Category Archives: Spotlight Interviews

Claudia Silva, New Platforms Development Director from Procaps

Leave a comment

Claudia procaps - spotlight

Claudia graduated from Universidad Nacional (Colombia) gaining a degree as a Pharmacist. She also holds a European PhD in Food Science and Engineering from Universidad de Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

Claudia went on to become a senior researcher with experience in formulation, development and industrial transference for new products. This integrates her background and expertise in; rheology of natural hydrocolloids, leading the project management on new platforms for research, design and development of new delivery systems and new pharmaceutical dosage forms, the evaluation of new materials, equipment and technologies as innovative proposals and the evaluation of gelatin substitutes for product development.

Claudia has authored several scientific research papers and attendant to various International Congresses in the area of rheology and research and development of thickening systems.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?

The decision was the result of some criteria such as the support in the pharmaceutical community (pharmaceutical editors), the hosting services, the sort and quality of media sources, the ranking and our experience as attendants in different webinars in BRW platform. All these aspects were considered as relevant to our purpose to offer a space on sharing different technical standpoints and hold fruitful discussions on current subjects that concern the global pharmaceutical industry

2. How did you get into the industry?

I have been working with Procaps for 4 years now. I was part of the R&D team in the nutritional gummies facility and then moved to the Headquarters to lead the team of New Platforms, having the opportunity to deal with the newest Product Developments. It has been the role that has allowed to me to combine the background in Pharmacy and the expertise on natural polymers rheology.

3. What do you most enjoy about your role?

The most rewarding experience of this role is to learn new things each time and to access to specific and detailed knowledge. Our team believes that most things are possible and that our main objective is to make them real.

4. What motivates you?

I am motivated by being involved in creative processes and thinking about different ideas, challenging situations and competitions. Through that, I have learned that to overcome difficulties, persistence, patience and optimism are required. During my free time, I enjoy taking part of writing competitions, trying new things and working with a theater group, activities that include some of these motivations. At work, they have been a driving force to find different ways to solve particular problems and keep working on successful projects.

5. What has been your best holiday and where would you recommend visiting?

Taking holidays is a whole process. I enjoy planning as well as travelling and coming back home. All the holidays have been different and therefore unique. I lived in Spain for some years and there is always a reason to come back there. I recommend Santiago de Compostela and Seville, both quite different but charming.

Claudia will be presenting with Diego Monterroza in Procaps webinar ‘Preformulation and formulation activities during development of soft gelatin capsules’ on the 30th April at 3PM London/10AM New York.

Diego Monterroza, Corporate R&D Manager at Procaps

Leave a comment

Diego procaps - spotlight2

Diego holds a degree in Organic Chemistry from Universidad del Atlántico and a Master’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from Universidad Nacional in Colombia. He has more than 15 years of formulation and analytical development experience with soft gelatin capsules products, including products for the US, EP and Canadian markets.

Diego has led formulation development for liquids, semisolids, and suspensions, contained in soft gelatin capsules, including lipid formulations and self-emulsifying drug delivery systems. In his current role, Diego leads the product and analytical development of pharmaceutical products for PROCAPS S.A. covering diverse solid and liquid dosage forms, mainly, soft gelatin capsules and associated technologies.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?

The decision was the result of some criteria such as the support in the pharmaceutical community (pharmaceutical editors), the hosting services, the sort and quality of media sources, the ranking and our experience as attendants in different webinars in BRW platform. All these aspects were considered as relevant to our purpose to offer a space on sharing different technical standpoints and hold fruitful discussions on current subjects that concern the pharmaceutical industry

2. How did you get into the industry?

I have been at Procaps for about 15 years passing for different areas like QC, Tech Services, Analytical Development, Regulatory Affairs and now Product Development. Through this time I have been in contact with regulations from several countries including LATAM and highly regulated markets, working interesting and challenging formulations in softgels and advanced technologies for big pharma companies and many other customers located in more than 42 countries.

3. What do you most enjoy about your role?

The possibility of facing new challenges adapted to the specific requirements of customers and regulatory entities. I also enjoy very much leading a multidisciplinary, heterogenic team, dealing with tough requirements and strong positions that need to be agreed through experimentation and science-based decisions.

 4. What motivates you?

The changing challenges that each project represents. The need of applying specific knowledge to each project but at the same time meeting timelines and very strict commitments.

