Sumeet Dalvi from Emerson explains how advanced automation solutions, paired with unified data strategies, are enabling life sciences organisations to expedite technology transfer and bring new treatments to market faster.

It is widely recognised within the healthcare industry that patient expectations are rapidly evolving, with an increasing demand for higher service standards and prompt access to safe and effective therapies. This puts life sciences manufacturers under growing pressure to bring innovative new drugs, devices and treatments to market as quickly as possible, without compromising safety or efficacy. This in turn creates significant challenges throughout the entire development chain as organisations strive to achieve more efficient production processes, faster clinical trials and streamlined regulatory approvals.

Today, there are more emerging therapies in development that are patient centric than traditional blockbuster therapies. This challenges manufacturers to become increasingly flexible and agile, ensuring they can quickly switch production between different therapies. The ability to rapidly pivot their manufacturing can give organisations a competitive edge, making them better positioned to capture emerging market opportunities.

The need to streamline changeover efficiency is driving manufacturers to introduce variable, rather than fixed, product recipe parameters as part of a more integrated control strategy. This means that vital parameters such as ingredient proportions, processing conditions and timing can be adjusted to accommodate variations in product formulations, production scales, or regulatory requirements without having to redesign the entire process. This flexible approach reduces downtime and costs by enabling manufacturers to quickly switch between different products or therapies, while maintaining high product quality.