Watch now: Pharma Trends 2022 Webinar

We are approaching the end of a year which saw global vaccine rollout for COVID-19, 44 novel drug approvals (to date) and the return of the CPHI Worldwide in-person event.

Providing an overview of drug delivery trends, Andrew Donnelly, Vice President of Innovation, Bespak by Recipharm said that while the continued drive for self-administration to reduce the burden on healthcare systems and improve convenience for patients was “hardly ground-breaking news”, the events of the last two years “have really accelerated some of these requirements.”

“The global pandemic has clearly changed our attitudes to remote working, remote relationships and our acceptance of remote healthcare, removing some of the resistance and fear of the absence of face to face consultations that previously existed,” he added.

Gian Paolo Negrisoli, CEO, Flamma Spa told the webinar that there was “no shortage” in terms of the number of small molecule new molecular entities reaching the market or entering development, but made the point that requirements are changing.

He said unconventional pharma was continuing to drive innovation amid growing molecular complexity while demand was shifting to smaller volumes often with higher containment requirements and accelerated developments were becoming the rule.

“In parallel to this, sustainability and decarbonisation are increasingly coming to the top of agendas and dependence on China and India for raw materials represents a growing concern,” he added.

Focusing on biotech, Daniel Chancellor, Director, Thought Leadership, Informa Pharma Intelligence said there had been a “Cambrian explosion” of R&D innovation within the sector led by an abundant and well-funded biotech ecosystem.

He said that while some biotechs may eventually get acquired by Big Pharma – as demonstrated by recent moves for antibody and cell and gene companies – inevitably new biotechs were emerging to further progress the science and platforms.

“On the private start-up side of biotech, the fundraising environment is abundant; more venture capital was raised in the first half of this year than in any entire year prior, including 2020, which itself was a record year,” he said.