5. What has been your best holiday and where would you recommend visiting?

Best holyday was my honeymoon in Peru. I definitively recommend this country not only places are magical, but the food is incredible and most important, the hospitality of the Peruvians is amazing.

Diego will be presenting with Claudia Silva in Procaps webinar ‘Preformulation and formulation activities during development of soft gelatin capsules’ on the 30th April at 3PM London/10AM New York.

Sascha Engel, Director Sales & Marketing Process Instrumentation from Baumer

Leave a comment

Sascha EngelSascha Engel, born in 1972 in Germany with degree in electronics by holding academic master of science in strategy, technology and holistic management, has more over 20 years of experience in global business activity from the workshop up to corporate rehabilitation. Originally coming from the machinery and factory automation industry, Sascha Engel took over the global sales & marketing activity of Baumer Process Instrumentation in 2011 to contribute to the latest market challenges in the segment of process instruments, but very much focused in the field of Oil & Gas and related EPC business.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?
 We have been looking for an efficient platform to inform a relevant and interested audience about the needs of traceability and how it can be managed. This webinar platform allows us also to have interaction between the presenter and the participants which should lead into a fruitful discussion.

2. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?
 Nowadays, at least in our industry of instrumentation portfolio, products are becoming more and more utility level. This implicates less innovation character, which is true on the product itself, but not on the surrounding environmental. Mostly, product specification is given by the application of the installation, but where is the value provided to the customer? We think a correlated answer can be found in the trend and needs of the Oil & Gas industry as well in the latest era of Industry 4.0 which is a new technology based trend generated by high industrialized countries. The correlation between well established & proven technology to new and modern sensor systems is not a discrepancy rather than a paradigm change.

3. How did you get into the industry?
 With our brand of Original Bourdon® and the long related history of inventing the pressure gauge 165 years ago the footprint into the industry of Oil & Gas is given by default. Measuring physical parameter as pressure, temperature, level, etc. is one of the key applications in the Oil & Gas industry for producing quality products, and therefore our entire portfolio fulfils basic needs since decades.

4. What’s the best book you’ve ever read and would recommend?
My own one, of course. But instead of recommending a certain book I would rather recommend several authors as Miller Heiman, John Kotter, Al Ries, Fredmund Malik, Peter Drucker, John Spencer, Kim & Mauborgne, Reinhard Sprenger,  Sun Tsu, Peter Senge and a lots of others.

Sascha will be presenting Baumer’s webinar ‘Innovative Sensor Technologies for the Oil & Gas Industry’ on the 23rd April at 3PM London/10AM New York. You can read more and register here.

Dr. Justin Neway, Vice President and Senior Fellow from BIOVIA

Leave a comment

Dr Justin NewayDr. Neway has over 30 years of experience in biotechnology and pharmaceutical process development and manufacturing, and in the application of software solutions to operational issues and quality compliance in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. He received his B.Sc. (Microbiology, 1975) and M.Sc. (Biochemistry, 1977) from the University of Calgary (Canada) and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Illinois (USA) in 1982. After holding various Process Development and Manufacturing leadership positions at Wyeth, Novartis and Baxter, Dr. Neway joined Aegis in 1997 which became a part of Accelrys in 2012 and Dassault Systèmes’ BIOVIA in 2014.

1. What are you looking forward to discussing with the audience?

Although we will be giving an overview of BIOVIA Discoverant, we will also discuss some of the major improvements of the recently released and the latest iteration of BIOVIA Discoverant, version 5.0. This latest release includes new features and functionality that users will really benefit from. These benefits include features like signal monitoring dashboards and interactive graphical process genealogy mapping. The BOIVIA Signal Monitoring Dashboard is a purpose-built validated environment that satisfies requirements for Continued Process Verification (CPV), process robustness and process performance visibility needs across local operations and global manufacturing networks that include Contract Manufacturing Organizations. The BIOVIA Interactive Process Genealogy Mapping solution allows users to visualize all the points where splitting and pooling occur in the process stream during production operations.

2. What are your thoughts on the current state of the drug manufacturing industry, where do you see the industry going and how will Discoverant help organizations along the way?

The drug manufacturing industry has clearly been heading away from small molecule development towards biologics. With this move comes an exponential increase in data that needs to be managed. BIOVIA Discoverant makes it possible to manage this data, while reducing compliance risks and still allows you to get home in time for dinner.

