BioPhorum Technology Roadmapping roadmap vision 2.0

The first edition biomanufacturing technology roadmap set out a ten year vision, with goals set for many of the recommendations at two years and five years. 2020 was therefore a good point to take a step back and reflect on progress, as BioPhorum Technology Roadmapping approached the halfway mark of the journey. With the coronavirus pandemic exerting an extra set of pressures on commercial manufacturing, resulting in acceleration in the need for digital implementations, the phorum leaders set out to measure industry progress against the vision. The benchmarking exercise showed that industry is making good progress. Members identified a series of questions and challenges reflecting the dynamic nature of the environment and the rapid pace of change since launch of the program.

Of course, the accelerated pace of change seen during the Covid-19 pandemic also led phorum members to consider changes to the current environment, and how these might affect the strategic direction of the biomanufacturing industry.

Some clear patterns emerged when reviewing the original market trends. There has been a change in language. The language used to describe challenges and requirements is from an external, patient-first perspective (as opposed to an internal, manufacturing perspective). This led the team to start from the patient perspective and to articulate how biomanufacturing is key to meeting the demand for therapies for all. Capacity to produce enough therapeutic products was already a theme in the original vision, however advances in biologics, such as cell and gene therapy, is driving new and diverse modalities, which add to the challenge. Taking into account the pandemic and the urgent need for unprecedented quantities of vaccines, a clear driving theme is increasing capacity. This is not only about building more facilities, it also involves creating flexible plants to accommodate new modalities, as well as more efficient, sustainable processes to make more from less, and the ability to accept a wider range of input sources. It is important to recognize that the pace of change has increased and is likely to continue to do
so. This is not just technological, but also social and environmental, and provides opportunities as well as challenges.

Fundamentally, the new set of drivers are like the original set, but described in a new way. Interestingly, the original set (market growth, new product groups, uncertainty in product success and sales and cost pressure) are equally as
important as before, but now the context is clearer, and the ‘why’ can be more easily connected for all stakeholder groups.

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• Create Date 7th September 2021
• DOI https://doi.org/10.46220/2021TR006
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