Letter from the Divisional Director

Dear Pharma Innovators,

Like an elite race team supporting a driver on the track, today's CMOs provide the expertise, agility and precision that enable pharmaceutical companies to accelerate innovation, strengthen supply chain resilience and bring life-saving therapies to market. Once regarded primarily as a means of increasing capacity and reducing costs, we can all agree contract manufacturing organisations have now evolved into indispensable strategic partners.

However, as geopolitical uncertainty and ongoing capacity constraints continue to reshape global supply chains, the race to deliver medicines has become increasingly complex. Outsourcing decisions are now driven as much by resilience, agility and business continuity as they are by operational efficiency. Pharmaceutical companies are looking for partners that can help them stay on the racing line through changing conditions, maintain momentum when challenges arise, and consistently perform under pressure. Meanwhile, CMOs are balancing rising customer expectations with fluctuating demand, capacity constraints, skills shortages and an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

Against this backdrop, establishing successful outsourcing partnerships has become increasingly challenging.

Pharma IQ has heard the growing partnership tensions, and PCM 2027 is dedicated to exploring how pharmaceutical companies and CMOs can build agile, resilient partnerships that go beyond the contract. Bringing together senior decisionmakers from across the pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem, the conference provides a trusted forum to address Europe's most pressing external manufacturing challenges, exchange practical insights and develop meaningful business connections through targeted networking and supplier matchmaking. (View the 2027 Agenda)

Join us to put your partnership on the podium by:

• Building winning pharma–CMO partnerships through shared goals, open communication and long-term collaboration that creates value beyond the contract.
• Keeping your supply chain race-ready with strategic sourcing, proactive risk management and greater end-to-end visibility across manufacturing networks.
• Using digital technologies as your competitive edge, improving transparency, accelerating decision-making and optimising performance across the entire manufacturing journey.

I look forward to welcoming you to Berlin in March.

Best wishes,

Nikki Kandola