In news this week, Novo Nordisk has sued Eli Lilly, alleging its Zepbound and Mounjaro ads mislead consumers by omitting newer, higher, FDA-approved doses of Wegovy and Ozempic. The dispute shows how billion-dollar manufacturing investments have made dose strength a new competitive battleground.
Bristol Myers Squibb is expanding its NVIDIA infrastructure with new DGX Vera Rubin systems, offering up to 10 times the performance per megawatt of its prior setup. Chief research officer Robert Plenge calls it a "hybrid intelligence" strategy pairing artificial intelligence (AI) speed with human judgment.
The Industry Half Way through 2026
Earlier this year, PharmTech asked industry experts to predict what might impact pharma in the upcoming year. Now that we’re at the half-way part, our experts revisit their predictions.
Abzena's Campbell Bunce reports continued momentum for next-generation biologics and antibody-drug conjugates, citing AbbVie's newly approved ADC, Decnupaz. He also flags a push to onshore bioconjugate manufacturing in the United States to cut reliance on China.
Neuland Labs' Saharsh Davuluri says Chinese out-licensing deals are outpacing last year's record, as peptide manufacturing expands beyond GLP-1 into cardiovascular and CNS uses. He calls Samsung Biologics' PolyPeptide buyout a surprise and says contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) must grow more agile. Davuluri also reports that India remains a critical hub for API and peptide manufacturing, with Neuland targeting a paperless R&D operation this year. The real hurdle to AI adoption, he adds, is training scientists to trust the tools.
Cencora's Brent Wilhelm notes that more than half of newly launched specialty medicines now need cold chain handling, prompting roughly $1 billion in supply chain upgrades. He says balancing local and centralized inventory is now essential to meet that demand. Wilhelm also addresses the final mile of drug delivery, noting how Winter Storm Fern exposed the risks of relying on third-party carriers like FedEx and UPS. Cencora, he says, is now exploring AI that reroutes shipments using real-time carrier data.
Kolter AI founder and CEO Megha Sinha says pharma's AI "orchestrator" roles are often title-deep, not skill-deep, leaving teams unprepared for tasks like multi-market site transfers. AI systems, she notes, now compute full change plans in advance for teams to validate.
Audits of the Regulatory Affairs Department
And finally, in this month’s Ask the Expert, Nelson Labs' Susan J. Schniepp and Parexel's Siegfried Schmitt warn that regulatory affairs departments aren't exempt from inspection, because regulators scrutinize submission accuracy, not the filing system. They stress clear standard operating procedures and tight communication across manufacturing, quality, and regulatory teams.
Together, the content on PharmTech.com this week shows how AI is reshaping discovery, manufacturing, and supply chain routing, though people, not platforms, remain the pacing factor. Manufacturers are also investing in capacity and resilience, from onshoring to cold chain and API production, even as regulatory diligence stays critical. Visit PharmTech.com to read these stories in full.
