News | April 19, 2012

Plan Ahead To Make The Most Of INTERPHEX 2012

Lori Clapper

By Lori Clapper, Editor

INTERPHEX 2012 is now less than a week away (May 1 to 3). Attendees will have a lot of ground to cover — literally — with four floors of New York City’s Javits Center filled with 650+ exhibitors, 1000+ product lines, 52 classes, and much more! For advice on successfully navigating this massive event, I asked INTERPHEX’s industry VP, Bob Stewart, to lend us some insight.

Pharma Trends Are Right On Track(s)

The first advice Stewart gave me was to take advantage of INTERPHEX’s new conference tracks. “We organized the tracks much differently this year,” Stewart said. “They actually mimic the start-to-finish process our attendees go through when manufacturing a drug.” He believes these tracks — Regulatory QA/QC, Product Development, Facility and Process Design, Manufacturing and Packaging, and Supply Chain — will be an excellent guide to direct you to the specific topics that most interest you and most impact your work.

“We also filled the tracks with sessions dealing with the hot trends and issues within each topic — like Quality by Design (QbD) or process analytical technology (PAT) on the design side, or aseptic processing, single-use, and cleaning and validation on the manufacturing side,” he explained.

A couple specific sessions I would recommend you consider attending are:

There are many other interesting sessions to choose from. For find more information that will help you make the most of your time at the show, check out INTERPHEX’s My Show Planner , an online tool you can use to search for sessions of interest and create a personal agenda.

Get Into The Zone

Stewart explained that, like the conference, the exhibition is conveniently divided, in this case into four zones: Automation, Facilities, Manufacturing and Packaging, and Sourcing and Services. I’m still planning to pack my most comfortable shoes for my journey around the exhibit floor, but this arrangement should help you better navigate to the companies that fit your project requirements.

Again, INTERPHEX’s My Show Planner can be a great tool for planning your time on the show floor. However, I wanted to let you in on some booths I plan to visit, in the event you might want to visit to see new technologies demonstrated:

  • EMD Millipore is showcasing its new Mobius Cell Ready 50-liter bioreactor at booth 2841.This equipment offers a fast turnaround and minimal validation. While there, you can speak with experts about leveraging disposable technologies to reduce time and resources, or attend a presentation about that topic on May 2 at 11:30 am.
  • Visit Colder Products Company at booth 2537 to see its new AseptiQuik STC system, a hybrid combination of stainless equipment and single-use systems.
  • Elizabeth Companies (booth 3335) will demonstrate its new tablet press line targeted for generic and industrial producers of solid-dose pharmaceuticals.

“If you are coming to INTERPHEX and you are interested in finding out about outsourcing — whether for research, manufacturing, or packaging — we are providing a separate meeting area for our One to One program,” says Stewart. This program is designed to match you with contract companies that can provide solutions for your specific project. You will need to opt -in ahead of time through the INTERPHEX registration process. After you register, a meeting coordinator will contact you to gather more information and help schedule meetings with interested providers to discuss your project. Stewart explained that it’s a great complement to the services featured on the show floor: “It’s a separate place you can go to hold higher-level conversations with contract organizations to find what you are looking for.”

Don’t Forget The Keynotes

Instead of having one “marquee” speaker this year (news anchor Chris Matthews and former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani have given INTERPHEX keynote addresses), Stewart shared with me that INTERPHEX decided to invite three well-known, industry-focused guests to discuss challenges and trends in the life sciences. Jim Miller, president of PharmSource Information Services, will speak on “What the New Bio/Pharma Business Model Means for CMOs and CROs” on Tuesday, May 1, at 9:15 am. Jeffrey Baker, Ph.D., deputy director, Office of Biotechnology Products of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), will also take the stage on Tuesday, May 1, to address “Control, Capability, and Capacity: Elements Assuring a Reliable Drug Supply” at 1:30 pm. Richard Smith, director of life sciences and specialty services for FedEx (and son of FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith), will discuss the “hot” topic of cold chain — “Creating Innovative Cold Chain Solutions for Your Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Products” — on Wednesday, May 2, at 10:15 am.

See You At The Show?

With so much going on, the Pharmaceutical Online team will be covering the show from every angle. If you have the opportunity, please stop by our Life Science Connect booth, located in the Javits Center lobby (due to renovations), and pick up the latest issue of Pharmaceutical Online: The Magazine, which tackles the quandary of science education in America, explores the challenges of continuous manufacturing, and deconstructs the blue dye leak test method for blister packaging. In the meantime, email me at lclapper@vertmarkets.com to let me know what topics and trends most interest you at INTERPHEX this year.