Navigating the New Reality of Pharma Manufacturing

Márcio Temtem, vice president, Strategic Business Management, Hovione, discusses the evolving landscape of the pharmaceutical industry, in which many firms are learning to navigate a new reality characterized by increased speed, complexity, and a significant shift toward regional supply chains over global ones. To address these challenges, Temtem emphasizes Hovione's commitment to providing an integrated offer that spans the entire production process. Temtem notes, "we keep committed in serving our clients with an integrated offer that covers from drug substance to drug product."

A central theme of the discussion is Hovione’s strategic investment across its four sites located in three continents. In the United States, the company recently completed a $100 million investment to bolster capacity in particle design and amorphous solid dispersions via spray drying, as well as batch and continuous tableting. In Ireland, Hovione is doubling its spray drying capacity to address the solubility enhancement needs of increasingly complex new molecules. Temtem also highlights a greenfield expansion in Portugal, which is intended to help the company respond to diverse client needs across various market segments.

Beyond physical infrastructure, Temtem stresses that innovation is driven by the synergy between physical assets and advanced science. When it comes to their new investments and expansions in their services, he states, "We take this integration not just on the perspective of the assets, but also on the perspective of the science that we do." To accelerate the CMC development section, Hovione is incorporating digital tools, such as modeling, big data, and process analytics into its operations. Additionally, the company is advancing manufacturing technology through partnerships, such as the development of the ConsiGma platform with GEA. This holistic approach positions the company to meet the modern demands of the Western pharmaceutical market, says Temtem.

Transcript:

Editor's note: This transcript is a lightly edited rendering of the original audio/video content. It may contain errors, informal language, or omissions as spoken in the original recording.

In our case, as I said before, industry is facing a new reality in terms of speed, in terms of complexity, and in terms also of supply chain. Much more regional today, less global than in the past. In our case, we keep committed in serving our clients with an integrated offer that covers from drug substance to drug product. And that also reflects in an increased investment across these regions. As I said before, Hovione is positioned in three continents with four different sites. In the US, we have recently announced an investment of the completion of the investment of one hundred million, that will strengthen our capacity in particle design or in amorphous solid dispersions by spray drying, as well as in the drug product arena, batch tableting and continuous tableting. In Ireland, we are doubling our capacity in spray drying, most related with this need that I mentioned before, with amorphous solid dispersions, and the need to address some of the complexity of the new molecules and the complexity with solubility enhancement. And in Portugal, the same thing. We are expanding to a new greenfield, something very rare, I would say, these days in the Western world. We believe that with this new investment, we will be able to respond to our client needs in the different segments that we operate today. So we take this integration not just on the perspective of the assets, but also on the perspective of the science that we do. We are also trying to add new tools to our toolbox, to accelerate development. And within those tools, you include modeling, big data, process analytical tools, and others that enable, to accelerate the CMC section development. And some of those tools I also mentioned before, also on the manufacturing side of things, like the development of new ways of manufacturing, such as the ConsiGma, with the partnership that we have with GEA.