Recapping INTERPHEX 2025: Pharma Looks Toward the Future

INTERPHEX 2025, an annual global pharmaceutical and biotechnology event, took place at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from April 1–3, 2025. Pharmaceutical Technology® Group covered the conference from multiple angles, publishing news about company offerings and exhibits, attending presentations and lecture sessions, conducting on-site interviews with subject matter experts and key opinion leaders, and keeping a finger on the pulse of breaking developments.

The following are just a few highlights of PharmTech Group’s experience at the 2025 edition of the conference.

Pharma 4.0: What are Industry Leaders Prioritizing in the Modernization of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing?

The pharmaceutical industry is at a pivotal moment, where advancements in manufacturing technology are set to redefine drug development and production. But the reality is that the move towards “Pharma 4.0” requires a major shift, both ideologically and technologically, to adapt current processes to a framework that will automate much of today’s manufacturing. According to data collected as part of CRB’s Horizon Life Sciences report, 31% of industry players pointed to automation and digital transformation as key priorities for capital investment projects presently or in the near future. In a presentation titled The Future of Biomanufacturing, Peter Walters, fellow, advanced therapies at CRB, discussed additional results from the report that shed light on priorities in both the lab and on the production floor, including artificial intelligence (AI), automation, and continuous manufacturing.

ITT Brands’ Industry 4.0 Solutions for Flow Control Shown at INTERPHEX

ITT’s Engineered Valves and Habonim brands showed upgraded, dynamic valve platforms, including the redesigned 970 Handwheel Operated Valve, the EnviZion Valve that ITT said can reduce downtime by approximately 90%, and the PfuZion Diaphragm and Bonnet Assembly that compliments Engineered Valve’s Bio-Tek valve body, allowing for error-proof diaphragm installation and reduction of diaphragm replacement maintenance time from as much as 30 minutes to as few as three minutes. The Habonim brand showed the latest in hygienic ball valve technology including standardized, electropolished, forged bodies, and end connections, which ITT said makes the sanitary ball valves suitable for a range of applications. ITT said the most notable of its offerings to be shown was Engineered Valves’ Integrated Sensing Platform IO-Link technology, which is designed to digitize point-to-point valve communication for hygienic diaphragm valves that have sensing devices, thereby reducing the complexity of the protocol. PharmTech Group additionally spoke with Dave Loula, global product director at ITT Engineered Valves about innovation in advanced sensing technologies that addresses customer need for reliable valve function.

INTERPHEX 2025: Industry Initiates Interchangeable Single-Use Assembly Components in Response to COVID-19 Supply-Chain Disruption

Sitting down with the PharmTech Group, Nicole Hunter, head of Global WMArchitect at Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS), explained the industry initiative around single-use assembly components resulting from supply disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These disruptions led to extended lead times, sometimes exceeding a year, which significantly impacted biopharmaceutical manufacturing and patient access to therapies. Also at INTERPHEX, BioPure, a part of WMFTS and provider of single-use solutions, announced that it had refined the manufacturing of its single-use sanitary connector, BioClamp, to offer sustainability benefits to users, and showcased the connector at its booth. Under the new manufacturing process and new design, the connector is 13% lighter in weight compared to the previous BioClamp model. The adoption of advanced automated assembly has also resulted in 26% less carbon dioxide emissions during manufacturing across the full lifecycle of the product.

IL Group Packaging Safety Solutions Shown at INTERPHEX

Japan-based IL Group, whose United States entity is Iwata Label USA, showcased several of its solutions:

• The Vial Protect Pack series is designed to give additional protection to fragile or high-leverage glass vials, and outer surface contamination of cytoxic medicine, according to IL Group. The series is available in two configurations, Vial Protect Pack I, which has a bottom plastic plate attached to the vial with a Shrink Tack Label for enhanced protection, and Vial Protect Pack II, which IL Group describes as a “container for a container,” combining a plastic cup to cradle the primary vial along with a label for reliable tamper evidence.
• The Shrink Tack Label, as referenced above, is designed for tamper-evident sealing intended to secure syringe contents and prevent tip cap movement in the process of shipping. IL Group said this brings documentation, sealing, and tamper evidence into a singular, streamlined process.
• IL Group’s Light Protect Pack, meanwhile, maintains drug stability by blocking light via wavelengths as low as 380 nanometers (violet), but with material (amber) as low as 500 nanometers available. This solution, the company said, is successful at shielding light for applications using clear glass vials or either glass or plastic syringes.

Also at INTERPHEX, William Wainwright, business development manager at Iwata Label USA, highlighted for PharmTech Group the need for improved protection of pharmaceutical vials and syringes, particularly through functional labels.

INTERPHEX 2025: Challenges in Ultra-Rare Disease Treatment Development

In February 2025, PharmTech Group acknowledged the annual occurrence of Rare Disease Day. At INTERPHEX, Joe Katakowski, director of Research at the RTW Foundation, and Deanna Portero, vice president, Partnerships & Innovation, Orphan Therapeutics Accelerator, gave a presentation titled A Novel Pathway for Ultra-Rare Disease Treatment Development, Commercialization and Access, in which they discussed approaches to advancing treatments for ultra-rare diseases. PharmTech Group sat down with Katakowski to learn more about the RTW Foundation and its work to advance the development of treatments for ultra-rare diseases and the challenges faced by those involved in these efforts.

All of PharmTech Group’s INTERPHEX 2025 coverage can be accessed by viewing this page.

INTERPHEX 2026 will be held April 21–23, 2026, again at the Javits Center in New York City.