The Multifaceted Future of Pharma
We asked over 100 industry professionals for their views on the future of the pharma and biopharma industries, including key disruptors and what can be improved… The key trends? AI, cell and gene therapies, and a need to reduce costs and improve patient access.
The Medicine Maker launched in September 2014. (Happy 10th Anniversary to us!). Our mission then and now: to showcase the human side of drug development and manufacturing. There is a huge amount of passion for science and medicine in this industry, but all too often that enthusiasm is stripped away when it comes to writing or speaking about the field, with professionals adopting a sterile business-centric or technical voice. Ensuring the science and technical facts are communicated is vital, of course, but it’s not only the research itself that can be inspiring. Human stories – career stories and personal stories – can also inspire. In The Medicine Maker, we offer both, sharing intriguing research and manufacturing stories but also diving into personal journeys – the latter exemplified by our ever-popular “Sitting Down With…” series.
Topics covered in our inaugural issue included the microbiome, neglected diseases, flexible facilities, digital transformation, and the road to commercialization for stem cells (if you’d like to take a look at our first ever issue then it is available here).
Ten years on, we now have FDA approvals for microbiome therapies (the first came in 2022), neglected diseases remain neglected but have seen increasing attention, flexible facilities have become the kings of manufacturing, and digital transformation is one of the hottest industry topics as companies now look to AI and Industry 4.0. Though stem cells may not have seen much on the commercialization front in the last decade, cell therapies have gone from zero to hero.
It’s amazing what can happen in 10 years. Actually, it’s amazing what can happen in the space of a few months… Remember November 2019 when we were all blissfully unaware of what would happen in the first part of 2020?
Sure, we’re looking back a little while celebrating our 10th birthday, but what’s most exciting is the future. Personalized medicines that can be 3D printed at home, robots patrolling pharma facilities, AI algorithms that monitor health and help prevent disease from ever occurring, spaceships going to the far reaches of the galaxy, Star Trek-esque tricorders…
Okay, I’ve gone too far ahead, but the opportunities in front of us are near endless.
We reached out to you – the medicine making community – to ask for your views on the future of pharma and healthcare, including key disruptors and the big changes we can expect in the coming years.
Overwhelmingly, well over 100 of you submitted your thoughts. And so, we decided to release The Medicine Maker’s Multifaceted Future of Pharma over the course of 11 exciting chapters. You can access a new chapter each month here.
Making great scientific magazines isn’t just about delivering knowledge and high quality content; it’s also about packaging these in the right words to ensure that someone is truly inspired by a topic. My passion is ensuring that our authors’ expertise is presented as a seamless and enjoyable reading experience, whether in print, in digital or on social media. I’ve spent fourteen years writing and editing features for scientific and manufacturing publications, and in making this content engaging and accessible without sacrificing its scientific integrity. There is nothing better than a magazine with great content that feels great to read.
