CPhI Worldwide: Localised supply chains key for pharma's long-term potential

Short term reshoring and localised supply chains will be key to long-term change within pharmaceutical manufacturing, according to the 2021 CPhI Annual Report.

The report analyses the most recent trends and innovations to predict the pharma manufacturing, therapeutic and technology environment in 2030. The report foresees the use of automated cobots, AI, real-time release and rapid growth in new areas like mRNA vaccines, alongside the personalisation of therapeutics (delivered at far larger scale).

It’s expected that in terms of geographic dominance, value in the pharma market will be led by the US and China, which will account for around 50%, followed by European nations and Japan.

Significantly, short term priorities around reshoring and localised supply chains are acting as the catalyst for much of the long-term change forecast – the knock-on effects of which are a far faster embrace of next generation process controls, standardisation of reporting technologies and newer innovations in digital infrastructures.

“Our experts suggest that the rate of change in pharma manufacturing and supply is likely to accelerate over the next 5-years and we will see adoption that might have otherwise taken 10-years to achieve [pre-pandemic]. Pharma is seeking new partners, ingredients providers and contracts services organizations – with the supply chain competing to align not only with the new therapies coming through discovery, but also with next generation technologies that will enable better and potentially cheaper medicines. Understandably, this means partnering discussions are beginning much earlier, and global companies are widening their networks, which is why CPhI is so important as a facilitator of the ecosystem,” commented Orhan Caglayan, Brand Director at CPhI Worldwide.

More so, the report suggests that the adoption of continuous processing, PAT (Process Analytical Technology), and PAC (Process Analytical Chemistry) are now combining so that manufacturing not only produces better-quality products, but also, potentially at a lower cost. The adoption of these technologies has been accelerated by the macro changes in the last year, and government efforts to ‘reshore’ manufacturing and secure supply chain resiliency for essential medicines.

Bikash Chatterjee, CEO at Pharmatech Associates is a contributor to the report.

“The integrity of the strategic national stockpile (SNS) will be a springboard for the development and refinement of advanced manufacturing technologies. For industry, the chief benefit from broader adoption of such approaches is to take advantage of lower cost of goods by reducing waste and the cost of poor quality (COPQ), and that in itself may increase the industry’s comfort with principles such as real time release (RTR). In a market likely to continue to encounter consistent downward pricing pressures, the adoption of these elements will allow manufacturers to lower their costs and still manage a profit as they provide improved, higher quality drug therapies to patients— this is a win-win in anyone’s book,” Chatterjee said.

Within the next five years, the report predicts that most health systems will introduce much greater interoperability and build a strong electronic health record network to utilise real evidence-backed decisions.

Aurelio Arias, engagement manager of Thought Leadership at IQVIA and another contributor to the report said: “The tech sector has an important part to play in this puzzle; where they are able to collect data on people before they become patients on their mass-market smart devices. To further the value from their data, tech companies must find ways of working with the healthcare sector that leverages their strong consumer focus and unique platforms in a way that works within the existing regulations and ethical frameworks of healthcare.”

Both Arias and Chatterjee point to increased digital innovation in the supply chain to help transform efficiencies in manufacturing. This includes technologies such as cobots, AI and AR/VT for training. The challenge now is for regulators to keep up with the change of pace so not to hinder innovation.

The report also indicates that by 2030 not only will manufacturing processes change, but so will the therapeutic indications in the pipeline.  

“By 2030 we expect the leading therapeutic indications accompanying oncology will be in crossover areas like inflammation and cancer vaccines. Growth potential will also be sourced from rare diseases and niche immunology areas. Some therapies will experience a revival, like cardiovascular, liver disease, and CNS – with or without Alzheimer’s – already showing huge potential to be treated using digital therapeutics. Significantly, the modalities in which we can tackle these disease areas will increase with the development of platform technologies, more specifically in RNA, Cell & Gene, Digital and Microbiome,” commented Arias.

These new findings are released ahead of CPhI Worldwide (November 9-11, 2021), which is being held for the first time in two years at the Fiera Milan, Italy. To gain an advanced copy of the full CPhI report and analysis, register here to attend CPhI Worldwide.