PharmaSource Podcast

Negotiating for yourself can be challenging. If you are a woman there are still implicit biases you might face, and self-doubt that can undermine your confidence and performance. Yet, knowing your worth and negotiating for it is crucial for advancing your career, increasing your income, and achieving your goals.

In the latest Women in Pharma Procurement meetup, our expert panel shared best practices for how to negotiate for yourself effectively, overcome common barriers, and close the gender pay gap.

Why it matters:

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Clinical research is a vital part of developing new treatments and cures for diseases. But it is also a complex and challenging process that faces many obstacles and inefficiencies.

Scott Schliebner is a Clinical Development Executive and advisor to early-stage biotech companies, helping them to design and execute clinical trials.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, he shares his insights on some of the current problems and opportunities in clinical research, and how biopharmas can navigate the complex CRO industry in 2024.

Read the full interview here

Malik Akhtar is Vice President at Bayer Consumer Health Division, where he oversees a network of 5000 suppliers, including direct materials, APIs, and 180 contract manufacturers.

Speaking on the PharmaSource Podcast, Malik explains the “Three C” procurement strategy which defines the areas of greatest focus for Bayer in 2024 and beyond:

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“We want to be the leader in decarbonisation of the glass industry.” says Olivier Rousseau, Chief Executive Officer of SGD Pharma.

SGD Pharma is a worldwide manufacturer of molded and tubular glass for pharmaceutical primary packaging, producing 8 million vials and bottles per day.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Olivier sets out the company's plans for 2024 and explains how the whole company is now lazer-focused on being the most sustainable in the industry.

“2024 will be a full year of innovation” says Olivier. “We are on a growth path” with new partnerships and facilities being announced to join its existing global infrastructure of five ISO 15378 certified GMP compliant manufacturing plants.

SGD Pharma's Decarbonisation Strategy

Decarbonisation is now the company's top priority, explains Olivier.

"Our goal is to clearly lead the pharmaceutical glass primary packaging industry. We truly believe that more drug manufacturers will look to carbon levels and sustainability strategies to choose their suppliers."

"We had the ambition of reducing our CO2 emissions by 35% by 2021, and now we are working towards reducing them by 65% by 2040." he says.

“We are investing significantly in the decarbonisation of all our industrial processes and working with customers and partners across the full value chain to uncover scope one, scope two and scope three emissions to get to our goal."

Some of the decarbonisation initiatives for SGD Pharma include:

1. Hybrid furnaces

2. Re-designing industrial processes

3. Collaborating on lighter products

4. Working across the full value chain

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“Biology is the most complex system in the known universe." says Markus Gershater, Chief Scientific Officer and Cofounder, Synthace. "The fundamental problem we're trying to solve is to how to experiment with something as complex as biology.“

In a recent survey conducted by the digital experimentation platform, 87% of scientists said their greatest challenge “keeping track of all the different elements involved” with experimentation.

Synthace’s mission is to help scientists to navigate and unpick complexity, helping them to understand what’s going on with their experiments and ultimately discover better therapeutics and biological solutions.

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BD Medical - Pharmaceutical Systems provides a broad range of parenteral drug delivery systems including glass and plastic pre-fillable syringes, safety and shielding systems as well as advanced drug delivery solutions that help ensure pharma meets its drug delivery goals.

An this interview with Dragana Cvijanovic, Business Director, Processability & Sustainability and Marie-Liesse Le Corfec, Business Head of B2B Medication Delivery Solutions, BD (Beckton Dickinson) we discuss BD's patient-centred innovations and why the industry must do more to achieve sustainability targets.

Read more How Realistic are Pharma’s De-Carbonisation Targets?

In an uncertain world rife with cost inflation, the pharmaceutical industry is seeking innovative solutions. René Wienmann, Chief Procurement Officer at Chr. Hansen, is leading the charge with data-driven procurement insights that are driving savings and sustainability.

René, who proudly identifies as a “procurement nerd or geek,” is leveraging technology to navigate the increasing complexity of procurement in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, René elaborates on his data-driven CPO procurement strategy. Read the full article

What is the best way to make progress towards pharma’s net zero targets? “Get started,” says Chris Shanahan, VP Global Sustainability Supply Chain at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

“Starting can be intimidating and overwhelming. There’s a lot going on, and we don’t always have all the information. But if everyone gets started, we will eventually come together. Don’t put it off.”

Chris Shanahan leads Sustainability efforts for the Thermo Fisher supply chain, following a career in life science procurement at GSK (then Haleon), BD, before joining Thermo Fisher Scientific where he spent the last 17 years as a CPO.

Chris explains why he transitioned from a procurement lead to a sustainability lead. “It’s really about creating something for the future for my own children. Climate change and unusual weather events are here and when you think about the impact we can make on supply chains, we are in a position to influence this and make things happen.”

“Climate-related issues, water waste, human rights, or ensuring fairness for workers in the workplace, these are all topics that are rapidly changing and evolving. In the last 12-18 months, I have seen a lot of change in terms of what expectations are, regulation in Europe and the US, and investors are asking about what companies are doing across sustainability ESG.”

“The way I think about my role is getting things done: executing and pulling through the commitments that companies make. That’s what we’re doing at Thermo Fisher.”

Ambition and Realism

While disruptive events like the COVID pandemic and global inflation may have changed the ability for companies to invest at a quicker rate, senior leadership at Thermo Fisher Scientific have ring-fenced their commitment to make sure that the investment is still there, says Chris.

