ACHEMA is the largest trade fair in the industry for chemical, process, and biotechnology. Held in Frankfurt since 1920, this summer hosted the largest ACHEMA forum ever, with over 100,000 attendees from 141 nations. The ambitious program hosted more than 900 lectures, workshops, and discussion panels over 5 days, with a full day focused on pharma innovation.
Process Innovation at ACHEMA
DECHEMA is Germany’s professional network for chemical engineering and biotechnology and is the founder and host of ACHEMA. Every three years, the ACHEMA forum attracts exhibitors from all over the world to present new products and processes to process industry professionals, while the ACHEMA congress features researchers, developers, experts, and visionaries to discuss the latest challenges and solutions in the industry.
This year’s focus areas were process innovation, green innovation, lab innovation, digital innovation, and pharma innovation, with a special show featuring hydrogen innovation.
ACHEMA is the largest trade fair in the industry for chemical, process, and biotechnology. Held in Frankfurt since 1920
This year’s conference proved that the pharmaceutical industry has never been more exciting, with pioneering new research and production methods emerging around the world. However, the challenges have never been greater, with increasingly stringent requirements and standards, talent shortages, and supply chain issues leading the pack. Here are some of the focus areas for pharma innovation.
Pharmaceutical Packaging and Storage Techniques
The most popular exhibitions at the ACHEMA forum were those relating to innovation in pharma packaging and storage. Modern drugs, many of which are made from living cells or organisms, are sensitive to heat, moisture, oxygen, and light. The vaccines developed during the pandemic required sophisticated packaging and storage techniques, while also placing pressure on logistics and supply chain systems, demonstrating that packaging is an essential element in the health outcomes of the world. In addition, new packaging regulations and environmental initiatives are having a huge impact on product packaging of all types.
Another huge concern in drug packaging is the emerging need for anti-counterfeit measures and the need to control for product quality and authenticity in the global online marketplace. Counterfeit drugs are one of the biggest threats to consumer health and effective healthcare systems, and authenticity needs to be ensured from the packaging throughout the supply chain.
As a result, the market for pharmaceutical packaging machines is growing more quickly than the market for the drugs themselves, while the increased costs of filling and labeling drug packages is offset against declining revenues of drug companies. Companies need machines for smaller batches, and flexible outputs that can adapt to changing demand and market formats. New packaging machines rely even more heavily on automation to preserve sterility and operate in clean environments.
Pharma Supply Chain
As in every industry, supply chain concerns are a driver of innovation and new solutions. Shifting production networks, lagging productivity, global conflict, changing consumer behavior, and demands for socially and environmentally responsible production have all transformed transport and logistics.
In the pharmaceutical industry, using AI and emerging technologies is a key way to anticipate disruptions and minimize their impact. Intelligent supply chains help to forecast demand, support real-time decision making, trace problems to their source, and create networks that are more agile and flexible. In most cases, this means empowering IT leaders in the pharmaceutical industry with real-time, high-tech infrastructure that can support this type of agility and minimize volatility.
CSR and ESG in Pharma
Corporate responsibility and ESG are not just areas that reflect on company culture and values. They are also key areas for innovation, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, where they are increasingly important from a consumer, investor, and regulatory standpoint. After the pandemic, positive public opinion of the pharmaceutical industry nearly doubled, and companies are maintaining that positive perception with focus on environmental initiatives, community health, and employee care.
Companies like Sanofi, Merck, and Biogen are investing in public health, sustainability, and social justice, and Sanofi’s CFO Paul Hudson says that the new focus on meaning and purpose has brought the pharmaceutical industry “closer to our purpose than any other time within living memory”. Studies show that high ESG helps a company to weather public relations and investor crises, while also helping to attract and retain the most talented candidates.
At Grapefrute, we partner with the most groundbreaking pharmaceutical companies to find the staff that can continue to innovate, improve, and support a strong, healthy future. Contact us today to learn more about how to find next-level talent in every role from the laboratory to the board room.
