CPHI North America is one of the larger events that we attend every year. And while it’s always a tremendous opportunity to connect with colleagues and make new connections, it also presents an incredible opportunity to unite the entire pharmaceutical supply chain under one roof.
In addition to touching base with industry leaders around the world, we were able to meet with a number of API suppliers and talk to some promising talent about joining our growing team!
Weren’t able to attend? Here are our top takeaways…
5 Essential Insights From CPHI 2024
Our team had a packed schedule, but we found CPHI’s new focus on sustainability and excipients to be a breath of fresh air. It was also inspiring to see carry-over topics — supply chain and drug manufacturing issues — discussed in a new way.
Here’s the short list of what we’re still talking about back at home:
1. The Drive Toward Sustainability Desperately Needs More Drivers
The production, distribution, and disposal of pharmaceutical products can have significant environmental consequences. While every industry likes to talk the talk when it comes to sustainability, it is not only time for us to walk the walk but, as speaker Jim Massey, Chief Sustainability Officer at Zai Lab, often puts it, drive the drive.
Regulations are pushing us in the right direction, but we need to see sustainability not as merely a box to check but as an invitation to innovate and become more competitive.
2. Today’s Excipients Are Really Yesterday’s Excipients
It’s easy to forget that many commonly used excipients weren’t designed for formulation; they’ve been co-opted from other industries. Unfortunately, we’re all paying the consequences for that. Many excipients aren’t a good fit for some projects or, for that matter, some patient populations. And so far, innovation continues to lag behind the actual need.
At Corealis, we’ve been closely monitoring excipient innovation for years so we can give our clients a competitive advantage early in the formulation stage. Therefore, we were pleased to see this topic finally getting the attention it deserves from the industry at large, and we believe that this is one of the areas where specialized CDMOs like Corealis can help biotech take a giant leap forward.
3. We Need To Stop Being Reactive and Start Being Proactive Around Fixing the Supply Chain
It’s hard to think of an industry that hasn’t experienced significant supply chain challenges in the past four years, but our collective response to those challenges will need to be very different, and it will need to evolve.
There are a few ways that a smaller CDMO can move the needle, and patient-centric design is one of them. Of course, providing our partners with the specific packaging, labeling, and delivery methods required to increase clinical trial success rates is just one piece of the puzzle, but it’s an important one to increase access to novel therapies around the globe.
4. Don’t Overlook Technical Transfer
Expert technical transfer is one of the unsung heroes of drug development. It will perhaps never attract the type of attention reserved for the prototyping phase, but it’s vital to revolutionizing drug manufacturing. For example, an excellent tech transfer team can help keep your project moving seamlessly from team to team so you can optimize every step of its journey. Poor tech transfer, on the other hand, can introduce the quality issues, delays, and costs that have plagued our industry for far too long.
We’ve been saying it for years — if you’re considering a CDMO partnership, get nosy about their abilities in this area. It’s also an easy way to tell if they’re truly invested in their partners’ success even after a project leaves their doors.
5. Stability Is Worth Its Weight in Gold
With ongoing tensions between the US and China, not to mention geopolitical instability around the world, using overseas partners is now a much riskier business.
Drug development will never be without an element of risk, but we were pleased to hear more potential clients understand that the “cheaper” CDMO may end up being a costly mistake. We were also pleased to connect with more like-minded CDMOs that are committed to maintaining high standards.
Other Opportunities To Connect
If you weren’t able to attend CPHI this year, there are plenty of other ways to connect with the team. Our Montreal facility is just a five or six-hour drive from Boston and New York, and you can also connect with our team at a number of upcoming industry events.
Click the link below to see where our schedules align!
