SPECIAL FEATURE - Artificial Intelligence in Drug Discovery, Development & Delivery
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin speaks with leading drug makers, device manufacturers, and contract organizations who dispel the myths around AI and Machine Learning in the pharma industry and share how they are using AI to streamline clinical trials, automate lab tests, optimize resource allocation, enhance development timelines, and improve patient-friendly dosage forms.
FORMULATION FORUM - Solid Oral Dosages: Controlled Release of Drugs
Shaukat Ali, PhD, and Jim Huang, PhD, review a few examples of controlled release excipients and their attributes from monolithic matrix tablets and polymeric coated tablets.
LEADERSHIP PANEL - Trends to Watch for in 2026
Contributor Cindy H. Dubin interviews life science leaders to discuss the role of AI in drug repurposing, the future of personalized medicine, the importance of sustainability, and how to keep pace with innovation amid real-time FDA reviews.
PREFILLABLE SYRINGE SYSTEM - Beyond Components: Designing Prefillable Syringe Systems to Streamline Success
Katie Falcone says prefillable syringes for biologics and vaccines can no longer be assembled as a set of parts; they must be treated as engineered systems with data, supply, and regulatory strategies built in from the start.
CONTROLLED RELEASE - Challenges in Consistent & Predictable Delivery of Drugs Using Oral Controlled Release Technologies
True Rogers, RPh, PhD, Matthias Knarr, PhD, and Mark Dreibelbis, PhD, say excipient selection is a key consideration within the QbD framework, particularly for CR technologies. Excipients must be chosen carefully to ensure they deliver the needed processability, quality, stability, and performance during and following the manufacture of dosage forms.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW - Incannex Healthcare: Pioneering the Future of Cannabinoid & Psychedelic Therapies
Joel Latham, CEO of Incannex Healthcare, shares how the company navigates complex global regulatory pathways, building strategic collaborations, and forging a path toward commercial success.
CELL & GENE THERAPY - What the Industry Can Learn From Baby KJ About Optimizing CRISPR Development
Venkata Indurthi, PhD, believes the success of Baby KJ provides a model that could be replicated many times over to treat people with ultra-rare genetic diseases.
PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY - How PolyPid’s PLEX Unlocks the Potential of Local & Prolonged Release
Dikla Czaczkes Akselbrad asks what if, instead of relying on systemic delivery, a platform could be created that anchors drugs directly at the site of need and controls its release over weeks or months?
MAB FORMULATION & FILL-FINISH - Obstacles in Monoclonal Antibody Formulation & Fill-Finish
Nandkumar Deorkar, PhD, explores some of the key challenges in mAb formulation and fill-finish, offering practical insights to help developers navigate complexity and ensure success.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW - CERo Therapeutics: A Novel Approach to Treating Cancer
Chris Ehrlich, CEO of CERo Therapeutics, discusses the company’s science, clinical program, the treatment landscape, and more.
MRNA THERAPEUTICS - Strategies for Enhanced Stability, Targeted Delivery & Safe Translation
Carsten Rudolph, PhD, explores many challenges and the solutions offered by novel technology platforms, providing insight into the evolving landscape of mRNA drug development and its potential as a future transformative modality.
2026 COMPANY PROFILES & CAPABILITIES
For each participating company, this section presents a detailed summary highlighting their core technologies, capabilities, technologies, and services.
PURIFICATION STRATEGIES - Purification at Scale: Overcoming Chromatography Challenges for Advanced Modalities
William Sanders, PhD, explores the real-world challenges of scaling chromatography and highlights how contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs) can help partners overcome them.
DRUG DEVELOPMENT - Common CMC Pitfalls in Orphan Drug Development
Hibreniguss Terefe, PhD, says although the unique challenges of orphan drug development are amplified by compressed timelines and limited patient populations, common pitfalls also serve as cautionary tales for other areas of drug development.
3D PRINTING - The Future of 3D Printing in Pharma: Aprecia’s Vision for Transformative Medicine
Kyle Smith, MBA, explains how his company, a pioneer in pharmaceutical 3D printing, has a vision for distributed, patient-centric manufacturing that could re-shape the future of medicine.
ORAL SUSPENSIONS - A New Standard in Oral Suspensions: Leveraging Novel Excipients for FDA Approval
Mary Schuster introduces a new approach to perfecting oral suspension formulations, which is centered on the strategic use of a “novel” synthetic functional excipient, magnesium aluminometasilicate (MAS).
DRUG DELIVERY - PharmaShell®: Enabling Once-Monthly Therapeutics With Atomic Precision Coatings
Anders Johansson, PhD, Polla Rouf, PhD, and Joel Hellrup, PhD, review an innovative drug delivery system that uses nanometer-thin, inorganic coatings to turn short-acting drugs into long-acting injectables.
INJECTABLE DEVICES - Delivering Tomorrow’s Injectables to Patients Today: Responding to a New Era of Demand With Purpose-Built Capabilities
Tommy Schornak examines how evolving therapeutic modalities, delivery systems, and regulatory expectations are reshaping the fill finish landscape.
PLATFORM TECHNOLOGY - Developing Innovative Solutions to One of the Top Public Health Threats: Antibacterial Resistance
Jennifer Schneider, PhD, believes immunotherapy holds the potential to revolutionize the treatment of “hard to treat,” chronic, and often recalcitrant infections.
EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW - Plus Therapeutics: Advancing Targeted Radiotherapeutics for Rare & Difficult-to-Treat Cancers
Dr. Marc Hedrick, CEO of Plus Therapeutics, discusses the company’s targeted radiotherapeutic platform for central nervous system and solid tumor cancers and why internal radiation therapy offers patients a more advanced drug delivery solution compared to traditional external radiation therapy.
