Addressing pharma’s need to focus on continuous manufacturing

Enhancing manufacturing agility and improving scalability to match supply with demand are both challenges that pharma organizations need to overcome to ensure competitiveness.

To address these challenges, we caught up with Juan Colberg, Senior Director at Pfizer, ahead of his presentation at Pharma IQ Live: Continuous Processing 2021 on 1 December during which he will address the strategies being utilized to reduce production cycle times by up to 50 per cent.

Colberg, who will be speaking first at the one-day event at 9am EST (2pm GMT), discusses how to access a full manufacturing toolbox and how to get continuous equipment up to speed.

PMIQ: Why do you believe pharma needs to focus on within continuous manufacturing in 2022 and beyond?

Juan Colberg: To get access to the best, cost-effective, greenest and most robust chemistry, pharma needs to have a full manufacturing toolbox. Having access to both, batch and continuous manufacturing technology could provide us with the flexibility to achieve all. Until recently pharma has relied mostly on batch technology and focusing on continuous solutions will allow us to fill the toolbox.

PMIQ: When it comes to your top pain points in continuous processing what are they and what actions can you take to overcome these challenges?

JC: Putting together the necessary continuous equipment and modules requires a well-thought development or purchasing approach, which allows for the introduction of new technology, while still delivering our drugs – especially as we transition from exclusively batch manufacturing to a hybrid approach. To accomplish this we need to take into consideration the pressures of attaining access to continuous manufacturing facilities, while having fully depreciated batch manufacturing facilities. For that we are using a balanced approach which allows us to achieve this transition without impacting the journey of getting our life-saving drugs to our patients fast.

PMIQ: What strategies have you utilized to enable technology implementation that enhances process development and manufacturing?

JC: As part of our balanced approach, we try to learn from peer companies’ achievements in this space, while working with technology vendors and academic groups to address existent gaps on delivering on our final vision.

PMIQ: What top three lessons do you believe attendees can learn from your session at Pharma IQ Live: Continuous Processing 2021?

JC: We'll discuss the challenges we face and ways to address these challenges by getting our R&D and commercial manufacturing groups to work closely together. We’ll also explore how to make sure the right strategy is in place to make the transition at an organization while getting scientific community onboard to support the final vision.

Register for free to attend Pharma IQ Live: Continuous Processing 2021 and join Colberg’s session, ‘What strategies are being utilized to reduce production cycle times by 50 per cent’, as well as gaining access to sessions featuring expert speakers from Abbvie, US Pharmacopeia, FujiFilm and Entegris.