David Leitham, senior vice president and general manager at software company AspenTech looks at why process analytical technology (PAT) is essential for the journey to Pharma 4.0.
The world is currently going through its fourth industrial revolution where automation, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and Internet of Things (IoT) connected machines communicate with one another to better predict and analyse data, improve productivity and profitability, and increase operational efficiencies.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers have been amongst the slowest in adopting and experiencing a wave of technological innovations which offer exciting new opportunities, have the potential to improve their resilience, and facilitate higher levels of quality in all their processes. They have historically found it difficult to embrace change as by necessity, they have well-established, often complex, proven validation processes in place which they understandably fear disrupting. In the past there has been great reluctance to further evaluate manufacturing pain-points, even after a technology has been through the cycle and proven to bring value.