Key Take Aways from the Pharma Manufacturing World Summit 2024:

Now is the time for collaboration...but will anyone answer the call?

Across three days, leaders from the pharma industry echoed the sentiment that large scale partnerships between companies will be essential if we want to overcome the core challenges hindering the advancement of the latest transformative and curative technologies.

The observation was made that our approach has become fragmented and that, instead of working together as an industry, we have been trying to solve these problems in isolation.

Parallels were drawn to the similar challenges faced in the emerging field of biologics in the late 90s, and how a small group of leaders came together (See originating members of BioPhorum and other pioneers such as: Patrick Y. Yang, PhD , Mike Kamarck, Andy Skibo , Madhu Balachandran fostered pre-competitive inter-company collaboration. The result was the rapid formation of the Technical and Production standards that lifted the whole industry and allowed it to break the barriers that were preventing us from delivering critical medicine to patients.

The question was asked, why are we not doing this now or, more importantly, WHO are the NEW leaders that will reach across the aisle and build the bridges that lift our industry once again?

In line with this ask for collaboration:

Jerh Collins from Moderna delivered an inspiring talk, showcasing Moderna’s commitment to AI and machine learning. He emphasized that these technologies are already delivering early rewards and that corporate partnerships are crucial to accelerating these gains and setting new industry standards for data-led decision-making across the industry. Jehr openly stated that “we can’t do this alone” and asked for potential collaborators to reach out.

Holger Weintritt from 拜耳 highlighted a significant philosophical shift within the company, aimed at fostering a culture of intra-company productivity, empowerment, and more accurate decision-making. By decentralizing decisions and placing them in the hands of product teams, Bayer is hoping to embrace peer accountability and enable those that truly understand what patients and products need to succeed. “It’s easy to fool your supervisor; it’s much harder to fool your peers.”

Flemming Dahl from 诺和诺德 addressed the immense capacity demands facing the industry and the importance of building deeply trusting partnerships with technology vendors and partner organizations. He stressed the necessity of decreasing intra-company fragmentation and proactively partnering with agencies to drive solutions. Flemming’s vision includes a modular, multi-agency-approved, highly standardized facility design that will deliver more for patients, faster, and to a higher level of compliance and safety. His call for partnerships was clear: “Novo Nordisk is open for partnership, so please, reach out and let’s discuss how we can help each other.”

Don't forget quality:

Not only did Tech Ops step up to the plate but leading thinkers from quality were keen to discuss the QA/QC (re)evolution: Robin Kumoluyi from 强生公司 , Anil Sawant from 默克 , and Nicolás Maldonado from Gilead Sciences all outlined the need to keep pace with modern technical innovation, moving beyond the bureaucracy of paper-era decision councils to new methods of decision-making. Details were shared of how each business was leveraging new data tools and near-instant communication to centralize and streamline systems with tremendous impact on decision-making, deviation resolution, and product release times.

Leadership and Talent Development:

Talent was once again a hot topic, with multiple observations made about many of the leaders who launched biologic products starting to retire and leave the available leadership pool.

At the Phase 3 Search roundtable discussion, the leaders present were asking for more mentorship and guidance on how to transcend their functions and position themselves to become the enterprise leaders and C-suite leaders of tomorrow. There was a belief that CEO or COO roles aren’t out of reach, but that there needs to be a better understanding of corporate development, fundraising, and the broader picture of drug development CMC, Tech Ops, and Quality leaders are to make it to the C-suite and the boardroom.

Summary:

As we look to the future, it is clear that collaboration, innovation, and leadership development are key to advancing our industry and improving patient outcomes.

There is a belief that by reigniting the spirit of partnership that defined the early days of biologics, we can overcome today’s challenges and pave the way for a new era of transformative healthcare solutions.

As a result, the question from #PMWS24 that sticks in my mind isn't “is collaboration needed?" but "who among us will answer the call?"