India, the third largest medicine market by volume in the world, is not only growing in size but also technologically. Rising demands from the market, pressure to contain the manufacturing costs and a need to make medicine manufacturing safer and error free have enormously revolutionised the way medicines are being produced. Among all the technological upgradations, pharma industry’s increasing interest in robotic technology for research and manufacturing purposes has been considered as a very significant development.
Applications of robotics
Where human capabilities face limitations robotics can take over the task. With increased and improved research activities, the risk of radioactive contamination and biological dangers grow alarmingly. Now-a-days almost every operational step in the pharma industry can be assisted by robotics.
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“Robotic machinery is being used in almost all areas /divisions of the pharma industry that involves complicated steps, for instance, production facilities, quality assurance testing, packaging, research & development (R&D) as well as in diagnostic applications. Perhaps R&D is an area, especially in new drug discovery, that is worth a special mention,” says Dr Girish Mahajan, Senior Group Leader, Anti-infective Discovery-Natural Products, Piramal Enterprises. He adds, “The discovery of new drugs and taking it up to market is really becoming a rare event over the decades. This needs more and more new compounds to be synthesised and screened, de-replicated. Screening involves assaying millions of compounds in a short span of time to shortlist the most active ones; so that these shortlisted actives can be taken ahead for further development. Manual testing of millions of compounds may take several months perhaps a couple of years, which in turn may decelerate the process of drug discovery. However, today effective use of high throughput screening (HTS) has reduced this time drastically and accelerated the process of new drug selection process. The HTS system uses heavy robotics to handle repetitive and skilled liquid handling.”
Jamly John Regional Manager, German Engineering Federation (VDMA), West India Office |
According to Jamly John, Regional Manager, German Engineering Federation (VDMA), West India Office, a highly repetitive and highly precise process is a good reason for roboticisation. Many robots perform at high speed and are adapted to high-volume processes. On the other hand, robots could also perform low-volume operations that completely consume an employee’s time. “Robots in the pharma industry are used for handling operations such as measurement, inspection and testing; palletising; packaging, picking and placing as well as for clean room applications. Robots are not appropriate though for every pharma process, and manufacturers should consider certain criteria to determine where to apply this form of automation,” says Jamly.
She adds, “According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), global robot sales will increase by about two per cent to 162,000 units in 2013. The IFR Statistical Department expects that between 2014 and 2016 worldwide robot sales will increase by about six per cent on average per year. In 2016, the annual supply of industrial robots will reach more than 190,000 units. Robots can be found in many industries. In 2012, about 12,700 robots were sold to the chemical, rubber and plastic industries including about 1,710 robots for manufacturing chemical products, pharma products and cosmetics. That means, almost eight per cent of the total robot sales globally end up in the chemical, rubber and plastic industries. For India, the share is even a bit higher. According to the IFR figures, 10 per cent of the robots sold in India ended up in the chemical industries.”
Check on the cost
Pharma industry involves a lot of scientific processes. At different stages, different kinds of machineries are being used to produce the desired products but lot of waste materials are generated as well. The cost involved in such processes and in the treatment of waste materials leads to increase in the cost of the final product. According to industry experts, if robotics replaces such traditional processes it will help in avoiding unnecessary rise in the cost of drugs.
Jamly explains the overall scenario. She says, “Like other industries, the pharma industry is increasingly concerned with the sustainability of its operations. To improve their sustainability, drug makers are attempting to reduce waste and pollutants, conserve energy and improve efficiency. Robots can help the industry achieve these goals. For example, robots’ motors, drives, and gearboxes are 90–95 per cent energy efficient. Hence, robots underpin competitiveness in manufacturing. They are known to save costs, improve the quality of production and working conditions and minimise waste in production. The use of robots in production optimises efficiency as well as quality and helps to limit the workers’ exposure to hazardous environments.”
