PharmaSource Podcast

“What we’re witnessing is a fundamental shift from globalized to decentralized pharma supply chains, yet many companies are hesitant to make the bold capacity investments needed despite recognizing the risks.” – Stephan Fath, Director at Roland Berger

Stephan Fath is a Director at Roland Berger where he specialises in advising global pharmaceutical, MedTech, and chemical industries. With a dual degree in Business Administration and Chemistry from the University of Dusseldorf, Stephan brings a valuable interdisciplinary perspective to network strategy challenges.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Stephan shares critical insights into how pharmaceutical manufacturing networks are evolving in 2025, highlighting the delicate balance companies must strike between cost efficiency, supply chain resilience, and technological innovation in an increasingly uncertain global landscape.

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“Every CDMO is going to give you the Disney effect. I want to see what’s below the street. How is that organisation humming below the surface?” says John Philips, highlighting why superficial evaluations are undermining pharmaceutical outsourcing success.

John Philips, President at Innopath Consulting, brings over three decades of experience in CDMO partnerships, including leadership roles at Pii (Pharmaceutics International, Inc.), BioDuro-Sundia, Mikart, and Patheon. His focus on bridging the gap between early-stage development and commercialisation has given him unique insights into what makes CDMO partnerships succeed or fail.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, John explains why cultural alignment between sponsors and CDMOs has become increasingly critical as the industry has evolved, yet remains dangerously overlooked in vendor selection processes.

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“Every minute, over 1000 patients are using a product manufactured in one of our sites,” reveals Kerstin Vieluf, Head of Sales at Recipharm.

Headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, Recipharm has over 5,900 employees across 17 sites in Europe, US, India, and Israel and serves more than 400 customers globally.

In this exclusive interview ahead of CDMO Live, the leadership team outlines how Recipharm is evolving its capabilities, with significant investments in digital prediction tools, expanded development services, and sustainability initiatives. Dr. Vincenza Pironti, (Head of Business Development), Dr. Uwe Hanenberg (Head of Product Development), and Dr. Kerstin Vieluf, (Head of Sales) reveal how technology investment is driving growth.

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“I believe that if a quality culture is really embedded, the quality organisation starts reducing, because the more quality is embedded in the organisation, the less you need quality to help you think.” – Liesbeth Foesters

Liesbeth Foesters, Vice President and Head of External and Clinical Supply Quality at UCB, leads a multinational team of over 130 quality professionals who collaborate across various functions including CMC, supply chain, external manufacturing, and more. With a background in biochemical engineering and extensive experience across multiple quality roles, she brings a unique perspective to quality leadership.

In a recent PharmaSource podcast, Liesbeth shared invaluable insights on embedding quality excellence across external manufacturing operations, building effective partnerships with over 100 contract manufacturing organisations (CMOs), and developing leadership approaches that drive engagement and performance.

Maurice van Rotterdam, Co-Founder of Netherlands-based digital marketing agency Sciential, believes many pharma suppliers and CDMOs are still missing the mark when it comes to effective digital marketing.

"If I look at pharma supplier or CDMO websites, they typically have a broad service portfolio and multiple target audiences that need to land on a specific webpage. You might attract a lot of leads, but customers then land on a page that is not working."

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Maurice shares his playbook for how pharma suppliers can level up their digital marketing game in 2025.

He explains key strategies for developing a strong brand identity, distributing highly relevant content, and building personal connections instead of just pushing for leads. It is part of the Niche Demand Preference Model that Sciential have developed for life science companies.

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"Seven out of ten medicines dispensed in Europe are generic products. When we only look at price, we don't take into consideration all the efforts European companies make on sustainability. This is an industry we must protect," says Elisabeth Stampa, Vice President of Medicines for Europe.

Elisabeth Stampa, Vice President of Medicines for Europe and Chair of the Board at Medichem, brings over two decades of pharmaceutical industry expertise. She has transformed Medichem from a pure API player into a vertically integrated B2B company and now champions sustainable pharmaceutical manufacturing across Europe.

In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Elisabeth explains why Europe's focus on lowest-cost procurement threatens both supply chain resilience and environmental goals, calling for a fundamental shift in how we value medicine manufacturing.

