Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1173734
Tablets & Capsules October 2019 15 W Bikash Chatterjee Pharmatech Associates Pharma 4.0: Building quality into pharma manufacturing from molecule to medicine quality This article discusses the current and potential future impacts of the application of Industry 4.0 concepts to the pharmaceu- tical manufacturing industry. ith the development of the global marketplace over the last dozen years, the pharmaceutical industry is at a tipping point in its evolution. The maturation of the BRIC nations—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—pro- vides not only expanded market opportunity but also greater complexity in developing and marketing safe and efficacious drug products across the global supply chain. Macroeconomic trends driving global growth include reduced taxes, lower drug prices, and lower regulatory barriers for new drugs in the US; high GDP growth in China and India; and widespread population aging, high urban pollution levels, and sedentary lifestyles leading to an upsurge in chronic disease. Healthcare expenditure per capita is expected to rise from its 2017 level of $1,137 to $1,427 by 2021 [1]. To many, this trend is unsustainable, and if industry does not set it sights on cost containment while managing business performance, there will be a severe reckoning in the marketplace. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies are locked in a per pet ual race against time to innovate and bring new drug therapies to market as quickly and