A view on

AI, Digitalization, and Advanced Synthesis in Pharma Manufacturing

In this episode, we speak with François Ricard, Christian Seufert, and Jan Vertommen from Lonza’s Advanced Synthesis platform about how AI-driven process innovation is shaping the development and manufacture of complex molecules.

Tune in to hear how pharmaceutical manufacturing is moving toward more data-driven approaches. From AI-based route scouting to process optimization, our guests discuss how these tools are being applied in practice to improve decision-making and reduce uncertainty in early-stage processes.

They also explore advances in conjugation and bioavailability enhancement, including how new approaches can help identify likely solid-state forms. Together, these innovations support the development and manufacture of increasingly complex, difficult-to-make molecules.

Innovating Drug Development and Manufacturing: How External Collaborations  Shape the Future of Biotherapeutics

In this episode of A View On, we speak with Andrew Brown, R&D Director at Lonza’s Integrated Biologics, and Zara Asgharpour, Director of External Innovation in Integrated Biologics, about how evolving molecular formats and external innovation are transforming the way biotherapeutics are developed and manufactured.

The world of biotherapeutics is in constant evolution, with new molecular formats, scientific insights, and strategic partnerships shaping the medicines of tomorrow. These increasingly complex biologics require new approaches in development and manufacturing, from developing advanced characterization methods to flexible, innovation-driven platforms.

Traditionally, biomanufacturing relied on well-established monoclonal antibodies and incremental process improvements. Today, developers are increasingly bringing a far broader range of modalities into the pipeline, each with unique scientific and manufacturability challenges. Meeting these demands requires both internal expertise and collaboration with external innovators.

Advances in technology and science are reshaping the design, production, and innovation of biomolecules, making agility, partnerships, and new technologies key to the development of modern biologics.

Process Analytical Technologies: Real-Time Insight for Smarter Manufacturing

In this episode, we speak with Carrie Mason, Thad Webster, and Ryan McDougall from Lonza’s PAT Center of Excellence about how Process Analytical Technologies are transforming the way biologics are developed and produced.

This episode of A View On takes us inside the manufacturing suite, where data, sensors, and decision-making converge in real time. Our guests explain how process analytical technologies (PAT) bring advanced analytics and spectroscopy directly into bioprocesses, allowing operators and scientists to “see” what’s happening inside a bioreactor without taking samples out.

Traditionally, biomanufacturing has depended on offline sampling, where materials are removed and sent to the lab for quality testing, a process that can take hours or even days. With PAT, those same insights can now be gathered in real time, enabling faster responses, greater reproducibility, and reduced batch variability.

Together, these approaches are changing not just how data are collected, but how manufacturing decisions are made, turning process analytics into a central pillar of modern bioproduction.

A View On Spray-Drying mRNA-based Products

Delivering mNRA Therapies: A Bullseye for Asthma and Future Pandemics
In this episode, we speak with Carsten Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Ethris, about a novel spray-dried mRNA therapy designed to restore immune balance in asthma patients and prepare for future pandemics.

This episode of A View On takes us deep into the lungs, where science, engineering, and medicine converge. Our guest, Carsten Rudolph, CEO and co-founder of Ethris, explains how his team is developing inhalable mRNA-based therapies for chronic respiratory conditions like asthma, rare diseases such as primary ciliary dyskinesia, and even protection in the case of future COVID-19-like pandemics.

Unlike vaccines, which target specific viruses, this approach focuses on strengthening the body’s innate immune response. Ethris’ lead candidate delivers instructions to lung cells to produce a protein that helps the respiratory tract fight off infections. In asthma patients, this immune response is often weakened, so restoring it could help prevent attacks. And since the effect is virus-agnostic, the same therapy could also be used preventively in vulnerable groups during pandemic outbreaks, offering protection before a tailored vaccine is available.

It’s a powerful example of how mRNA therapies could move out of the lab and into real-world use, improving chronic care while helping the world prepare for what comes next.

Unlocking Microbial Manufacturing: Innovation Across the Pipeline 

For more than 40 years, microbial fermentation has been the workhorse of biologic manufacturing. From the first recombinant insulin to today’s increasingly complex therapeutic formats, the technology has consistently adapted to meet the needs of patients, developers, and regulators. 

Karlheinz Flicker, Director of Microbial R&D, offers a strategic perspective on how microbial systems like E. coli and Pichia pastoris support emerging non-Fc biologics such as nanobodies and cytokines. Later, Joan Cortada, Associate Principal Scientist, walks us through a promising innovation in protein refolding that uses high pressure to reduce environmental impact and improve yields. 

The episode underscores how upstream and downstream process innovation, from strain engineering to greener purification steps, can help make biologics more scalable, flexible, and sustainable.