BioPhorum Connect

This episode aligns with BioPhorum's Quality Community by exploring how human behaviours, communication, leadership, and quality culture influence inspection outcomes. The discussion supports BioPhorum's focus on advancing quality excellence, strengthening inspection readiness, and sharing practical approaches that help organisations move beyond compliance to achieve sustainable performance.

This podcast is connected to BioPhorum's Quality Community and builds on discussions within the Inspection Body Intelligence workstream. The episode explores industry challenges related to inspection readiness, regulatory expectations, quality culture, and continuous compliance, while sharing practical insights and lessons learned that support BioPhorum's mission of enabling collaboration and best practice across the biopharmaceutical industry.

In this episode of BioPhorum Connect, Loic Bishop is joined by Lucas Pianagonda, a materials science expert in sustainable plastics, to explore how sustainability can be embedded into the design and material selection of drug delivery devices. The discussion covers key pressures driving change in biopharma, practical challenges in redesigning established devices, and where meaningful sustainability gains can realistically be made—spanning eco-design, material trade-offs, lifecycle assessment, and emerging trends such as mass balance plastics and AI-enabled material selection.

In this engaging episode of BioPhorm Connect, Soroosh Bagheriasl, Phorum Director at BioPhorum welcomes Kristen Booth, Senior Biocompatibility Scientist at AbbVie, for a deep discussion on biocompatibility in medical devices and combination products. Kristen shares her unique journey from animal science to medical device toxicology, explores the challenges of navigating ISO and USP standards, and reveals the complexities of supplier management. The conversation covers the evolving regulatory landscape, the importance of harmonizing industry practices, and the drive toward platform approaches for drug delivery devices. With anecdotes, practical advice, and a touch of horror movie fun, this episode offers valuable perspectives for anyone working in biopharma, medical devices, or combination products.

In this BioPhorum Connect episode, Charlotte Scutt, Global Change Facilitator at BioPhorum, hosts a strategic conversation with senior authors Laura Mahoney (Pfizer) and Steven Muller (Bristol Myers Squibb) to explore the collaborative development and purpose of the 'Manifesto: Digital technology-based capabilities for the quality control (QC) lab of the future 2.0', published in July 2025.

Rather than offering a fixed solution, the manifesto provides a structured vision and practical considerations for QC labs navigating digital transformation. The speakers reflect on industry-wide challenges such as fragmented systems, manual workflows, and limited automation, and how the manifesto—now aligned with the 'Digital plant maturity model (DPMM 3.0)'—helps organizations build strong data foundations, foster collaboration and make informed decisions to advance digital maturity.

Listeners are encouraged to use the manifesto as a strategic blueprint, share it across teams and join the ongoing BioPhorum conversations shaping the future of QC labs.

In this episode of BioPhorum Connect, Loic Bishop sits down with returning guest Soumen Das, Delivery Systems Qualification Lead at Takeda, to explore the evolving world of biocompatibility in drug-device combination products. Soumen shares his journey from academic research in chemistry and biochemistry to leading biocompatibility strategies for global pharmaceutical delivery systems.

The conversation dives deep into:

1. The shift from checklist-based testing to risk-based approaches under ISO 10993-1 and its connection to ISO 14971.
2. Challenges in global regulatory alignment, including differing requirements across FDA, EU, PMDA, and China.
3. The role of platform technologies in accelerating drug-device development and leveraging existing safety data.
4. Supplier engagement and material risk assessment—why early involvement of biocompatibility experts matters.
5. Training and cross-functional awareness—building company-wide understanding to flag changes that affect biocompatibility.
6. Whether you’re a biocompatibility professional, regulatory strategist, or simply curious about how patient safety is ensured in complex delivery systems, this episode offers practical insights and forward-looking perspectives.

Designing Drug Delivery Devices: Prioritizing Simplicity, Empathy, and Real Patient Needs

Description / Show notes: Andy discusses the importance of patient-centered design in drug delivery devices, emphasizing that simplicity, reliability, and empathy should guide innovation rather than adding unnecessary features. Andy shares insights from his experience in human factors and medical design, highlighting the challenges patients face with complex therapies and the need to design devices that fit seamlessly into their lives. The conversation covers the pitfalls of overcomplicated devices, the myth of patient engagement, and the tension between regulatory requirements and true user needs, with examples illustrating how usability can be compromised by commercial or regulatory pressures.

1. Patient-Centered Design: Understanding real patient needs and lifestyles is crucial, and devices should be designed to minimize cognitive load and fit into daily routines.
2. Simplicity Over Complexity: Reliability and simplicity are more valuable to patients than flashy features, especially for those managing multiple therapies.
3. Challenges with Existing Therapies: Older, complex drug reconstitution processes persist due to regulatory grandfathering, leading to frequent user errors.
4. Engagement Myth: Debunking the idea that patients are excited about therapies, explaining that adherence is more about convenience than engagement.
5. Regulatory vs. User Needs: The discussion highlights how some device features are added to meet regulatory or commercial goals, not actual patient benefit, sometimes increasing complexity without improving usability.

In this episode of BioPhorum Connect, host Loic Bishop speaks with Dr. Steven Levine, Senior Director of Life Sciences and Healthcare at Dassault Systèmes and Executive Director of the Living Heart Project. They explore how engineering principles and digital twin technology are reshaping the future of medicine—from personalised treatment planning to regulatory-grade simulations.

Steven shares his personal journey, including how his daughter's congenital heart condition and a brain tumour has inspired him to pioneer a new approach to medical modelling. Learn how the Living Heart Project grew from a bold idea into a global collaboration involving over 165 organisations, and how it’s now influencing how we run clinical trials, regulatory processes, and the development of digital organs.

Topics include:

1. The origins and impact of the Living Heart Project
2. Building a fully functioning digital heart
3. Collaboration with the FDA and global regulators
4. The future of digital twins in drug development and personalised care

Rick Wedge shares his personal and professional journey from developing medical devices to becoming a patient dependent on diabetes technology, following a total pancreatectomy and diagnosis of Type 3C diabetes.

The discussion covers the challenges of managing diabetes, the importance of wearables and continuous glucose monitoring, and the impact of technology on quality of life.

Rick reflects on how his experience as a patient has deepened his perspective on risk management and device design, emphasizing the real-world implications for patients.

The episode also explores future improvements for diabetes devices and the value of patient-centric innovation.

This AI-generated conversation explores the challenges of implementing AI in pharma accurately, reliably and safely, particularly given the stringent requirements of good practice (GxP) regulations and the need to enhance trust among stakeholders, including regulatory authorities, healthcare professionals, and patients. 

It is based on the BioPhorum publication Implementing AI systems in regulated pharma environments and key takeaways include: 

1. The whole AI lifecycle needs to be managed 
2. It's a risk-based approach with risk management throughout 
3. Setting clear objectives and scope creates the essential focus for success 
4. For reliable AI, data needs to be really well managed 
5. Algorithm selection and model design needs discipline to create assurance 
6. Deployment is about thinking of the whole system, which could include many AIs 
7. Data drifts, so ongoing monitoring and evaluation is essential 
8. Change control includes a much bigger challenge of version management 

You can also watch a 90-min webinar replay by nine of the (real-life) authors who illustrate each point from their experience.