read more here: https://pharmasource.global/content/podcast/pharma-supply-chain-transformation-how-to-adapt-to-the-new-era-of-healthcare/

“Biology is the most complex system in the known universe." says Markus Gershater, Chief Scientific Officer and Cofounder, Synthace. "The fundamental problem we're trying to solve is to how to experiment with something as complex as biology.“

In a recent survey conducted by the digital experimentation platform, 87% of scientists said their greatest challenge “keeping track of all the different elements involved” with experimentation.

Synthace’s mission is to help scientists to navigate and unpick complexity, helping them to understand what’s going on with their experiments and ultimately discover better therapeutics and biological solutions.

Read the full article on PharmaSource

“The GLP-1 agonist market is seeing unprecedented growth, and we’re investing €900 million to capture a fair amount of that business,” says Dr Mimoun Ayoub, Senior VP and Global Head of Sales at CordenPharma, outlining the CDMO’s most ambitious expansion plan to date in response to surging demand for peptide manufacturing.

Dr Mimoun Ayoub serves as Senior VP and Global Head of Sales and Key Account Management at CordenPharma, a full-service CDMO operating an extensive network of 11 cGMP facilities across Europe and the US. With decades of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing and a deep understanding of the CDMO landscape, he oversees the company’s global sales strategy and manages relationships with key pharmaceutical and biotech partners.

Speaking to the PharmaSource podcast at CPHI Milan, Dr Ayoub provided detailed insights into CordenPharma’s expansion plans, particularly in the rapidly growing GLP-1 market, and discussed how the CDMO is positioning itself to support pharmaceutical companies’ evolving needs across multiple technology platforms.

Read the full article on PharmaSource

Leadership insights from our latest Women in BioPharma meetup.

"I fully expect that the industry will have multiple female CEOs in the years to come," predicts Elizabeth Hickman, Chief Executive Officer of Austin Pharmaceuticals.

However, the current state of the pharma industry is that while gender mix starts fairly even, by the time you get to the C-suite, the top table is still overwhelmingly male.

In our most recent Women in BioPharma meetup Elizabeth Hickman was joined by Nikki Whitfield, CEO of Upperton; and Hennie Zijlstra, Chief Commercial Officer at Adragos to share their perspective. Their combined experience spans research and development, commercial operations, and executive leadership, offering a comprehensive view of how women can succeed in this traditionally male-dominated industry.

Join our next meetup: 20th March 2025

Join us for an enlightening conversation with a pioneering female health startup founder, Valentina Milanova, Founder and CEO/CPO of Daye.

Valentina will explain her own personal journey in creating an innovative period care and gynae health startup and discuss the systemic issues which are harming women’s health. She will reveal the hidden gender biases she has encountered that are ingrained in the pharmaceutical industry, from research and testing, to investment, manufacturing and marketing.

Join the conversation by signing up here

“Every CDMO is going to give you the Disney effect. I want to see what’s below the street. How is that organisation humming below the surface?” says John Philips, highlighting why superficial evaluations are undermining pharmaceutical outsourcing success.

John Philips, President at Innopath Consulting, brings over three decades of experience in CDMO partnerships, including leadership roles at Pii (Pharmaceutics International, Inc.), BioDuro-Sundia, Mikart, and Patheon. His focus on bridging the gap between early-stage development and commercialisation has given him unique insights into what makes CDMO partnerships succeed or fail.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, John explains why cultural alignment between sponsors and CDMOs has become increasingly critical as the industry has evolved, yet remains dangerously overlooked in vendor selection processes.

Read the full article

A perfect Storm for US Drug Manufacturing as FDA Changes, Trade Wars and M&A Surge Collide

"There's optimism… but the challenges aren't day to day - it can be minute to minute," warns Gil Roth, President of the Pharma and Biopharma Outsourcing Association (PBOA), describing a pharmaceutical manufacturing sector facing unprecedented change in 2025.

Gil Roth brings deep expertise in pharmaceutical policy and manufacturing legislation, having launched PBOA in 2014 as an essential bridge between contract manufacturers and government stakeholders.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Gil shares detailed insights into how the new administration's trade policies and leadership changes will likely create both challenges and opportunities for US pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Read the full article

Join Gil Roth and other industry experts at CDMO Live 2025

“Small to midsize biotechs are the future of the biopharma industry” says Stefan Verhayden, Global Vice President of GX biological solutions and syringes at Gerresheimer. Stefan leads the company’s packaging and drug delivery services in the fast growing biopharma segment.

