BWS Dialogues

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly asking their contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) to report their greenhouse gas emissions. That's because a CDMO's emissions count toward its pharma customer's Scope 3 footprint. So how should CDMOs and other pharma manufacturers approach this request, and how do they actually calculate—and reduce—their carbon footprint?

To answer these questions, we sat down with David Vazquez, a Climate Principal Consultant at Nexio Projects.

In this interview, David breaks down what pharma manufacturers, and especially CDMOs, need to know about assessing and reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. We discussed:

• How to establish a baseline for all levels of emissions, including Scopes 1, 2, and 3

• The GHG Protocol standard, and why it's moving closer to ISO auditing requirements

• Why data is usually the biggest challenge in sustainability programs—and what companies can do when good data isn't available

• The financial “co-benefits” of measuring your greenhouse gas emissions

• How to estimate the ROI of a decarbonization measure, and concrete steps that don’t require major capital investment

• How CDMOs can engage their own suppliers for better Scope 3 data, including the ADKAR change-management model

• The sustainability footprint of AI—from data center energy and water use to efficiency gains it can unlock

• The biggest hurdles pharma companies face in their sustainability programs, and how to get past them

Listen in as David shares practical, business-minded advice on decarbonization, drawn from his work advising pharma manufacturers and CDMOs.

Learn more & connect!

• Connect with our guest, David Vazquez: LinkedIn

• Learn more about Nexio Projects

• Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com to learn how we support CDMOs and other companies in life sciences and technology industries.

On April 2, 2026, the US administration announced pharmaceutical tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, which take effect on July 31 for larger companies and on September 29 for all others.

The headline rate is 100%, but the real story lies in the maze of exemptions and reduced rates based on drug type, country of origin, and whether a company has announced US manufacturing investment or signed a Most Favored Nation pricing agreement with the government.

To unpack the implications for the industry — and especially for CDMOs — we sat down with Gil Roth, President of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association (PBOA). The conversation also led us to the potential impact of recent FDA disruptions on CDMOs.

We discussed:

· How the exemptions actually work (and are ADCs truly exempt?)

· Why small- and mid-sized pharma companies may take the hardest hit

· What a closer look at pharma investment announcements reveals

· How steel tariffs (and other trade moves) are rippling into pharma

· The "force multiplier" effect of CDMO expansions

· Will FDA staff cuts slow down tech transfer approvals for US-based CDMOs?

· The broader impact of FDA disruption, including politicized decision-making

· The catch-22 of CDMO facility investments

· Why CDMOs are pushing for more—and earlier—FDA inspections

Tune in as Gil untangles the details and tells us what it all really means.

Update! One question we discussed was resolved after we recorded this interview: The US Department of Commerce published a clarification around Section 232 implementation and noted that tech transfer to a US domestic CDMO does count as onshoring.

Learn more & connect!

· Read the details of the tariff announcement.

·. Connect with our guest, Gil Roth: LinkedIn

· Learn more about the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association (PBOA)

· Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn

· Visit brandwidthsolutions.com to learn how we support CDMOs and other companies in life sciences and technology industries.

Pharmaceutical sponsors and their contract organizations, such as contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), need to share a lot of information. But typical data sharing processes are highly manual, during both extraction and ingestion, and thus inefficient and error-prone. So how can partner organizations begin to integrate their digital systems, to create more efficiency?

David Wallace, a Senior Global Change Facilitator at BioPhorum, has spent a lot of time exploring this question. And through the curiously named DISCO program (Digital Integration of Sponsor and Contract Organizations), David facilitates collaboration among leading biopharmaceutical manufacturers, contract organizations, and IT solution providers to identify solutions.

In this interview, David shares what the group has been learning about how partnering organizations can achieve digital maturity in their collaborative operations. We discussed:

• The current state of affairs for data transfer between pharma sponsors and CDMOs (hint: It’s not that advanced)

• Who benefits most from digital integration, and how

• The challenge of seeking digital integration between organizations with different levels of digital plant maturity

• How to establish processes when you have 80 or 100 different partners—as most organizations do

• AI as both a driver for digital data sharing and a potential tool to solve the problem

• How your organization, and your partners, can advance toward greater digital integration

Listen in as David shares useful advice gleaned from real-word practitioners at biopharma sponsors and contract organizations.

