Developing new drugs is challenging, expensive and time-consuming, however, digital manufacturing techniques are delivering significant benefits without compromising on quality, as Eric Flynn, Head of Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences at Siemens GB&I explains.
In recent years as the industry and regulators collaborated together to fight COVID-19, vaccines and antivirals sped through clinical trials and approvals in record time. For drug manufacturers on the whole, long-drawn-out timelines remain a real challenge, while the trial-and-error processes needed to launch a new product remain expensive and inefficient. However, advances in digitalisation technology are providing the platform for the sector to significantly speed up these processes through automation, by augmenting real-world testing with simulation.