Thermo Fisher Scientific’s net zero targets are broken down by scope and near and long-term targets

“Our ambition is net zero by 2050. My role is to say, how do we really make it happen? What are the things we must do?”

“Infrastructure needs to change, behavioural changes need to happen, you need to bring people along. It’s all about aspiration, and how quickly you can push, but also, what’s really logical and rational to get there. Some of this stuff takes time.”

Chris gives the example of sites, in countries and states where the grids and the infrastructure are not ready. “If we set a 2030 goal or 2040 goal, we know it’s not realistic because we’re dependent on so many other factors.”

“The investment cycle might get slightly delayed. Inflation is a pretty significant impact on costs, but it doesn’t take away from the actual commitments for 2030 or 2050.”

“It’s about balancing the portfolio as we go through this period. Most companies will go through this sort of pain and hurt and cycle. As you look over history, inflation happens but good times come back. It’s really about how do you flatline and balance that over periods and when you get the good times, you might need to accelerate the investment.”

Educating colleagues and the industry

Educating colleagues, peers and suppliers is critical if the industry will progress together, says Chris.

“Sustainability is something we all have to get educated on. It impacts everything – how we buy, where we place things. Education on the basics of scope one, scope two and scope three helps people to understand what sustainability really means and how to address the challenges.”

Marketing in pharma can be tough. In the contract manufacturing space where the services of one provider might look very similar to another, it can be a challenge to build a distinctive brand and to target at customers at the right moment in their drug development process.

In the latest episode of the PharmaSource podcast, Elliott Berger – formerly Chief Marketing Officer at Catalent and currently Strategic Advisor for Orientation Marketing and Fractional CMO – shares his insights into how marketing can make a real impact in this industry.

From babies to baby molecules

Elliott has previously held a series of senior positions in J&J Consumer Group of Companies on world famous brands like Johnson’s Baby. “In consumer health we would spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars to experiment and work the best talent, best agencies, the best creatives and the biggest media companies”.

He then applied those lessons to Catalent where he led “one of the most active and aggressive marketing programmes in this industry”.

Elliott found the biggest change in moving into B2B was to “adjust from large, emotional marketing to drive impulse purchases” to targeting a business customer “who are trying to buy complex projects with multiple stakeholders, multiple influencers or large process large spending over a period of time.”

Elliott draws a direct comparison between targeting pregnant women, who are at a clear stage in the baby’s development, and targeting pharmaceutical executives who are nurturing their “baby molecule” through the drug development process.

In this interview he shares the following best practices for marketing that can cut through the noise.

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Lonza Capsules and Health Ingredients is the global leader in the capsule manufacturing market, says Julien Lamps, Associate Director of Global Product Management.

Speaking on the PharmaSource podcast, Julien explains how Lonza support the pharmaceutical industry with a range of science-backed capsule innovations.

“We are the most well-known in the market for our Capsugel® brand products” says Julien.

“Our manufacturing footprint is well established. We have 10 manufacturing sites worldwide, in every region of the world, producing 250 billion capsules a year”

This scale means Lonza are able to deliver products worldwide to any pharmaceutical customer regardless of geography or regulatory requirements.

“We are really focused on bringing innovations to the market. We helping our customers find new ways of delivering drugs and enabling people and patients to live a better life”

Along with pharmaceutical business, Lonza have a large customer-base in the nutrition industry where their capsules are used for vitamins and minerals.

Why capsules are the patient-friendly option

The common challenges that pharmaceutical manufacturers face is to “improve the bioavailability of drugs” says Julien. “Making sure that they are delivered with the smallest amount within the body, with efficient and consistent delivery”

“Capsule are by essence the easiest dosage form. They are very convenient to store, to ship and to get into your body in a simple way.”

Julien points out that capsules are a far better patient experience than using syringes and injection, with all the complications this involves for patients and clinics.

Enteric-coated capsules

The biggest products in the Lonza portfolio are capsules that dissolve in the stomach to deliver their contents in either liquid or solid form.

Julien explains that recently they have developed a new range of Capsugel® Enprotect® capsules, which are designed for release in the intestines.

“Capsugel® Enprotect® capsules are our latest innovation in the pharmaceutical space. It is a dual-layer capsule that will withstand the acid media of your stomach and will deliver only once it has reached the small intestine.”

Enteric properties are built in, the capsule eliminates the need for additional enteric manufacturing steps such as adding solvents.

Smart Pills are on the way

Julien confirmed that ‘Smart Pills’ are a key trend he believes will become a mainstream reality in the next five years, with some projects already in progress.

“Smart capsules communicate more information to patients and healthcare professions. They can share information which can help to improve the efficacy of the treatment and ultimately improve patient adherence” he says.

Collaboration with customers

Collaborating with partners is key for Lonza Capsules and Health Ingredients, Julien says.

To help collaborate with customers, Lonza have recently launched the Lonza Capsule Application Lab, a physical facility in France where customers can visit to define their needs, develop projects and launch a proof of concept is done.

His advice is to look for parter with a strong regulatory background, who will help you understand what constraints and opportunities you face in the pharmaceutical industry, and who can prove the performance of their products with data.

“In capsules there are many players, but customers need to ensure they speak to suppliers who are backed up with scientific research” says Julien.

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