“They are the ones develop molecules that then afterwards, either go commercial to themselves or are being picked up by the bigger biopharma companies that then will bring them to a commercial phase.”

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, he explains some of the challenges biopharma customers face, such as personalised medication.

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“What we’re witnessing is a fundamental shift from globalized to decentralized pharma supply chains, yet many companies are hesitant to make the bold capacity investments needed despite recognizing the risks.” – Stephan Fath, Director at Roland Berger

Stephan Fath is a Director at Roland Berger where he specialises in advising global pharmaceutical, MedTech, and chemical industries. With a dual degree in Business Administration and Chemistry from the University of Dusseldorf, Stephan brings a valuable interdisciplinary perspective to network strategy challenges.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Stephan shares critical insights into how pharmaceutical manufacturing networks are evolving in 2025, highlighting the delicate balance companies must strike between cost efficiency, supply chain resilience, and technological innovation in an increasingly uncertain global landscape.

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“Treat them as a partner, not just a supplier. It’s a mindset you need to get into.” – Federica Fraschetti, MSD

Federica Fraschetti, Associate Director of External Manufacturing at MSD, brings years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and a passion for optimising partnerships with contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs).

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Federica explains why getting supplier relationship management right is a key strategy for driving efficiency and fostering innovation in the biopharma industry.

Creating an effective CMC operating model is crucial when working with external partners. Federica emphasises the importance of a clear internal structure that is visible to CMOs:

“What is really key is the structure that you have internally and then externally. So what the CMO can see of your structure when dealing with partners,” she explains.

MSD utilises a ‘virtual plant team’ model, which includes representatives from key functions such as operations, technology, quality, supply chain, and procurement. This structure provides:

• Clear supporting model for day-to-day operations with the CMO
• Established escalation paths
• Defined roles and responsibilities

While it’s ideal to match these roles with counterparts at the CMO, Federica acknowledges that this isn’t always possible. “It doesn’t mean that each function needs to be one-to-one matched at the CMO, but you do need to know where it is matched, even if it is the same person or the same function,” she advises.

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Joerg Ahlgrimm brings over two decades of experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing and operations to his role as Chief Executive Officer at SK pharmteco.

His distinguished career includes leadership positions at Schering, Baxter, and Lonza, where he managed 35 facilities during a period of unprecedented growth. He was one of the founding members of the Center for Breakthrough Medicines (CBM), where he served as employee number four and helped build the operation from scratch before the CDMO was acquired by SK pharmteco.

In this exclusive interview, Joerg shares insights into SK pharmteco’s strategic vision, the future of pharmaceutical outsourcing, and why making outsourcing “easy” is crucial for success in the evolving CDMO landscape. His unique perspective comes from having experienced both sides of a major acquisition, overseeing the integration of CDM into SK pharmteco.

Joerg Ahlgrimm, CEO of SK pharmteco, believes the CDMO industry is heading for significant consolidation: “If you fast forward 10 years, there will probably be 10-15 large, multi-modality CDMOs, with many smaller and specialised ones being bought.” Read the full article on PharmaSource

Kurt Nielsen, Ph.D. shares his strategies for sponsors to extract maximum value from contract service providers, the overlooked benefits of AI, and the shifting dynamics of the global supply chain.

Kurt has an extensive background in contract development and manufacturing, having previously held senior leadership roles such as CEO at Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. (PII), President of Lupin, VP at Sandoz, SVP at Catalent, and EVP at Teva. His consultancy, Longview Leader, assists life sciences clients with continuous improvement and asset management.

“The work we do every day truly makes a difference in people’s lives,” says Kurt. “Putting aside the politics and profit debates, at its heart, the pharmaceutical industry’s mission is to improve health, cure diseases, and enhance quality of life makes it an amazing place to work.”

Read the full interview

“Supply chain leaders make things work. They get things done, but they don’t shine,” says Knut Alicke, McKinsey Partner and co-author of ‘From Source to Sold‘. 

