Roundtable: Pharma Trends for 2024

Keeping up with the continual twists and turns within the world of pharma is never that easy. That said, speaking with experts throughout the field enhances our outlook and allows us to anticipate future trends. We at EPM HQ caught up with three such experts to get their thoughts on the pharma trends of 2024:

Ben Wylie, Head of Product Management at ChargePoint Technology

The pharmaceutical landscape has significantly shifted over the last 12 months due to a string of new innovations and technologies that have transformed the industry.

We’ve particularly seen huge investments in personalised medicines with over 2,000 clinical trials conducted in 2022 that featured Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs). This represents a 13% increase from the previous year and highlights the rise in demand for these products.

Personalised medicines (often referred to as precision medicines) are customised treatments for smaller groups of people with rare diseases. They are manufactured in small batches rather than mass-produced as they have unique production requirements.

For example, an ATMP dose possesses unique qualities as they are unique to each patient, which means the machinery used for manufacturing must be adaptable to new batch requirements without compromising on the quality of the product. In order to combat these challenges, manufacturers working with these highly personalised therapies are actively seeking manufacturing, handling and transfer solutions that help facilitate a seamless transition between batches, such as single-use technology (SUT) products. SUTs create an easy and flexible solution for manufacturers needing to change over to new batches while ensuring optimum containment and sterile integrity are maintained.

We expect manufacturers to increasingly turn to SUTs in 2024 to aid their production requirements for personalised medicines. These technologies have short lead times, require less investment compared to their stainless steel equivalent and can be disposed of after every batch. These are all important factors for manufacturers to consider during the clinical stages as they plan ahead for their upcoming projects in the new year.

Trevor Marshall, Senior Director, Head of Consulting for Life Science Manufacturing, Cognizant Life Science and Manufacturing

The pharmaceutical industry is transforming with innovative digital solutions enhancing operations to improve business and patient outcomes. The convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT), and the introduction of generative artificial intelligence (AI) are helping to streamline production processes and increase manufacturing efficiency. Transforming how medicine is made, these shifts are helping companies produce novel therapeutic solutions while meeting the need for accelerated timelines.

Traditional AI approaches in drug discovery enable ultra-fast processing of data, providing key insights by leveraging systems such as virtual screening to analyse billions of potential candidates. Despite the transformative influence of traditional AI, generative AI is also influencing drug discovery and development processes. Aiding routine operations such as report writing in research and development (R&D), writing standard operating procedures (SOPs), predictive maintenance with recommendations, and supply chain forecasting, AI is having a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry.

Moving away from outdated practices of traditional paper-based record-keeping, data is being increasingly hosted on digital platforms. Coupled with automation, data analysis and insights are streamlining production and driving better-informed decision-making, and allowing companies to bring life-changing treatments to patients at speed.

Karan Singh, MD, ACG

We are already witnessing the result of AI and machine learning making an impact across industries and this is especially true for the pharmaceutical sector. As an example, ACG Capsule’s facility in Pithampur (India), which recently became part of the WEF Global Lighthouse Network, is already benefitting from its adoption of industrial internet of things (IIoT), machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), digital twins, augmented reality and generative AI. ACG has demonstrated accelerated deployment of GenAI seeking to address the changing needs for employee skill sets in manufacturing, the company developed and deployed an SOP and policy interfacing GenAI assistant in just two weeks.

In the coming year, we’ll see the impact of these ‘fourth industrial revolution’ technologies step up pharmaceutical manufacturing even further - helping facilities to make the most of their workforce talent.

Robotics and automation will extend the capabilities of teams, helping to deliver on the industry’s commitment to excellence and to operating facilities that are leading technological innovation through advanced manufacturing.

The use of digital twins will become more widespread in product testing and optimisation as well as the reduction of material waste and storage costs. We’ll also see more adoption toward Gen AI and robotics in factories; humans working side by side with machines to drive new ideas and innovation – making the industry safer, more efficient and more connected.