What Trends Will Shape the Pharma and Biotech Industries in 2023?
From adapting to budget constraints to weathering ongoing supply chain challenges, our industry experts discuss the forces that are driving current changes across the pharma and biotech sectors and share their insights into what we can expect in the market in 2023.
Rick Knight, Global Head Strategic Account Management
In 2022, we witnessed incredible advancements in drug development, with treatments for both common and rare diseases being developed by virtual companies, small firms, and global players that have gone on to vastly improve patient outcomes.
These companies found success by focusing on their strengths and working with the right partners to bring their life-changing treatments to patients. CDMOs have played a significant role, with their ability to fuel innovation and keep up with the demand being major drivers behind the growing outsourcing trend.
In 2023, we can continue to expect to see innovative products emerge from the development pipeline, but we will also be challenged to adapt to the changing needs of our partners, as many companies are likely to face tighter constraints on investment, resources, and timelines. As a result, our team of creative problem solvers will be working even closer with our partners to help them navigate regulatory pathways and meet milestones under these constraints.
Our flexibility to adaptability in meeting these challenges and speeding up timelines will be key to guiding our partners’ breakthroughs closer to the patients who need them.
We have a significant impact on expediting drug product development an manufacture while maintaining stringent quality standards. In 2023, ensuring this flexibility for our partners will help shorten timelines and give them an advantage in a hugely competitive and increasingly noisy market.
Tom Wilson, Contract Manufacturing Lead
In 2023 and beyond, companies will still turn to their CDMO partners for their expertise and capabilities to fulfill stakeholder expectations and, most importantly, ensure that patients receive the products they need.
To help our partners meet these expectations, we’ll be working closely and transparently with them to understand their challenges and milestones. We will be honing our abilities to work flexibly with agility to help our partners meet their key data targets.
The significance of this agility cannot be underestimated, and it is incorporated into our operations through our Integrated Manufacturing Excellence system (IMEx). This is a lean and efficient organizational system that facilitates critical decision-making from production to management, offering one optimal way of organizing operations for safety, efficiency, productivity, and quality.
Focus on timelines is essential in the development space, but it is becoming increasingly challenging with the rise of complex new technologies and molecules entering the market. New regulatory pathways are not well understood, especially in contrast with more traditional manufacturing methodologies. As a result, CDMO partners must be able to react and respond to rapid changes in pharmaceutical production requirements. Our ability to anticipate these changes and maintain an agile approach has always been important but it will be crucial to our customers’ success in the future.
Andy Anderson, Global Head Strategic Account Management
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it highlighted significant weaknesses in the pharma supply chain and sparked critical discussions on managing risk.
Before the pandemic, API outsourcing decisions were largely based on transactional pricing, but drug shortages during the pandemic raised concerns about the consequences of having no supply and its impact on patients.
Now, we’re seeing companies taking a more holistic view of costs and realizing that paying more upfront for reliable and quality supply can bring long-term benefits. This has generated a growing interest in local outsourcing and a demand for US-made APIs and intermediates.
Pharmaceutical and biotech companies sourcing these products are now more selective in choosing partners that they trust to deliver on their critical milestones. As a result, demonstrating the reliability of our supply is key to reassuring our partners throughout these challenges, as well as highlighting our ability to protect their patient bases through our culture of confidentiality as they work to bring their breakthroughs to patients.
Final thoughts
As the pharmaceutical and biotech industry continues to expand, they also face new challenges that they need specialist support to overcome. In 2023, it’s crucial that we remain well-positioned to offer this support across regulatory and supply challenges, whilst remaining agile in the face of more stringent budget requirements.
Find out more about how Pfizer CentreOne can support you in the development and manufacture of your drug product: