Tomorrow’s Manufacturing

The pharmaceutical companies of today face a completely different set of challenges compared to five years ago. In the past, the onus was firmly placed on increasing outputs to ensure profits, without much thought to achieving manufacturing efficiency. This attitude has had to change as the industry of today faces significant transformation. The spiralling costs of developing new chemical entities (NCEs) has meant that pharmaceutical companies need to cut costs in other areas of the business to ensure that minimal resources are taken away from the research and development divisions of the organisation.

Furthermore, newfound challenges brought about by increased competition, challenging targets, higher customer expectations and shareholder influence have put added pressure on the shoulders of today’s pharmaceutical manufacturers. As a result, when it comes to business, ‘more, cheaper, faster, better’ is often the mantra for today’s pharmaceutical companies. Pharmaceutical companies have also been hit with two major moral pressures. The first comes from the recent report by the Office of Fair Trading which found that the NHS is paying pharmaceutical companies millions of pounds too much for patients’ drugs. The second is a by-product of the internet age, which, due to its mass information immediacy, has seen a sharp increase in consumer awareness and education with regards to illnesses and their treatments.

Therefore, pharmaceutical companies face intense pressure from all angles to both cut the costs of their drugs and speed up production, while being driven by the pressure from regulators and stakeholders alike. This is combined with the need to uphold a credible, professional and responsible company reputation. On the whole, it is fair to say that manufacturers face one of their most difficult periods in recent times.