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.
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