A century of achievements,
a future of success

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a significant transformation, with a strong focus on the use of technology to aid new drug discovery and enhance manufacturing performance, alongside novel processes and “precision” medicine. The speed of response to the pandemic has demonstrated the capability of the industry to respond to global challenges. It has also helped to shine a light on the criticality of access to medicines and global health inequities. Chemical Engineers have a key role to play in harnessing the new technologies and platforms to help drive further improvements in manufacturing, reduce costs and enable greater global health improvements. This webinar discussed how the technological improvements within the pharmaceutical industry such as digitalisation and efficient manufacturing contribute to improving the healthcare and medicine affordability. It also explored the role of future chemical engineers in developing solutions to tackle global pandemics especially taking lessons from COVID-19 and the skills (digitalisation/ advanced manufacturing) required to achieve this objective. The webinar panel also discussed how chemical engineers of the future will respond to the challenge of health and well being requirements of the global billions in accordance with the UNSDGs and the steps required to make vaccines and medicines accessible and affordable to all.