Jamly justifies her point by saying, “Before implementing robotic systems, a company must consider their economic implications. The cost of robots, like that of other established technology, has been steadily decreasing. Hence, replacing outdated or slower equipment with the flexibility and sustainability of robotic automation makes good fiscal sense. The cost of implementing robots in pilot production amortises itself in a reasonable return-on-investment time. Robots’ flexibility allows companies to produce small lots of a drug and to change to a different product quickly without incurring the capital cost of fixed-price automation. This makes it very viable, especially for vendors that are working on genomically targeted drugs and niche markets.”
Mahajan says, “Robotics definitely brings down drug prices, however it may not be directly proportional to degree of automation, as drug price depends on several other variables and non-technical factors. But one thing is sure, it reduces the cost of production as such.”
India-specific challenges
He feels that such technologies are used by Indian industries at par to pharma companies abroad especially in developed countries. However, Mahajan doubts if there are Indian-based companies who provide such technologies globally in a large extent.
Jamly says, “Although India is one of the strongest growing economies among the Asian emerging markets, there still is a low level of automation. In 2012, robot sales decreased by three per cent to 1,508 units. Given the applications involved – such as welding, dispensing and material handling – it is likely that about 70 per cent of robot sales ended up in the automotive industry. The rubber and plastics industry accounted for 10 per cent of the total supply and the metal and machinery industry had a share of five per cent.”
She adds, “This global trend towards adoption of robotic automation is increasing in India, but is still in early stages. Automation still being in its infancy in several sectors is a reflection of being in the ‘low value-addition’ zone. India is required to leap-frog to ‘higher value-addition’ manufacturing processes. The real drive for automation started only in 1997 and India is lagging behind in comparison to the world growth in automation sector. The factors affecting the automation sector in India is the political scenario, the economy conditions prevailing and the social and technological challenges.”
Bernd Webel Sales Director, Romaco |
Mahajan is not sure about India’s capability to produce advanced robotics technology. However, many players believe that Indian companies are ready to accept technology created overseas. Bernd Webel, Sales Director, Romaco says, “Romaco maintains excellent business relations with numerous Indian pharma manufacturers and contract packaging companies. As far as we can tell, the Indian corporate culture is quite open to new knowledge and innovative technologies. There’s a high willingness to invest in sophisticated automatic systems in India.”
Way ahead
According to Webel, the general level of automation will be continuously increasing. He says, “The current GMP standards require a strict monitoring of pharma manufacturing and packaging processes. High product quality and production safety are a must. At the same time there’s a great need for efficient and competitive equipment. Robotic systems therefore have the potential to meet the future challenges of the pharma industry.”
Robotics is going to be among the top most priorities for the pharma manufacturers if they want to survive in the gruelling domestic and global competition. Jamly says, “Robots soon could be critical to drug manufacturers’ efforts to reduce costs, ensure consistent product quality, and increase efficiency. Economic conditions are raising the stakes and intensifying the competition in the pharmaceutical industry. Drug makers are intently seeking ways to reduce their expenses, increase their efficiency, and make high-quality products. Robots can help companies achieve these ends by providing speed, precision, repeatability, and flexibility. Because they can improve discovery, pilot production, and small-scale production, robots can be a particularly powerful foundation for the growing biotechnology industry.”
While endorsing Webel’s and Jamly’s views, Mahajan insists that automation merits naturally has accelerated its own evolution in the pharma industry of India. The future would see much higher amount of automation in all aspects of Indian pharma and give more visibility to India globally.
Despite its initial implementation-related challenges use of robotics would benefit the company in the long term. In the recent past, some of the prominent Indian pharma companies have been punished for quality-related issues. Not completely, but at least to some extent, robotics would help to correct this problem as well. However, as informed by Jamly, in India robotics hasn’t taken off as expected.
So, all said and done, future possibilities are going to be the outcome of present actions. Indian pharma players are wise enough to understand the importance of robotics. Though initial investments would pose a challenge, slowly and steadily the Indian pharma industry is going to embrace robotics for sure.