Advertise on podcast: Off Script: A Pharma Manufacturing Podcast

As the U.S. government pushes to reshore pharmaceutical manufacturing and rein in drug pricing, the implications for CDMOs and the broader outsourcing ecosystem are coming into sharper focus. While large-scale onshoring investments dominate headlines, questions remain around how policy will account for outsourced manufacturing and whether incentives align with the realities of global supply chains. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Gil Roth, founder and president of the Pharma & Biopharma Outsourcing Association (PBOA), about how recent policy developments are impacting CDMOs and their customers. The conversation explores the role of CDMOs in onshoring efforts, the economic and structural barriers to reshoring API and generic drug manufacturing, and what current tariff frameworks signal about policy priorities. Roth also discusses FDA staffing challenges, potential impacts on drug review timelines, and the broader uncertainty shaping R&D, sourcing, and investment decisions across the industry.

While fully autonomous bioprocessing is within reach, adoption remains gradual as manufacturers navigate challenges around data maturity, regulatory expectations, and operational readiness. As companies modernize, the focus is shifting toward building the digital and organizational foundations needed to enable more intelligent, scalable process control, particularly through connected systems, stronger data infrastructure, and more explainable AI models that can support real-time decision-making. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Mel Radford, director, life sciences global accounts at Rockwell Automation, about the key barriers to autonomy and how companies can move from reactive operations toward predictive and closed-loop process control. The conversation explores how hybrid models combining first-principles engineering with AI can improve control performance, stability, and yield while remaining transparent and easier to validate, as well as the importance of embedding compliance, governance, and human-centered change management into next-generation control strategies.

Generic medicines account for the vast majority of prescriptions in the U.S., yet much of their underlying supply chain remains heavily dependent on foreign-sourced active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). As concerns around drug shortages and supply chain resilience intensify, attention is shifting upstream toward how APIs are manufactured, where they are sourced, and what it will take to rebuild domestic production capacity. At the same time, advanced manufacturing approaches like continuous flow are gaining traction as a way to improve efficiency, safety, and cost competitiveness in a traditionally low-margin market. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Brian Doty, vice president of R&D and programs at the API Innovation Center (APIIC), about the structural challenges facing generic drug manufacturing and the role advanced technologies could play in addressing them. The conversation explores why API supply is often the cause of downstream drug shortages, the technical and economic limitations of traditional batch processing, and how continuous manufacturing can reduce process steps, improve control, and enable safer production. Doty also discusses the practical barriers to adoption as well as the growing role of FDA engagement programs and policy incentives in accelerating change.

Antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) are rapidly evolving from experimental hybrid molecules into mature, platform-driven therapeutics, with the global market projected to reach $36 billion by 2029. As pipelines expand and molecular designs grow more complex, developers are rethinking how ADCs are designed, characterized, and manufactured. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Lonza's Sandro Holzer, PhD, director and head of development bioconjugates, and Anette Sommer, PhD, head of bioconjugates research, about how the ADC field has changed over the last several years and what is driving the next wave of innovation. The conversation explores the industry’s shift toward standardized linker–payload platforms, site-specific conjugation, higher drug-to-antibody ratios, and emerging dual-payload ADCs aimed at overcoming tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance. Holzer and Sommer discuss how rising molecular complexity is reshaping CMC strategy, analytics, and downstream processing, and why early integration of biology, chemistry, and manufacturability is essential to de-risk development and enable scale-up. The episode also examines how ADC manufacturing paradigms are now informing adjacent bioconjugate modalities signaling a broader move toward integrated, multi-component therapeutics beyond oncology.

Cell and gene therapies (CGTs) have demonstrated transformative clinical potential, but manufacturing remains a major barrier to broader patient access. Highly manual, labor-intensive production processes limit throughput, introduce variability, and drive up costs, making it difficult to scale these therapies to meet growing demand. As the industry looks to expand access, there is increasing focus on how automation, robotics, and digitalization can enable more consistent, efficient, and scalable manufacturing without compromising the underlying biology. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Edwin Stone, PhD, CEO of Cellular Origins, about the core bottlenecks constraining CGT manufacturing and how automation is beginning to address them. The conversation explores why labor remains a dominant cost driver, how process variability extends beyond patient starting material into everyday manual operations, and what it takes to transition from fragmented workflows to fully integrated, robotic production environments. Stone also discusses the importance of preserving biological integrity during automation, the role of digital data capture in improving consistency and regulatory confidence, and more.

Producing uniform drug delivery particles at scale has long presented a challenge for pharmaceutical manufacturers. Techniques that offer tight control over particle size and structure often struggle with throughput, while traditional industrial methods deliver volume but less consistency. As advanced drug delivery systems become more important for long-acting therapies and targeted treatments, manufacturers are increasingly seeking production methods that can balance precision, scalability, and reproducibility. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Nathalie Pinkerton, PhD, assistant professor of the chemical and biomolecular engineering department at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, about Sequential NanoPrecipitation (SNaP), a continuous flow technique designed to bring greater control to polymeric particle manufacturing. The conversation explores how separating particle formation into sequential mixing stages enables more predictable control over particle size and composition, the role of micromixer design in achieving consistent mixing and scale-up, and why encapsulation efficiency plays a critical role in manufacturing economics. Pinkerton also discusses the remaining steps needed to translate emerging particle manufacturing technologies from the lab into commercially viable pharmaceutical production platforms.