‘From Source to Sold’ contains a series of interviews with top Supply Chain leaders, showcasing the stories of their journeys to leadership positions. Knut’s research revealed that only 11% of CEOs in the Fortune 200 had a supply chain background, highlighting the untapped potential for supply chain professionals to reach top executive positions.

• For more book recommendations, checkout the PharmaSource Book Club

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Knut explains why recognising and developing supply chain leadership is crucial for driving strategic growth and innovation in corporates.

He explains that the ‘CHAIN’ model was developed from the interviews. It is a framework for professionals looking to enhance their supply chain management skills and advance their careers.

Read the full interview on PharmaSource

“Honesty is between sponsor and contract manufacturer is essential,” says Philip Coetzee, Director CMO Management for Daiichi Sankyo Europe.

“Be honest. I find it very difficult to work with someone who tells me ‘half-truths and whole lies’. I’d rather someone say – ‘someone messed up’ than try to hide it. It’s human. Things happen.”

In the latest episode of PharmaSource podcast Philip talks about his experience on both sides of the table - from his experience working at Catalent and now leading contract manufacturing outsourcing Daiichi Sankyo Europe

Successful partnerships thrive on trust, transparency, and genuine connections. Here are some key takeaways from Philip’s insights on optimising relationships with Contract Manufacturing Organizations:

• Build Personal Connections: Philip emphasizes the value of one-to-one relationships with key account managers. Getting to know them personally fosters better collaboration and understanding.

• Smaller CMOs can be more rewarding: Philip finds working with smaller CMOs more rewarding. It allows him to connect with key personnel, including CEOs, on a personal level.

• Appropriate Honesty: Philip advocates for sharing relevant information with CMOs. Explain why their quote wasn’t accepted, and provide constructive feedback. More information is better than too little.

Read https://pharmasource.global/content/dos-and-donts-of-managing-contract-manufacturers-interview-with-philip-coetzee-daiichi-sankyo/https://pharmasource.global/content/dos-and-donts-of-managing-contract-manufacturers-interview-with-philip-coetzee-daiichi-sankyo/

DON’T MISS!

Philip will be hosting a roundtable at #CDMOLive on the topic of how to run better RFP/RFQs. To join the session, sign up here

Terumo is a mid to large size-global medical device company based in Japan, with offices in over 160 countries around the world and over 50,000 products and services.

The Terumo Pharmaceutical Solutions Division, also known as ‘PSD’, is a leading manufacturer of injectable solutions – including primary container, infusion therapy devices, general drug delivery devices – and contract development manufacturing (CDMO) services for parenteral drugs.

“2024 so far has been very good for us.” says Marco Chiadò Piat, President of Terumo Pharmaceutical Solutions Division.

“We’re seeing continuous growth this year, as we did in 2023 and 2022. Continuous growth in capabilities, the solutions we provide to our pharmaceutical customers, and hence a continued increase of the positive impact that we have on patients worldwide.”

Ahead of CDMO Live, we sat down with Marco and Anil Busimi, Vice President Strategy & Marketing at Terumo Pharmaceutical Solutions Division, to discuss the integrated CDMO services that Terumo offer to their growing, international customer base

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In 2024 the world of Contract Development & Manufacturing has been going through a period of major upheaval.

Since the start of the year, every day have been significant acquisitions or investments in the CDMO space. In the United States there are highly significant legislative changes working their way through Congress which will re-define the industry.

Ahead of his talk at CDMO Live, we spoke Gil Roth, President and founder of the PBOA (Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association) to give us his take on all the challenges and opportunities faced by this dynamic sector.

• For more insights into the changing contract manufacturing landscape in the United States, don’t miss Gil’s expert talk at CDMO Live in June, where he will be sharing his insights on How the upcoming US Election and Legislative Changes could Impact CDMOs. Register here for your free ticket

AlfaSigma, the Italian pharmaceutical company, has undergone significant changes with three acquisitions in the last 12 months.

At the same time Fabio Russo, who recently joined as the Chief Procurement Officer, is pioneering a transformation of the procurement function.

Leveraging his background in management consulting, he is introducing a new target operating model that repositions the procurement function as a strategic business enabler to support the company’s growth.

