Leading pharmaceutical companies share their vision

How will the biopharma industry develop in the next 10 years? We talk to experts from Sartorius and USP.

November 8, 2024

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What we asked: “What will be the key disruptors and/or what can be improved in the pharmaceutical industry in the next 5 to 10 years?”

Answer from: Miriam Monge, Head of Marketing Strategy and Customer Advocacy, Sartorius

One thing that could dramatically change the pharmaceutical industry would be adopting the lessons we learned about collaboration during the pandemic.

To this end, BioPhorum Supply Resilience is assembling a “Crisis Response Team” to proactively manage the industry’s preparedness and response from “detection to escalation” of future crises impacting our biopharmaceutical manufacturing industry.

The question is: How can we act together? Today there is a need for a unified voice that represents all major biopharma agencies, but is independent of the leadership of the pharmaceutical industry – because our production processes and requirements are so completely different, right down to the molecule.​

For example, 182 separate vaccine projects were initiated during the COVID-19 pandemic. If similar events occur in the future, we must be able to work with agencies and organizations such as CEPI, GAVI and WHO to jointly decide how many projects to approve and to prioritize supplies efficiently.​

As WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus puts it: “The world must be ready to respond to the next pandemic.” When the next pandemic threatens – and it will – we must be ready to respond decisively, collectively and equitably react.”

Response from: Tony Lakavage, Senior Vice President of Global External Relations, USP

Over the last 10 years, we have watched drug shortages increase as the generic drug market has become a race to the bottom, with buyers focused almost exclusively on the lowest price. According to our findings and other studies, the price decline at the heart of the drug shortage crisis is leading to industry decline.

Over two thirds of the medications we use today are generics. Nearly every approved drug whose patent protection has expired today has one or more generic competitors, compared to just 35 percent before the Hatch-Waxman Act was passed in 1984. The generic drug industry has cost American taxpayers nearly $3 trillion over the past decade -Dollars saved. by some estimates, even more for patients worldwide.

However, given the current state of the industry, savings and access to treatments offered by generics are at risk. Unsustainably low prices are forcing manufacturers to exit the market because of razor-thin margins or a lack of resources to invest in infrastructure and quality improvement. The duration of drug shortages, including life-saving drugs, increased from two to three years from 2022 to 2023.

Low generic drug prices do not reflect a profitable return on investment, nor do they provide one to justify redundancies in production or next-generation quality improvements. Without intervention, the industry will remain in crisis and we risk not making essential generic medicines available to patients when they need them. As we look to the next 10 years and beyond, policymakers must begin implementing systemic changes that ensure patient access to necessary medicines – including incentivizing supply chain quality, resilience and reliability; promoting payment reforms; Investing in capabilities to increase supply chain visibility; and strengthening modern manufacturing technologies. We must address the multiple problems that have undermined the generic drug market.

Read over 100 more views on the future of the pharmaceutical industry on our special page.