3. There appears to be a disconnection in the industry with drug manufacturers knowing they need product and process understanding, but not investing in the technology tools to make this possible. Why do you feel this is the case, and how does Discoverant fill this gap?

The simple answer here is that many organizations are unaware of a solution to solve their problems of a lack of product and process understanding. There is clearly pain with trying to manage and analyze all of data from disparate systems, but unless you know about a better way, it’s difficult to imagine how to improve the process. We are here to show organizations that there is a better way and we can help them meet their business goals without having to allocate additional resources or allocate resources from other areas.

4. What is Production Process Operations and how does it help your customers? When do customers realize they need a Production Process Optimization solution?

BIOVIA’s Process Production Operations solution, BIOVIA Discoverant, is a validation-ready solution for process and quality data access, aggregation, contextualization, analysis and reporting. This helps users by empowering production operations in process industries including life science or specialty chemicals by shortening time to market and maximizing profitability by enabling the understanding of critical process drivers that affect desired business results. Unfortunately, until people understand what BIOVIA Discoverant can do, they very often don’t realize they need it!

5. What do you hope the audience will learn from this webinar?

By attending this webinar, the audience will learn how improving process control by identifying sources of process variability will result in improving process outcomes. In addition, attendees will see how powerful tools such as role-based signal monitoring dashboards and interactive graphical genealogy mapping can make their lives easier.

Justin will be presenting alongside Brent Rognile in BIOVIA’s webinar on ‘Delivering Business Value from your Process & Quality Data‘. You can register for their webinar taking place on 19th March at 11am New York/3pm London here.

David Murphy, Worldwide Director of Marketing, HP

Leave a comment

David’s worldwide marketing team at HP helps deliver the highest value portfolio of inkjet web press technology in the market. HP Inkjet Web Press technology drives digital transformation in mainstream printing with high-volume applications ranging from publishing to production mail to general marketing collateral.

At HP, David drives the production inkjet division’s worldwide marketing strategy, future product marketing, current business management, and long term business planning. He works intimately with HP’s customers to help transform their business models, accelerate their growth, and maximize value to their clients.

1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?

It is important that marketing professionals understand the latest technology available to enable higher ROI and more effective communications. Inkjet is a rapidly evolving technology that is changing the face of printed communications. Business Review Webinars is an ideal medium to reach key decision makers and those interested in furthering their education. 

2. How did you get into the industry?

I first became involved in graphic arts communications in my undergrad university days. I quickly developed a passion for helping people communicate to their audiences more effectively and efficiently. Over time, the technologies have evolved and today the communications landscape is transforming faster than ever. With markets and media choices changing so fast, I think today is the most exciting time to be a marketing professional. 

3. What has been the best moment in your career?

I am currently experiencing the best time of my career. I am actively and continuously engaging with thought leaders in both technology and in communications. With that engagement, I am learning more than ever while at the same time I am able to share new innovations in print technology with the market. The future of digital print is brighter than ever. 

4. Where is your favourite place in the world and why?

My most favorite place in the world is when I am sitting next to customers and marketing professionals talking about new ideas and case study successes. On March 25, that place will be this webinar. 

5. What’s the most useful thing someone has ever taught you?

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” I think of this quote frequently when I work with people who believe in what they are doing and know that they are making a difference. Our customers do this and HP technologists do this every day when we create new ways of communicating. Inkjet innovation is an example of how HP is leading the way enthusiastically toward the future. 

David will be presenting HP’s webinar ‘Brand Webinar: HP High Speed Inkjet – A new opportunity for Printed Communications?‘ on the 25th March at 11am New York/3pm London. You can read more and register here.

Markus Kupper , Application Engineering – oOEM Parts from EthosEnergy

Leave a comment


Markus Kupper , Application Engineering – oOEM PartsMarkus Kupper is a B.Sc.Mech Engineer with 30 years experience in the Heavy Frame Gas Turbine Industry. Starting from design and development Engineering with an OEM, he held various Senior positions in Field Service, Project Management, Sales and Product Management at EE.

 

  1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with us?

I attended one of your previous webinars. It’s a great way of sharing information across a wide audience. Being able to interact with the presenters and getting feedback to comments or issues you may have on hand makes these sessions worthwhile the time.