“Consulting is very much about delivering concepts and designs. I missed rolling up my sleeves and going into execution mode. I’ve joined AlfaSigma at a very exciting time,” he says.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Fabio breaks down his strategy, the digital journey that the team is embarking on, and how to stay aligned with the needs of an evolving business.

Read the full story on PharmaSource

The Pharma Source podcast dives into the latest trends, challenges, and commercial opportunities in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry

In each episode we'll be speaking with top executives, researchers, policy makers and other experts, who share their perspectives on the the trends that are shaping the business of pharma.

From the latest breakthroughs in drug development and manufacturing, to the impact of healthcare policy on drug pricing, we cover it all.

In this episode we interview Dr John LaMattina

John was president of Pfizer Global R&D- where he managed more than 13,000 scientists and professionals in the United States, Europe, and Asia.  Today, John is senior partner at PureTech Health, Author and Forbes contributor - Where he offer a unique perspective into the challenges and costs that come with bringing life-changing medicines to market.

His latest book Pharma and Profits - balancing innovation, medicine and drug prices, lays our the facts in a very accessible way, should be required reading for anyone in journalism before they write a story about drug prices.

In this interview we discuss:

- Unpacking the criticism and misconceptions about the Pharma industry 

- The lack of price transparency in the the US healthcare system

- The potential innovation-killing effects of the Inflation Reduction Act

- Why Gene Therapy is a particular issue for pricing

Subscribe to Pharma Source Podcast for your regular dose of pharma and biotech insight.

“One of the challenges we face is trying to recruit talent in a market that is short on the skills we require.  There’s a major shortage of talent,"

Neil Kelly, founder of Vector Partners, has two decades experience in talent acquisition within life sciences, including high-growth period at Thermo Fisher and Patheon.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast Neil explains some key strategies to help bridge the talent gap in life sciences.

1. Reassess on-site vs remote talent

The great lesson from the pandemic was been the successful continuation of business through remote working.

“The supply chain is becoming more and more global - the ability to source product from anywhere in the world is just a reality now. As you think around talent and your workforce globally, then you then start realising that  it's not so much about where the product is that’s important but it's where you can source that talent, because the certain talent around the world that is really short."

However, this has presented a real challenge for HR functions and talent functions to understand which roles can go remote versus those that simply can't - such as  manufacturing or supply chain roles that physically handle products.

“Don't think about physical distance as a limitation to trade or to doing business together." says Neill.

"Start to look at your landscape globally for where do you source talent, versus where do you need to produce the product.”

2. Go deeper into a candidates' strengths and weaknesses

If it's challenging to find someone who is an exact fit, go look deeper into candidate's strengths, says Neil.

“There are very few dedicated Academic courses for sourcing, procurement and supply chain, and those that are are very dated in terms of the content that's delivered to students.  So, we have to look elsewhere."

“If particular talent doesn't exist in the market we have bypass what the label of the degree says on their resume and really start to look at who they are as an individual and their behaviours.”

3. Invest in skills development

“Skills development will continue to be paramount for organisations moving forward, certainly for the next two to three years minimum. It's not only a great retention tool, but the second is that it also allows you to create more skills within your existing resources. “

"If you take an average procurement function or supply chain function, very often, they will have a defined set of skills and a defined boundaries in terms of where they operate. 

Training can help you to get "more all-rounders in your business", says Neil, which will increase your productivity. Training "is a good thing for the employee, and a good thing for the business. "

4. Recruit from outside of the industry

"You can't train the science" says Neil, but enabling functions such as Procurement and Supply Chain - like HR and Finance - have transferable skills which you can look for outside of the pharma industry. 

"In supply chain, we look for agility, we look for speed, we look for sharpness around commerciality that generally has not come from within the pharma industry. “

"We source that talent from those industries that are really lean - telecoms, third-party logistics.These are industries that really sharpen their pencil around some of these skills. We go into these industries and pluck out the very best."

5. Use compensation to your advantage

Take the opportunity to use pay and benefits as way to attract talent from other industries.

"Compensation is generally lower within these industries (such as telecoms and third-party logistics) so you're able to attract the talent, so you've got a commercial or a compensation advantage of attracting someone.”

Listen to the full podcast for the full interview.