One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the hunger for new and forward-thinking tech in the pharmaceutical industry. From the very start of the process, new waves are being felt across the industry: Agilent (page 6) talks to us about the exciting new ways flow cytometry is being implemented, and Thermo Fisher Scientific (page 8) discusses how Raman spectroscopy is streamlining quality control procedures.

We had the privilege of talking to many companies for our Discovery & Development section this edition, each giving great insight into the different stages that go into creating a drug before it is manufactured. Genezen has some great insights as to why more cell and gene therapy researchers are choosing retroviral vectors (page 12), and we speak with Avacta about the need for collaboration within the R&D arena (page 16).

Digitalisation is a huge part of the modern-day pharma lab. AspenTech demonstrate this in their discussion of how digital tech will aid the most underserved countries (page 30), while we also see how DEL, AI, and ML (X-Chem, page 22), and Blockchain technology (Egnyte, page 26), will aid the researchers of the future.

The improvements in manufacturing over the past few years have been astonishing, but, as Biopharma Excellence discusses on page 43, the reviewing and classification process must keep up with it. Similarly, the variability of patients must be factored into manufacturing, with Nanopharm raising some great points on how to do so (page 38).

With tech ever-evolving, now is the best time to get stuck in and see what 2023 has in store for the pharmaceutical technology industry!