TECHNOLOGY SPONSOR: Glass
SGD Pharma, one of That's Nice's Road to 2021 sponsors, discusses how the company is evolving its partnership models or geographic footprint to meet the future of healthcare?
SGD Pharma has supported its customers for over a century, continuously increasing the levels of services that we provide. We offer continuous improvement throughout our operations that reduce costs and increase quality levels. SGD Pharma maintains our focus on customers by taking a Global Account Management approach and aligning different models and processes with their relevant needs.
Major trends influencing the pharmaceutical market that SGD Pharma is closely following include rising pressures on drug prices, an increased focus on sustainability, reducing time-to-market and risk to patients, increasing the flexibility and agility required for personalized medicines, and improving quality and regulatory compliance.
Regarding the outsourcing market, the CMO world is expanding and becoming more focused. CMOs are investing in one high-value therapy, a single market application, or several routes of administration. In addition, regulatory legislation is getting stricter, which has presented an opportunity for recognized suppliers to develop special services (legal, quality, laboratory) to ease the burdens on their customers.
We have also seen a growing trend among pharmaceutical laboratories of continuing to outsource “non-core business” — for example, washing/depyrogenating and even filling/stocking — to devote more resources to the development of new drugs. Some customers continue to perform filling, but elect to outsource the earlier operations, while others outsource the whole chain.
Our Sterinity platform was developed specifically for customers seeking ready-to-use (RTU) molded glass vials for fill/finish. These products, which offer improved chemical durability and greater mechanical strength in RTU configurations, are a real alternative to the tubular glass offering. They help pharmaceutical companies tackle the challenges that they face in keeping pace with the market by increasing flexibility, reducing time-to-market and total cost of ownership, and ensuring safety and quality.
At SGD Pharma, we work on all aspects of the supply chain to improve our value. We have developed specific products that allow stronger resistance and better inspectability. These products reduce patient risk and false rejects, offering a solution for drugs shipped directly to patient’s homes, which is another trending practice.
With our unique position in the supply chain, our clients benefit from our pervasive geographic presence and global footprint. SGD Pharma is present in all major markets, including North America, the European Union, China, and India — there are currently nine SGD Pharma offices worldwide. To bolster our international connections, we maintain strong partnerships with local representatives in more than 90 countries.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry was faced with a range of challenges, including falling margins and reduced ROI for big pharma, and the growth of R&D costs and COGs outpacing net revenue. The pandemic has rattled global supply chains and introduced uncertainty across the industry, which now requires even more proactive, ongoing reviews of forecasts, tactics, and strategy at both global and local levels. New ways of operating will be critical to mitigating cost pressures, and among them will be accelerating investments for ever-stricter quality capabilities, including automated inspection.
