Page 45 - CW E-Magazine (Oct-Nov-2023)

Discovery Pipeline

Alone is not an option when it comes to innovation

In an increasingly connected world,
we certainly do a lot on our own. Work-
ing remotely is now commonplace. We
walk through the airport with head-
phones on. We text instead of call. It’s
an evolution of our communication, but
connection has been slowly eroding
for the past several years, and we see it
everywhere. However, in the world in
which I live and work – the BioPharma
industry – connectivity and collabora-
tion has never been more important.
ical pipeline are potential first-in-class turing, existing certainties were chal-
Take the ecosystem of science within medicines, offering incredible hope for lenged, especially around supply chain
the biopharmaceutical industry, for in- the future. However, biomanufacturers resilience. The industry came through
stance. It is multi-dimensional, with sci- face increasing cost, complexity and the crisis rightly proud of the central
ence starting in numerous places from regulatory challenges, even as they are role of biopharmaceuticals in combat-
the academic environment to public- pressed for productivity and speed. All ting the pandemic, but a re-examination
private partnerships to small biotechs, the while not sacrificing quality or safety. of the role of transactional relationships
and then the scaling of a therapy is now The potential for these new treatments to has been prompted.
being handling
by multiple teams “The process to develop and manufacture the The vulner-
and partners with abilities exposed
the oversight and therapies of tomorrow is not a single, linear by the pandemic
might of a large activity. But rather the interconnection of – from raw mate-
pharma company. many sub-routines; each of which needs to be rials sourcing to
This ecosystem shipping and dis-
along with a global successful to drive progress” tribution to inven-
pandemic sped up tory management
what we already knew: The process to improve patients’ lives will only be real- and change control – all caused tremen-
develop the treatments and therapies of ized if useful partnerships are developed dous stress to the industry, but this time
tomorrow is not a step by step process through the phases of clinical trial, scale also clearly demonstrated that collabo-
but many steps at a time, with many up and manufacturing. ration is crucial to getting to market
levers being pulled by many players in quickly and remaining there. Through
collaboration to move science forward. In the scale-up phases of develop- every recent breakthrough, biomanu-
It is integrally connected. The process to ment, technology transfer and creative facturers have worked with their suppli-
develop and manufacture the therapies manufacturing solutions are now not ers, technology providers, CMOs/CD-
of tomorrow is not a single, linear ac- only required but expected of suppliers. MOs, and others to tackle the world’s
tivity. But rather the interconnection of This elevates the supplier/biomanufac- largest health challenges. To continue
many sub-routines; each of which needs turer relationship to a new level of not this work, the entire BioPharma value
to be successful to drive progress. only fulfilling a transaction via a prod- chain needs to think differently about
uct or service but building a partnership what it means to outsource their work.
Indeed, it’s difficult to contemplate to add incremental value. Purely transactional relationships will
the alternative. Connectivity was abso- not suffice in the future.
lutely necessary in bringing the enabling Covid-19 presented the most recent
biologic therapies we have today to the stress test for the BioPharma industry. Suppliers, like Avantor, were al-
clinic – but challenges persist. Today, an From R&D through process develop- ready supporting the BioPharma indus-
average of 74% of medicines in the clin- ment and scale up through manufac- try with products and services for the

Chemical Weekly October / November 2023 41