Amsterdam’s iconic concentric circles of interlocking canals, its international appeal and its historical role in shaping our modern world provided the perfect backdrop for the 2023 ISPE Europe Annual Conference which, in Amsterdam fashion, served as a focus for some of the pharmaceutical industry’s most important and contemporary challenges –forces which will most certainly reshape and recast the future of the industry.
Over 600 attendees including industry thought leaders, senior executives, technology innovators, consultants, universities, and key regulatory bodies, all converged to dedicate three days to connect and move the industry forward by spotlighting examples of where new technology has solved key industry challenges, discussing keys to successful adoption and by sharing best practices and lessons learned.
Supply chain resilience was at the focus of conversation throughout the 3-day conference. As supply chains become increasingly interdependent and complex, they are also becoming more vulnerable to disruption by many types of threats including global politics and conflicts, pandemics, climate change, cyber threats, fast moving market behavior, regulatory actions and quality issues. These vulnerabilities are posing an ever-increasing threat to the stable supply of needed therapeutics to patients around the globe. EMA and FDA regulators alike highlighted this topic as one of their key and strategic areas of focus. Industry experts analyzed the current state and leading companies and technology innovators shared examples of solutions designed to address specific challenges. Senior industry leaders and members of the Global Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Leadership Forum (GPMLF) also converged and used the conference as platform to discuss these topics.
The essential role of new digital technologies and solutions permeated practically all conversations as essential tools to help solve key manufacturing and aseptic challenges and improve the resilience of our supply chains. Sessions were abuzz with digitization, data and Pharma 4.0 topics including advanced levels of automation, digital twins, continuous manufacturing and artificial intelligence and how these are being used to create paradigm shifting value. There were also presentations that focused on critical dimensions to successful adoption of these new technologies which included comprehensive corporate digitization strategies, leadership commitment, Quality 4.0 and the revolution of the role of Quality, organizational digital fluency and culture, human factors, and reinventing how compliance is demonstrated using novel validation techniques, instituting robust data governance and integrity and leveraging modern risk management techniques.
The focus of topics at the conference clearly highlighted both the potential value of a comprehensive supply chain risk management program and manufacturing digitization strategy, and the important dimensions to manage as part of a successful journey in both of these areas. Companies that make this journey successfully will unlock new business and patient value, position themselves favorably with regulatory agencies and establish their reputation as data driven and digital technology leaders amongst their peers in the industry.
