What's happening?

The outbreak of COVID-19 has had a mixture of effects on the injection delivery market. For example, some patients have delayed their care for fear of going into healthcare settings for treatment and potentially contracting the disease. 

Companies working in the drug development space are under increasing pressure to provide more innovative solutions for medications. Working with an end-to-end CDMO can help to reduce complexity and timelines, and ultimately ensure smoother progress to market.

Many recognised drug development challenges are impacting oral solid dose (OSD) manufacturing. Most notably, the ever more complex nature of new molecules that are frequently affected by difficulties related to their bioavailability, formulation, stability, manufacturability, and scalability.

The analytical market has changed considerably over the years, and this has impacted the way that drug development teams approach analytical testing. As a result, the speed at which a product then reaches market has also been improved. 

By delivering therapeutic concentrations directly to the site of treatment, inhaled medicines can provide a fast onset of action while limiting systemic exposure.

The pharmaceutical industry is under immense pressure to reduce timelines and any associated costs when it comes to oral solid dosage (OSD) drug development and manufacturing. Many drug developers are choosing to unload some of this responsibility by outsourcing to contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs).

There is an ever-growing market for oral solid dose development and the complex nature of new molecules has impacted outsourcing solid dose manufacturing in a number of ways. 

There is an ongoing risk of counterfeit medicines entering the legal supply chain and the pharmaceutical industry continues to take the necessary steps to tackle this problem. Various serialisation legislation has been introduced in key markets to improve the traceability of all medicines. 

The pharmaceutical supply chain has of course been impacted by COVID-19, with common issues including raw material delays and challenges with the shipment of goods. Increased border controls have further exacerbated this issue.