Process efficiency and supply chain transparency underpin innovation, collaboration, and progress to Net Zero

2023 was a demanding year for Life Sciences manufacturing, with continued pressure to innovate, bring costs down and overcome very real global supply chain disruption through improved visibility and contingency planning.

The most significant and serious pharma R&D projects are concentrated in the biotech space now. Although small-molecule developments are still a focus of investment, this once dominant field is becoming steadily less strategically important. As a natural consequence, increased technology use has become a priority – both to support designated innovation, and to help deliver this efficiently and safely. Efforts to digitise and automate manufacturing operations and processes in smarter ways have seen a sharp acceleration in initiatives over the last year, coupled with a renewed commitment to tech-based process monitoring and improvement – among operations of all sizes.

Agility, flexibility, and robust transparency in front of regulators are among the reasons drug producers are upping their game technologically. All market players realise now that targeted technology use offers not only a way to expedite product delivery and contain risk and cost; but also connect in more fluid and traceable ways with other entities – from regulators, to supply chain partners, to clinical trial participants and sponsors.