The company said it commissioned independent research among 31 key players in the UK and Irish biopharma industry to discover key areas for business improvement. The study was conducted between late 2019 and early 2022, covering the period affected by the global pandemic.
The findings reveal that with much pharma manufacturing still employing heavy use of paper-based records, the adoption of electronic batch records can help streamline process operations, improve regulatory compliance, and reduce operational costs.
The report expects digital transformation in biopharmaceuticals to pick up speed across the rest of the decade, with an increasing gulf likely to open up between leaders and laggards.
Andrew Matthews, head of pharmaceuticals, Siemens, said the research underlines areas for consideration as identified from the wider industry and is designed to spark further discussion. He also noted that a percentage of pharma players have not heard of Industry 4.0 or Pharma 4.0, with some delegates at a recent event not up to speed on aspects on digitalization components such as digital twins.
The paper found that standardization of process control, data protocols and interchangeable plug-and-play components is a clear priority, both within pharma firms and between different participants – originators, R&D, subcontracted manufacturing, etc.
And a key trend anticipated by respondents, according to the report, is that contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) will become more digitally integrated with their originator clients. Consequently, it is believed that processes such as contract supply terms negotiations will be easier to set and monitor. “Similarly, administering production time slots, quantities and project management standards becomes far more transparent, easy and rapid-response. Much may be automated.”