Last week the editorial team attended Pharmintech, the international exhibition for the pharmaceutical, biotech, nutraceutical and cosmeceutical industries. Held in Bologna, the city for innovation, technology and education, the event represented the best of processing, packaging and instrumentation technologies, contract manufacturing and raw materials, components and digital and automation solutions applied to the life science industry. We interviewed several industry leaders on the innovations they were showcasing, their opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry, and challenges and opportunities they see in pharmaceutical production.
Interviewee answers have been condensed for length.
Luca Cavazzini – Sales & Marketing Director, IMA
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
It’s very important for IMA to be here. We’re representing pharma divisions, and we have a lot of customers attending the show.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition?
Specifically new in general, we have a new cutting machine and new cutting press. We have IMA digital where we can show all news related to connectivity between machines, innovation and software.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
For us, we have to see what happens. In the UK market, there will be a big impact. We will see how things develop after the decision. We have a UK branch, so we will keep doing business as we are doing now. Selling and importing in the UK will be impacted.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
Specifically, everything is money. The pharma industry is very conservative. There is a move towards continuous manufacturing. Major players are seeing this, with new tech moving fast.
Do you have any applications with the biotech industry?
We have IMA Digital, a digital innovation which was launched in Interpack 2017. This is 21 digital projects, split into 4 main areas. We’ve put together 21 big ideas to transform the industry. We’re trying to transform the internal organisation of companies using digital tools. For example, we’ve created apps to put forward a single point of communication. Also to provide the right material for customers and barters, and make machines more connected.
Carlotta Benvenuti – Italian Marketing Director, Manes
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
We produce connection devices between our representatives machine . We built i.e. lifting columns designed to lift drums and containers to feed machines by gravity, dry granulators, vibrating sieve. In Phamitench 2019 we presented “Sherpa Revolver” a new dosing concept in a very accurate way and dust free, to dose solid components on IBC or mixers.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition
We produce connection devices between our representatives machine . We built i.e. lifting columns designed to lift drums and containers to feed machines by gravity, dry granulators, vibrating sieve. In Phamitench 2019 we presented “Sherpa Revolver” a new dosing concept in a very accurate way and dust free, to dose solid components on IBC or mixers.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
We don’t deal much with UK customers, more Irish. We hope we will find a good situation for everyone.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
There’s an interest in controls and data integrity. Customers are asking for connected machines which control every single part of production. Customers want to resolve this issue.
Stefano Paolucci – Marketing Manager, Domino Printing
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
Our product offer is products involved in pharma products. Directly we sell our system to customers. We can meet both our customers here – users of our system and people who supply their own system.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition?
We’re showcasing a laser marker – a co2 marking laser, called the Domino D620 i-Tech laser. This is used in the pharma market to code serialisation. It guarantees the best code in the market. There’s a strict regulation for coding barcodes in the pharma market. They must be readable by machines 5 years after creation.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
We import from the UK, so could have problems. We will have to pay taxes on some products imported.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
The challenges and opportunities for us are related with the new FMD regulation that obliges the producer to print a serialised code. So the challenge will be to renew the line according to this regulation.
Alessio Diego Wagner – General Manager, Farmar Tec
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
Farma Tec is 50 years old, founded in 1969 and a family run business. In 2015 the company was taken over by Curti Industries. We provide packaging for pharma, food, tobacco and nutraceutical. We’re trying to get consumers and customers in nature companies. Pharma is a stable industry, while the food supplement marketing is increasing a lot. We’re here to catch new unknown customers.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition?
We’re showing a new blistering line including a blistering machine and cartering machine. Our focus at this exhibition is food supplements, because we see this market as innovative.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
Our export in the UK is low, so it shouldn’t be a big issue.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
Some small markets have been neglected for years by machine makers. E.g. Polish, Hungarian markets are niche markets with good growth. This is a good opportunity for us. Also serialisation and aggregation, investing on those technologies and strengthening partnerships with companies that make aggregation and serialisation systems. We see food supplements as a great opportunity and an easier market than pharma.
Gabriele Biondi – Business Development Manager Microbiology, Microbiologics
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
It’s our first time here. We have recently been bought by Avantar. We’re a distributor of laboratory equipment and consumables, and wanted to try this exhibition for the first time.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition?
