Leveraging Next-Gen Therapies, Advanced Purification, and Strategic Collaborations in Pharma Production

Laine Mello, director of Marketing at Ecolab Life Sciences, discusses the strategic shifts occurring within the pharmaceutical industry in this part 3 of a 3-part interview (check out part 1 and part 2). With a decade of experience supporting marketing organizations like Catalent and Ecolab, Mello highlights how the industry is currently navigating significant margin pressure by pivoting toward next-generation therapies. These include biologics and advanced modalities that provide clinical benefits far beyond what generic competitors can easily replicate.

To address these changes, Mello explains that Ecolab is focusing on sophisticated purification solutions, such as high-capacity chromatography resins, which are vital for maximizing yield in the production of complex biosimilars. Mello underscores the precision required in modern manufacturing, stating "So high capacity chromatography resins, for example, are helping manufacturers maximize yield and recovery, which becomes a critical point when producing complex biosimilars or second gen molecules, where every percentage point of recovery matters economically".

Beyond chemical and physical purification, the interview touches on the operational evolution of the sector. Manufacturers are increasingly embracing digitalization and continuous processing to drive down production costs without sacrificing the quality or compliance standards expected by regulators. The overarching goal of these technological adoptions is to allow companies to respond to market fluctuations with much greater speed.

Finally, Mello emphasizes the growing role of strategic partnerships, collaborations, and acquisitions. In a fast-paced environment, these alliances allow companies to access new technologies and therapeutic areas more efficiently than building them from the ground up. Summarizing the need for this collaborative mindset, Mello remarks "It's about staying agile in a market where competitive advantages can erode quickly". This interview serves as an essential guide for understanding how bioprocessing leaders are balancing economic recovery with clinical innovation.

Transcript

Editor's note: This transcript is a lightly edited rendering of the original audio/video content. It may contain errors, informal language, or omissions as spoken in the original recording.

Hi, I'm Laine Mello. I am the Director of Marketing at Ecolab for its bioprocessing business. I've been in the pharmaceutical industry for around 10 years or so, supporting different marketing organizations such as Catalan and Ecolab.

The pharmaceutical industry is responding to margin pressure by investing heavily in next- gen therapy. So these include things like biologic advanced modalities and treatments that offer clinical benefits generic competitors just can't easily replicate. So from Ecolab’s perspective, this shift creates demand for more sophisticated purification solutions. So high-capacity chromatography resins, for example, are helping manufacturers maximize yield and recovery, which becomes a critical point when producing complex biosimilars or second gen molecules, where every percentage point of recovery matters economically.

Operationally, we're seeing manufacturers embrace digitalization and continuous processing to drive down cost without compromising quality. So the goal is really to respond to market changes while maintaining the compliance and quality standards regulators expect, and try to respond to those changes much, much faster.

And then, lastly, what I call out really is strategic partnerships. These are also playing a big role, or an even bigger role than before. Where companies are using collaborations and acquisitions to access new technologies and therapeutic areas quickly, rather than just building everything from scratch. It's about staying agile in a market where competitive advantages can erode quickly.