Editor's desk: The road to normality

Rob Anderton introduces this issue of EPM, highlighting the pharmaceutical industry's move away from the pandemic and towards a sense of normality again. 

This is a rarity, but it’s great to do something a little different and introduce you to this edition of European Pharmaceutical Manufacturer, at a time when things are beginning to feel that little bit more normal.

Speaking of normal, it’s great to see the return of trade shows, with a significant return to in-person events over the last two months across Europe and the United States, notwithstanding the current geopolitical situation and Covid requirements.

I am looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible at Pharmapack in Paris, while I also wish those reading this issue at Pharmintech and Interphex a warm welcome back to the trade shows floors and we can get reacquainted in thenot-too-distant future.

Judging from the conversations I have had it feels very much so that the clamour for having face-to-face interaction has returned in earnest with its significant benefits andis much preferred to sitting at different ends of a computer screen.

Despite the progress that has been made following the emergence from lockdowns in the western world, there is that degree of uncertainty that remains. There will undoubtedly be new variants that emerge and despite the overwhelming majority being fully vaccinated, and the vast majority of those individuals also having received a booster shot, there is a feeling of “what if?”

There is still that trepidation as to what the future holds for some companies as they look to six months or a year down the line. What if there is the need for more restrictions, for example?

One positive to take from the last couple of years is that vaccine manufacturing is now significantly more well prepared to address any supply chain issues, should the need for another ramp up be required in the not-too-distant future.

Away from the Covid aspect there a couple of things I will keep an eye on. If I were to be so bold to predict the future (and I do not have a crystal ball), I would say smaller M&A deals are likely to be a trend, compared to the mega-deal M&A’s of the past, with C&G therapies, vaccines, biologic production now taking more attention which will be music to the ears of start-ups, biotechs and university spin-offs who will be the major benefactors.

If this proves to be the case it would mean new names on the scene, and more entries to the market –making this a very exciting time for the industry.