Learn more & connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services.

• Learn more about the BioPhorum DISCO program

• Connect with our guest, David Wallace: LinkedIn

• Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn

Your audience is asking questions on the internet. Are you answering them? Search engine optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to show up for your audience where they are in their buyer journey.

In the AI-era of “Is SEO Dead?” and “What’s the future of search?”, we sat down with Mike MacMillan to get his insights on what SEO best practices look like today. With over 20 years of digital marketing experience, Mike specializes in building SEO roadmaps and scaling content for B2B companies and helping businesses bridge the gap between high-level strategy and measurable, qualified results.

We discussed:

1. What it takes to build an SEO roadmap

2. How to find what questions your buyers are asking

3. Keyword research for high intent

4. Technical SEO essentials

5. AI integration in SEO

Listen in, as Mike expands on his search engine optimization expertise and the best practices he’s implemented in the day-to-day of integrated marketing, technical SEO, programmatic initiatives, and market positioning.

Learn more & connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!
• Connect with our guest, Mike MacMain: LinkedIn
• Connect with our podcast host, Meg Sizemore: LinkedIn

Video is a powerful marketing tool. Yet B2B marketers often struggle to develop a clear strategy for using video. The tactics can feel daunting too. What types of videos should we make? What types of topics best lend themselves to video? What if our staff is nervous about being in front of the camera? How do we get the best ROI?

To address these questions, we sat down with Robert Weiss, the executive producer and director of MultiVision Digital, a video production and video marketing company. Robert has produced over 1700 marketing videos that have helped clients increase sales, create lead generation, improve SEO rankings, and increase both awareness and client loyalty.

We discussed:

· What video does better than other marketing tools

· The value of video for building the know-like-and-trust factor

· What makes a marketing video effective

· What types of content are best, and most underutilized, for B2B marketing videos

· Why you shouldn’t start by thinking about what your video will show

· How filmed and animated videos fit into a broader strategy

· His advice about making videos with AI

· Why you shouldn’t think “video,” but instead think “video project”

· How to get the best ROI from B2B marketing videos

Listen in, as Robert draws on his decades of experience to offer concrete advice.

Learn more & connect!

· Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!

· Connect with our guest, Robert Weiss: LinkedIn

· Learn more about MultiVision Digital, including how they create Videos for Manufacturing

· Learn more about video budgets with the blue tree video

· Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn

Pharmaceutical manufacturing, quality, and supply chain management can all benefit from the wise application of artificial intelligence (AI). But what approach should pharma manufacturers take to harnessing AI in these areas? And what are the risks?

To explore these questions, we sat down with Pat Day, a principal consultant at Lachman Consultants. Following more than 25 years working inside the pharmaceutical industry, Pat now serves as a consultant, focusing on areas such as risk management, data integrity and data governance, and supply chain logistics — and now, AI.

We discussed:

• Where AI can offer the most immediate benefits in pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality
• The common mistake corporate leaders make in AI initiatives — and the risks that result (hint: protect your institutional knowledge)

• The value of AI “sprints”

• Why companies should approach AI projects as experiments — that are allowed to fail

• What the regulators are saying so far, and why industry shouldn’t wait for agency “permission”

• The opportunity to use AI to develop data skills in quality and regulatory teams

Given all he has seen, Pat offers his advice for rethinking ROI for AI in pharma manufacturing and quality and suggests best practices for thoughtful implementation.

Learn more & connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!

• Connect with our guest, Pat Day: LinkedIn

• Learn more about Lachman Consultants

• Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn

B2B science marketing is changing, and yet certain fundamentals remain the same. How should life sciences companies plan and execute their marketing campaigns today? To explore that question, we sat down with Debra Harrsch, CEO of Brandwidth Solutions, and Peter Harrsch, PhD, Brandwidth’s chief science officer. Reflecting on what they have seen and learned since the agency’s founding 20 years ago, they discuss:

• What has changed the most in B2B science marketing, and what has remained constant, despite all the changes

• Where companies need to convey their message in today’s crowded markets

• The role of AI and GEO

• Why live interviews still matter

• How to measure results effectively

Debra and Peter share their insights, their forecasts for the next few years in science marketing, and some advice — including the importance of work team culture and a few tips for startups — from a company founder who knows firsthand both the excitement and perils of launching and growing a company.

