Mark Talford
Deputy Challenge Director – Medicines Manufacturing, UKRI Innovate UK
The pandemic and the climate emergency together provide a real opportunity for manufacturing innovation to deliver a resilient, sustainable medicines supply.
Medicines supply chains are complex beasts. From raw material to finished dosage, a given medicine could have travelled across two or more continents and through multiple manufacturing sites. This is true both for patented medicines and generics, which make up 90% of medicines in routine NHS use.
When COVID-19 hit, the logistics within these supply chains were quickly impacted. But while the UK did not run out of critical medicines, the question was asked as to what could be done to increase healthcare resilience?
Drivers for sustainable medicines supply
Alongside other sectors, the pharmaceutical industry is exploring how it becomes net zero. Despite sustainable chemistry initiatives, economy of scale manufacturing investments and the resulting ‘make to stock’ supply chain model contain inherent resource and energy inefficiencies.
Healthcare systems, led by the NHS, are providing drivers for change. The ‘Delivering a Net Zero National Health Service’ report sets ambitious targets for a net zero medicines supply chain by the end of the decade. Manufacturing innovation will be central to industry’s response.
While the UK did not run out of critical medicines, the question was asked as to what could be done to increase healthcare resilience?
Translating new technology to established manufacturing
Oligonucleotide medicines have the potential to treat a wide range of diseases. But they cannot currently be manufactured efficiently at large scale. Investment from the UKRI Medicines Manufacturing Challenge is supporting the development of new technology enabling lower cost production at scale with reduced carbon footprint.
This technology is flexible (making different oligonucleotides for different diseases), agile (quickly manufacturing where and when needed) and scalable (manufacturing for routine demand or public health emergency as required), enabling more patients to access new therapies more quickly.
Similar investment for manufacturing established medicines will deliver similar sustainability and health resilience benefits. Digitalisation also plays a role, artificial intelligence and machine learning are revolutionising the identification of new medicines. Further digitalisation will accelerate these medicines reaching clinical trials and the pharmacy.
Alongside innovative manufacturing technologies these will maximise the resource and energy efficiency of medicines manufacturing. Innovative supply chain models will more closely match medicines supply to patient need.
Now is the time to innovate
The coincidence of the pandemic and the climate emergency provide a real opportunity for investment in medicines manufacturing innovation to address both sustainability and health resilience. The UK can take the lead. We have the innovation infrastructure and the ecosystem to make it happen