A promising future for pharmaceutical innovation at CPhI Worldwide 2021

• The global pharmaceutical industry gathered in force at CPhI Worldwide 2021, in Milan, to celebrate the huge strides made in the pharma space over the last year and look to future opportunities for innovation.
• DSM’s Pharma team of experts was there to present our purpose-led offering, including how our involvement in early-stage drug development can play a critical role in expanding treatment options.
• Here, we share our key takeaways from the event, including the importance of early collaboration across the supply chain and opportunities to raise awareness of the therapeutic potential of cannabidiol for global patient health.

Back together again at CPhI Worldwide 2021

The pharmaceutical industry was reunited again at this year’s CPhI Worldwide after one of the most demanding – and successful - periods that the industry has ever seen. Hosted in hybrid format – in-person in Milan between 9-11 November, and with the ability to join online from anywhere in the world - the event represented the evolution in the way the global supply chain now operates.

The dsm-firmenich Pharma team was thrilled to be exhibiting at the event, giving us the opportunity to welcome customers in-person and share our evolved purpose-led offering, including how our involvement in early-stage drug development can play a critical role in expanding treatment options. We’ve shared our top three learnings from the event and why we believe the big moment for innovation and growth in pharma has arrived.

A promising future for pharma

The show floor was filled with a sense of positivity and excitement about the future of pharma as many exhibitors met with customers and stakeholders face-to-face for the first time in months. Even in the face of the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the industry has firmly adopted a growth mindset and a determination to support global patient health through the delivery of treatments that address unmet needs, improve quality of life and contribute to beneficial patient outcomes.  

Collaboration comes earlier

Building on this positive outlook was a recognition of the power of partnerships. In fact, the CPhI Annual Report, which surveys more than 370 industry executives, highlighted that respondents are beginning conversations with their supply partners earlier in the development process. At dsm-firmenich, we recognise that developing therapies that safely and efficiently help to improve people's lives takes more than active pharmaceutical ingredients. It takes a partner.

That’s why our team of experts bring the scientific insight and innovation to co-develop new over-the-counter products and prescription medicines in this ever-changing and competitive marketplace. We help both, brand and generic manufacturers, realize market success by enabling agile drug development, ensuring seamless product entry and optimizing life-cycle management efforts. It was great to be at the show to deliver this message in person and demonstrate how, through partnership, we can help our customers achieve long term growth.

Cannabidiol in the spotlight

The cannabidiol-based drug market is growing rapidly and we were proud to be at CPhI with our strategic partners Brains Bioceutical - a pioneer in the cannabidiol API market - to speak to customers about how we can help them to realize the full therapeutic potential of cannabidiol actives – mostly cannabidiol – in a wide variety of health areas that benefit global patient health. While the interest is cannabidiol at the show was high, it’s clear that education around the science-backed benefits is key to unlocking the full potential of cannabidiol APIs.