Pharmaceutical manufacturing at a turning point: when machines think for themselves
tfz Medical Cluster Insights Review – From a treasure trove of data to a target price: Value-based pricing in the medtech supply chain
+28% in development costs. +13% in production costs. But only +8% in the final price. The margin disappears somewhere along the medtech value chain, and many companies do not know exactly where. The result: half of all Swiss medtech firms have already reduced their product range by an average of 20 per cent.
This was precisely the starting point for the tfz Medical Cluster Insights event on 23 June 2026.
When security of supply becomes a systemic issue
Christian Beyer, Technology Platform Leader for Bioprocess Technology at CSEM, highlighted the gravity of the situation: demand for biologics is growing, whilst traditional batch production remains expensive and is difficult to adapt to growing, more variable demands. The consequences are already evident today: supply bottlenecks for medicines will remain a serious risk to public health in 2024, with ongoing quality issues and capacity constraints among manufacturers.
His solution: perfusion-based production processes. These promise greater flexibility, easier scale-up and higher productivity, and thus greater resilience in the supply chain.
Christian Beyer gave a particularly impressive demonstration of the path towards this: from automated, through adaptive, to autonomous bioprocess control. Whilst many plants still operate according to fixed schedules today, adaptive systems are already learning from data and continuously adjusting experiments. The next stage goes even further: systems that set their own targets, design experiments and continuously optimise themselves, with ever-increasing autonomy and ever-decreasing human intervention in day-to-day operations.
Small, parallel experiments in deep-well plate systems are a key factor in faster learning, reduced material usage and higher throughput. Exactly how this can be implemented in practice, and what role sensor technology and AI play in this, was revealed exclusively to those attending in person.
A start-up demonstrates what is already possible today
François Carruzzo – co-founder and CTO of Bioscibex – put theory into practice. His start-up has developed a solution that delivers impressive results in bioproduction: six times less manual labour, 50 per cent cheaper and 25 per cent faster.
It is precisely this combination of efficiency and speed that demonstrates just how quickly smart technologies can already pay off in practice today. Exactly how Bioscibex achieves this was revealed exclusively to those attending the event in person.
The Swiss pharmaceutical industry: between tradition and innovation
Frauke Schapmann, General Manager at Biogen Switzerland & Austria, placed the discussion within a broader context. As an international company with Swiss roots and a focus on rare diseases, Biogen is actively committed to a sustainable healthcare system – a commitment that extends far beyond its own manufacturing operations.