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"We can cut preclinical development from five years to 18 months. Molecules which are AI-enabled in some way seem to be doing better in Phase 1 than standard molecules." - Dr. Eva-Maria Hempe, Head of Healthcare & Life Sciences EMEA at NVIDIA

Dr. Eva-Maria Hempe leads healthcare and life sciences for NVIDIA across Europe, combining a background in physics with a PhD in healthcare services design to drive AI innovation across the pharmaceutical industry.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Eva-Maria explains how NVIDIA's accelerated computing platforms are enabling breakthroughs in drug discovery, clinical trials, and personalised medicine through parallel processing power that's revolutionising pharmaceutical R&D.

NVIDIA's Toolbox: Accelerating Every Stage of Pharmaceutical Development

NVIDIA has developed a comprehensive suite of specialised tools for pharmaceutical companies, with the Clara platform encompassing multiple technologies targeting different areas of drug development:

• Parabricks: Software for sequencing of DNA and RNA data which accelerates genomic analysis from 30 hours to just 60 minutes
• MONAI Toolkit: Processes medical images for both human diagnostics and cellular analysis
• BioNeMo Framework: Handles biological language models for protein folding and molecule generation
• Holoscan: Enables real-time sensing and edge intelligence for laboratory applications

NVIDIA has recently released EVO 2, an AI foundation model for biomolecular sciences released in February 2025, in collaboration with Arc Institute with contributions from Stanford University and UC Berkeley

"It was trained on 9 trillion nucleotides from 100,000 species across the tree of life," Eva-Maria says. "It can predict with 90% accuracy whether a previously unrecognized mutation would affect gene function or not."

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“You don’t just need to be good; you need to be better than others to drive your business,” warns Olaf Birkenmeier, Head of External Manufacturing at Polpharma Biologics, describing the evolutionary pressure facing Western biopharmaceutical manufacturers.

Olaf Birkenmeier leads external manufacturing at Polpharma Biologics, bringing senior leadership experience from Sandoz and Novartis to bear on the challenges facing by pharma companies in an increasingly competitive global market.

In a recent PharmaSource podcast interview, Olaf draws parallels between the pharmaceutical industry’s competitive landscape and the Red Queen hypothesis – an evolutionary biology theory proposed in 1973 that suggests species must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate to survive while pitted against ever-evolving opposing species. This principle, he argues, perfectly captures the continuous innovation and improvement required for Western biopharmaceutical companies to maintain their market position.

Join Olaf Birkenmeier at ⁠CDMO Live 2025⁠

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“Other CDMOs couldn’t handle these products, but we figured it out through technical grit and deep expertise,” explains Jackie Klecker, Executive Vice President of Quality and Development Services at Lifecore Biomedical.

In a CDMO Live Preview episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Jackie and Ryan shared insights into how Lifecore Biomedical has built its reputation as a contract manufacturer capable of handling the most challenging manufacturing projects, particularly as it celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2025.

Jackie Klecker brings 30 years of medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturing expertise to Lifecore Biomedical, where she’s spent 15 years evolving from technical operations to her current position leading quality and development services.

She is joined by Ryan Swanson, Director of Process Development, who brings 11 years of industry experience, including significant CMC expertise from his time at Bristol Myers Squibb.

Read the full interview with Lifecore Biomedical and meet you them at CDMO Live 2025

“Most founders dominate organisations, spending 70-hour weeks trying to control everything. But it’s not about the hours you work – it’s about the impact. That shift in mindset transformed how I built multiple successful businesses in pharma services,” explains Raman Sehgal, reflecting on his journey from startup founder to strategic leader.

Raman Segal is the founder of ramarketing, a PE-backed life sciences marketing agency, Lead Candidate, a specialist pharma talent firm, and is host of Molecule to Market podcast.

Based in Toronto as North American President, he has scaled multiple ventures in the pharmaceutical services sector while maintaining work-life balance – a feat many entrepreneurs find elusive.

In this interview, Raman shares his framework for productive leadership, strategic growth, and building specialist businesses that command premium pricing in the pharmaceutical services sector.

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Molecule to Market is official media partner to CDMO Live, and Raman will be recording podcast episodes live from the event. Find out more and register here.