To paraphrase the old British joke, industrial revolutions are like buses: You wait for one and then two come along at once. In biopharma, the two revolutions are Biopharma 4.0 and Biopharma 5.
0. Biopharma 4.0, which refers to the digitalization of biomanufacturing processes, aligns with Industry 4.
0, a broader movement that dates to 2016, when World Economic Forum founder, Klaus Schwab, suggested that a fusion of technologies would blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. By now, Industry 4.0 can be said to have arrived in various industries, but in biopharma, we’ve been craning our necks, straining to catch a glimpse of it.
Well, it’s trundling toward us now, in the form of Biopharma 4.0, and right behind it is Biopharma 5.0.
Like Industry 5.0, Biopharma 5.0 is an expression of the emerging ethos that technology and human intelligence should be combined to serve not just productivity and profitability needs, but also environmental and societal needs.
Admittedly, the bus analogy isn’t quite fair to Biopharma 4.0. There has been some progress.
Still, most Biopharma 4.0 implementations on the factory floor have been limited in scope. Rather than set up fully digital lines, biomanufacturing firms have been investing in individual technologies.
Although the biopharma industry has been slow to adapt Industry 4.0 technologies, it may show more alacrity with Industry 5.0 technologies.
“Industry 5.0 has the potential to significantly enhance the .