Our products are quite standardised. We’re showing new versions of old products, for example a product for microbiology control.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
Everything is unclear. We have some UK customers and imports. We don’t forsee a huge problem in terms of commercial fees. There may be an issue for people wanting to work in UK and vice versa, not commercially. Everything still open.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
Everything is going towards customisation, customised products. A specific item with a specific packet that must be done just for the specific customer, or different formulation. This will be a challenge and an opportunity; it will keep customers but be more difficult to produce.
Do you have any applications with the biotech industry?
We’re more a research laboratory. We’re considered as a sort of Amazon for the laboratory.
Fabrizio Laviola – Sales Manager, Videojet
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
I’m responsible for the pharma user and pharma OEM channel. OEM are a company that produces machines. So we produce printers for machines, we have a printing system for barcodes, production date, expiry date labels for several kinds of labels. We produce a laser modified material, for visible print without applying ink. We also produce an inkjet printer.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition?
We’re showcasing the Thermal Transfer overprinter. It’s a new machine, with an integrated vision camera. You can check the negative, which is a big advantage – you can check in advance the quality of the print. You can stop the machine in case of defect on the barcode. This technology – ‘DataFlex’ – was introduced 2 years ago.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
We are suffering a bit with OEM because they work with the UK. Customers are waiting to see what happens. A lot of projects are frozen.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
The next step of serialisation will be aggregation, aggregating information from single package to palette. We’re waiting for government decision. It’s not yet worldwide, but we have the technology.
Alessandro Zannini – Sales Director, Stevanato
Can you tell us a little bit about why you’re here, what is your primary reason for attending the event?
It’s one of the few pharma events in Italy. We’re an international company with our HQ in Italy. We’re here to meet existing customers and show our range of production. Our pharma division is engaged in the production of glass containers, speciality plastics. We have an engineering division that supplies equipment for the handling and manufacture of containers, the sterile packaging, assembling inspection, serialisation and logistic solutions. We also have services that take care of the interaction between drugs and the containers.
What are you primarily showcasing? What innovative products and services are you showcasing at the exhibition?
We’re showcasing an assembling device that’s scalable and future proof. Market trends create new requirements. We have more devices used for the delivery of drugs, creating flexibility for clients. We’re growing our line to support manufacturing, due to the increase of demand for specific drugs. There’s a need for different machines.
What’s your opinion on how Brexit could affect the industry?
There will be an initial effect. We have limited business with Britain. It won’t affect our turnover in the long term.
Can you tell us about the new challenges and opportunities presented in pharmaceutical production?
This has changed in the last few years. There’s new attention towards flexibility, running multiple products on the same line. Quality of production, the need for an integrated system, minimising rejects.
Do you have any applications with the biotech industry?
We see this as the biggest opportunity. We’re tailoring our offer and primary containers. Equipment has to respond to biotech, there will be big growth in the next few years.
Winner of Pharmintech’s Start-Up Award – Relief, Restoring Urinary Continence. The winner was chosen by a panel of esteemed judges and granted further funding for their research. We spoke with Relief to congratulate them and learn more about their start-up and what their aims are for the future.
Relief Start-up members:
Leonardo Ricotti (Professor)
Leonardo Marziale (Research Assistant)
Tommaso Mazzochi (Research Assistant)
Gioia Lucarini (Post-Doc)
Novello Pinzi (Medical Advisor)
Our aim is to develop novel medical devices to restore urinary continence. We want to bring this to the market – the device is an artificial urinary sphincter, which is unisex and magnetically controlled.
We started the project with the Scuola-Superiore-Sant’Anna university, who receives money to fund research projects. We began in 2017 with public financing, and now in 2019 we founded the start-up and G-Force programme. This is an incubator / accelerator to develop our start-up in order to grow in terms of marketing and other market strategies.
We need 4 million euros to bring our product to market, because it’s difficult to make medical devices commercial. Our next step is clinical trials – we need to obtain CMR to bring the device to market.
We are looking for a scientific advisory board to show our product to a scientific community. We need them to describe our device to neurologists, gynaecologists, etc. These are the customers we need to prescribe the device.