Learn more & connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!

• Connect with our guests, Debra Harrsch (LinkedIn) and Peter Harrsch (LinkedIn)

• Check out Debra Harrsch’s roundtable at CPHI Worldwide: Navigating Growth: Lessons from the Startup Journey

• Connect with our podcast host, Meg Sizemore: LinkedIn

For B2B companies serving customers in the life sciences — in areas such as bio/pharmaceutical CDMO services, diagnostics, life sciences instrumentation, and laboratory software — creating and maintaining an engaging website is a challenging undertaking. Potential customers are smart and highly educated, and need a sufficient level of detail to inform their buyer’s journey. But they are also busy, impatient, and don’t have time to waste.

So how can life sciences companies optimize their websites and web content to attract and retain the interest of their potential buyers? To explore the nuances of this question, we sat down with Stephanie Fox. Stephanie Fox has been a website user experience (UX) practitioner for more than 25 years, and she recently published a book on this topic, called, Would You Date Your Website?

We discussed:

• The must-haves of user experience (UX) for technical B2B online spaces

• What “scannable” content looks like for scientific and technical audiences today

• How content and webpage design impact trust

• The most overlooked aspects of user experience (UX)

• How artificial intelligence (AI) is affecting user experience

Stephanie offers advice and wisdom, based on her decades of expertise, for ensuring optimal user experience on any B2B website for the life sciences industry.

Learn more & connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!

• Connect with our guest, Stephanie Fox, on LinkedIn

• Check out Stephanie’s book: Would You Date Your Website?

• Connect with our podcast host, Meg Sizemore: LinkedIn

The U.S. administration is pushing for the onshoring of pharmaceutical production. But is there a sufficient supply of qualified people to staff expanded bioprocessing operations?

To explore that question, we sit down with Eric Langer, the president and managing partner of BioPlan Associates. For more than 20 years, his firm has been publishing the Annual Report of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production, so he has the data to back up his views.

We discussed:

• The current state of bioprocessing hiring and long-term trends

• The situation at CDMOs compared to innovator companies

• The impact of geopolitics, including changes to H-1B visa rules

• Job-seekers’ emotional reactions to the current climate

• The staff training gap for expanding manufacturing operations

Eric shares his assessment, putting it all into context—considering both current events and more than 20 years of data.

Learn more & connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!

• Connect with our guest, Eric Langer: LinkedIn

• Check out the 22nd Annual Report of Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity and Production

• Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn

On August 16, the administration issued an executive order to fill the Strategic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients Reserve (SAPIR). The plan begins by stockpiling a six-month supply of 26 critical drugs, with the goal of expanding to a list of 86 essential medicines. What does this mean for pharmaceutical manufacturing, contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs), and the broader drug supply chain?

In this episode of BWS Dialogues, we sit down with Gil Roth, President of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association (PBOA), to unpack the implications of this initiative. Gil shares insights and offers a candid look at the opportunities, challenges, and unintended consequences.

We explore questions such as:

• How does this plan build on—and differ from—previous U.S. drug stockpiling efforts?

• What short- and long-term impacts could this initiative have on pharmaceutical manufacturing and the CDMO sector?

• How effective are other recent measures, like accelerated FDA plant approvals, the PreCheck program, and EQUIP-A-Pharma in supporting U.S.-based drug manufacturing?

• How would pharmaceutical tariffs affect innovators, generics companies, and CDMOs?

• What other factors need to be considered to make reshoring efforts work?

Gil offers his perspectives on how these programs intersect, what gaps remain, and what it will take to build a more resilient pharmaceutical supply chain in the United States.

Learn More & Connect!

• Visit brandwidthsolutions.com for more information about our services!

• Connect with our guest, Gil Roth: LinkedIn

• Connect with our podcast host, Laura Bush: LinkedIn