How Basel Became Europe’s Dynamic Biotech “Super Cluster”
“This cluster has such a long history—it’s about chemistry meeting innovation, trading roots, and an open mindset. That unique mix created something remarkable.”Dr. Christof Klöpper, CEO of Basel Area Business & Innovation, brings a rare combination of academic rigour and practical experience to understanding biotech ecosystems. With a doctorate focused on innovation processes in biotechnology from the University of Basel and years leading the region’s business development efforts, he has helped Basel emerge as one of Europe’s most concentrated life sciences superclusters—home to over 800 companies and 33,000 professionals.Read more
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Pharma Trends: A Commercial Perspective on Oncology, GLP-1 Expansion, and AI-Accelerated Development
"It costs about $2.5 billion to bring a drug to the market, and only about 30% of those actually succeed or meet their commercial goals when they get to the market."Manufacturing leaders typically focus on the technical challenges directly in front of them—process validation, tech transfer timelines, capacity utilization. But understanding the commercial landscape offers critical intelligence for strategic planning: which therapeutic areas will drive demand, what modalities require capacity investment, and how market access pressures reshape make-versus-buy decisions.Ryan Quigley, CEO of Inizio—a $1.6 billion commercialization services company working with over 700 pharma and biotech clients—offers a window into the commercial trends that ultimately determine manufacturing requirements. His perspective spans both sponsor and service provider roles, including experience at Abbott, AbbVie, and UDG Healthcare.In this PharmaSource podcast episode, Ryan shares his perspective on pipeline composition, which therapeutic areas will drive the most growth, how regulatory and pricing pressures are reshaping strategic decisions, and why flexibility has become the industry's most valuable currency.Read more
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MSD External Manufacturing: How Technical Operations are Driving Digital Innovation
“The key word is curiosity. That curiosity helps you to question and improve not only yourself, but also your processes, your systems, and how you interact with different stakeholders.”Jeroen Janssens, External Manufacturing Technical Operations Lead at MSD, provides insights through a technical lens on how one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies approaches biologics manufacturing partnerships. With over 15 years of experience spanning validation engineering to director-level leadership, he oversees manufacturing of 11 biologics across Europe and Asia whilst pioneering AI-powered solutions for complex manufacturing challenges.In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Jeroen explains how curiosity-driven leadership, strategic CDMO partnerships, and emerging technologies are reshaping external manufacturing excellence at MSD.Read article
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Italy’s Biotech Future: How New Initiatives Are Breaking Down Growth Barriers
“We have strong scientific foundations and manufacturing excellence. Now we’re creating the ecosystem to help biotechs scale and compete globally,” says Federico Vigano, Board Member of Assobiotec.Federico Vigano, Country Manager for Vertex in Italy and Greece, brings extensive pharmaceutical leadership experience from roles at AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim and GSK. As a board member of Assobiotec, the Italian Association for the Development of Biotechnology representing over 100 companies and research institutes, he coordinates therapeutic areas including access, orphan drugs, advanced therapies, and clinical research.In the latest episode, Federico outlines Italy’s ambitious plans to leverage its manufacturing heritage while addressing key barriers to help biotech companies scale from research excellence to commercial success. Read more
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Building Investor-Ready CMC Programs: Marta Kijanka’s Strategic Framework for Early-Stage Biotechs
“CDMOs are partners with deep, extensive technical expertise that can be leveraged strategically—not just a restaurant where you pick from a menu.”Marta Kijanka, founder of MK Bioconsultancy, is a strategic project manager and CMC consultant who guides early-stage biotech companies through the complexities of manufacturing development, from discovery through regulatory readiness. With her career spanning academia, biotech leadership, CDMO operations, and now strategic consulting, Marta brings a 360-degree perspective to one of the industry’s most critical partnerships.In the latest PharmaSource podcast episode, Marta explains why successful CMC programs require more than technical competence. She shares frameworks for building productive CDMO partnerships, avoiding common analytical bottlenecks, and creating alignment between scientific, operational, and business teams. Her insights are particularly valuable for companies preparing for Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials, where CMC planning directly impacts investor confidence and valuation.Read more
Welcome to the PharmaSource podcast: the pharma and biotech podcast that explores the latest trends, challenges, and commercial opportunities shaping the biopharma manufacturing and outsourcing.
In each episode we'll be speaking with top executives, researchers, and outsourcing experts, who share their perspectives on topics such as building a smarter, more sustainable supply chain, how to partner with CDMOs, digital transformation, procurement and external manufacturing strategies, and plenty more besides.
Make sure to subscribe for your regular dose of pharma insight.
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