Continuous Manufacturing for Secondary Processes: Leapfrog Time?

By Rebecca Vangenechten and Ivo Backx

Pharmaceutical secondary manufacturing has long stood in stark contrast to the drug discovery end of the business, as well as to other sectors, when it comes to innovation such as continuous manufacturing. Is that about to change? Siemens’ Rebecca Vangenechten and Ivo Backx argue that the coming decade could see secondary manufacturing not just catch up but leapfrog other sectors but that mindset will be a crucial factor.

Some of the reasons that explain the relatively slow pace of secondary manufacturing change also explain why the sector is likely to see a transformation. Few other industries would survive if they presided over utilisation rates around 30% or 40% and took as long as a month or even two months to manufacture a product that could be made in two days.

Large inefficient batch manufacturing would have been consigned to the dustbin. In pharma, however, the profits that have come from the traditional blockbuster drug discovery model have masked manufacturing inefficiency and regulation has inhibited change.

Used with permission from Life Science Leader magazine.