In this episode of Off Script, we continue our conversation on the structural vulnerabilities in the global pharmaceutical supply chain with Ronald T. Piervincenzi, CEO, USP, turning the focus toward practical strategies for strengthening the resilience of the global medicine supply chain. Piervincenzi discusses the economic and structural barriers to rebuilding domestic capacity for APIs and key starting materials, and explains why resilience will require coordinated incentives that reward supply security rather than simply the lowest price. He also explores how advanced manufacturing approaches could help make domestic production more viable by improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact. The conversation also examines how global quality standards can enable trusted international manufacturing networks among allied countries, and how USP’s new Resilience Center aims to bring together data, benchmarking frameworks, and stakeholder collaboration to help industry and policymakers better measure supply chain resilience.

The global medicine supply chain faces mounting strain from chronic generic drug shortages, geopolitical tensions, and heavy reliance on geographically concentrated manufacturing. Quality failures, pricing pressures, and opaque sourcing of key starting materials have exposed structural vulnerabilities that extend beyond routine disruptions to broader national security and public health risks. This episode is part one of a two-part series examining the root causes of these vulnerabilities and the structural changes needed to address them. In this series, we spoke with Ronald T. Piervincenzi, Ph.D., CEO of the U.S. Pharmacopeia, about how these risks emerged and what it will take to build a more resilient pharmaceutical supply chain. In part one, Piervincenzi explains why generic drug shortages and national security concerns are often conflated, how extreme price erosion is driving manufacturers out of the market, and what USP’s data reveals about supply concentration, including the critical role of key starting materials sourced from countries like China and India. The conversation also dives into USP’s new Resilience Center and the strategic role it will serve in improving supply chain security.

Pharmaceutical packaging is undergoing rapid transformation as connectivity, sustainability, automation, and evolving regulatory demands reshape how medicines are protected, tracked, and delivered. From smart packaging features and prefilled injectables to e-commerce fulfillment and digital compliance systems, packaging and equipment investment decisions are increasingly tied to flexibility, data visibility, and long-term modernization. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Rebecca Marquez, director of custom research at PMMI, about the association’s latest Trends and Challenges in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing white paper. The conversation explores how connected packaging technologies are strengthening relationships between manufacturers, regulators, and patients; why sustainability initiatives are advancing despite material performance and validation challenges; and how growth in biologics and prefilled injectables is driving new packaging and equipment demands. Marquez also breaks down the regulatory documentation gap between OEMs and end users, the rise of automation technologies, and more.

As biologics grow more complex, cell line development remains a key driver of speed, yield, and manufacturability. What was once a technical milestone is now a competitive differentiator, directly impacting time to Investigational New Drug (IND), cost of goods, and long-term scalability. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Brett Verstak, director of cell line development at Abzena, to discuss how advanced Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-based platforms, glutamine synthetase (GS) knockout systems, automation, and AI-driven workflows are accelerating clone selection and reducing downstream risk. The conversation explores persistent bottlenecks in hard-to-express proteins, the value of integrated upstream development models, and how smarter platform design is helping drug developers move complex biologics to the clinic faster.

As cell and gene therapies continue to deliver promising clinical results, manufacturing remains one of the biggest barriers to broader commercialization. Persistent challenges around cost, complexity, labor intensity, and vein-to-vein timelines—particularly for autologous CAR-T therapies—are limiting the industry’s ability to scale beyond niche and last-line indications. Addressing these constraints will be critical if CGTs are to move earlier in treatment paradigms and reach more patients globally. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Jon Ellis, CEO of Trenchant BioSystems, about the current state of cell and gene therapy manufacturing and where the industry must go next. The conversation explores why traditional centralized manufacturing models are struggling to scale, how automation and digital batch records can significantly compress manufacturing timelines, and how emerging platforms are rethinking cell recovery, analytics integration, and starting material strategies.

The technologies are playing an increasingly central role in pharmaceutical manufacturing as companies contend with labor constraints, rising demand, and the need to modernize highly regulated operations.  In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Alexander Shikany, executive vice president of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), about how robotics adoption is reshaping pharma manufacturing today. The conversation explores why automation is now considered a core manufacturing strategy, where demand is emerging across the production lifecycle, how collaborative robots are gaining traction in regulated environments, and why human-in-the-loop automation remains essential for quality, compliance, and operational resilience.

As biopharma pipelines grow more complex, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to scale faster, adapt to new modalities, and build resilience into highly regulated operations. Meeting these demands means manufacturing agility is no longer just a competitive advantage, it’s a necessity. Yet, structural constraints, talent shortages, and legacy processes continue to impact progress across the industry. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with Iwan Roberts, vice president of technology and innovation strategy at Cytiva, for a deep dive into Cytiva’s latest Global Biopharma Index. The conversation explores why manufacturing agility remains a major industry pain point, why modalities like cell and gene therapy and mRNA are uniquely difficult to scale, and how CDMOs, digitalization, and new supplier relationships are reshaping the path forward.  

In this episode of Off Script, we continue our conversation with David Grote, vice president of strategy at GrayMatter Partners, focusing on the execution challenges that will define the success of today’s pharmaceutical manufacturing investment boom. David explores the growing tension between speed, quality, and cost as companies race to bring new facilities online, and explains how early collaboration with regulators can help accelerate validation without sacrificing compliance or long-term resilience. He also discusses the strategic decisions that separate proactive manufacturers from reactive ones, the lasting impact this investment cycle will have on U.S. manufacturing footprints, and the expanding set of options that could open new opportunities for smaller companies.

After years of volatility, pharmaceutical manufacturing is entering a new investment cycle, with hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into U.S. facilities. The surge promises expanded capacity, but also raises questions about workforce availability, infrastructure readiness, and long-term execution. In this episode of Off Script, we spoke with David Grote, vice president of strategy at GrayMatter Partners, about what this wave of funding means in practice. The conversation explores where investment is concentrating, how competition for skilled talent is shaping project timelines, the strain on shared resources, and why flexible facility design will be critical to sustaining growth beyond today’s political and economic cycle.