  1. What will the audience gain from attending your webinar?

Spare parts represent probably 2/3 of the non-fuel operating cost of a GT power plant. Getting away from the traditional “remove-repair-replace” without signing up to LTSA’s and the like, is rather difficult. EE has developed a few alternative parts solutions which ensure your capital is efficiently deployed across your asset. I will be presenting some case studies where EE parts solutions have created a robust bridge between operational and commercial requirements.

  1. What is your favourite thing about presenting to a live audience?

I would like to say “The possibility to look each other in the eyes”. In case of this webinar, and looking at the truly “worldwide audience”, I am encouraged to see that the topic is “universal”. I hope sharing some, I like to call them “Best Practices”, will initiate some thoughts in the audience of getting them to introduce “optimization tools” in to their respective organisations.

  1. What motivates you?

Getting out of bed … seeing my kids venturing off to new endeavors with a SMILE. Giving “my” customers a “WOW” experience and at the same time building robust relationships … that is probably the shortest statement on this question!

Markus will be presenting EthosEnergy webinar ‘Reducing Risks and Costs Inherent in Your Parts Management Strategy’. You can register for their webinar taking place on the 12th March at  11am New York/3pm London here.

 

Frederic Di Monte, Innovation Marketing Manager From H.B. Fuller

1 Comment

Fred DiMonte
Frederic is focused on addressing market trends and unmet customer needs through collaborative industry-wide solutions. With his extensive knowledge of B2B marketing, new market development and innovation projects leadership, Frederic acts as a connection between industry players to enable the implementation of improved packaging solutions. He has an EMBA from Kellogg School of Management & WHU.

 

  1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with Business Review Webinars?

We know what matters to customers, support brand owners, retail and supply-chain managers in designing corrugated packaging to solve packaging challenges. We have recently conducted a pan-European packaging field observation study and wanted to share the surprising results with everyone interested.

  1. How did you get into the industry?

A few years back, working for a different company, I collaborated with H.B. Fuller on a project. When the packaging innovation role opened, I knew this would be a great fit for both H.B. Fuller and me.

  1. What do you most enjoy about your role?

As an innovation marketing manager, I have the opportunity to work with customers and colleagues from different cultures, backgrounds and industries. I most enjoy connecting with different industry players to develop collaborative, industry-wide solutions and accelerating innovation projects.

  1. What has been your best holiday and where would you recommend visiting?

I spent my favourite holiday in Ecuador, planning the climb of a 6000m high mountain. I recommend French Brittany for a long weekend. The coastline is beautiful, the atmosphere is down to earth and the food is delicious.

  1. What do you do in your leisure time to relax?

I very much enjoy travelling and hiking in my free time. My favourite thing to do is discovering new places on foot.

Frederic will be presenting H.B. Fuller’s webinar ‘The real life of corrugated packaging and how to shape its future’ with Kelby Ridenour, Global Marketing & Innovation Manager. You can register for their webinar taking place on the 24th March at  11am New York/3pm London here.

 

Kelby Ridenour, Global Marketing and Innovation Manager From H.B. Fuller

1 Comment

Kelby Ridenour

Kelby is experienced in identifying customer needs, translating them into clear project requirements and commercializing valuable solutions for the packaging market. Kelby has a BSME from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, an MBA from Kelley School of Business and over 10 years of product development experience in the plastics and adhesives industries.

 

 

  1. Why did you decide to do a webinar with Business Review Webinars?

While we conducted our field study, we saw plenty of underperforming packaging and highlighted several common packaging issues and failures. Our commitment to innovation brings together people, process and products that answer and solve customer challenges. We will present solutions that make packaging suitable to the consumers’ needs and today’s supply-chain complexities.

  1. How did you get into the industry?

My background is in the development of thermoplastic products. This is a good base to have for the adhesives industry.

  1. What do you most enjoy about your role?

As a marketing and innovation manager, I very much enjoy helping customers either add value to their products or solve performance problems.

  1. What has been your best holiday and where would you recommend visiting?

My best holiday was two weeks in Italy with my wife. I also recommend visiting Utah, in the United States, for all the beautiful national parks and scenery.

  1. What do you do in your leisure time to relax?

I like to be outdoors, and very much enjoying golfing, kayaking and hiking.

Kelby will be presenting H.B. Fuller’s webinar ‘The real life of corrugated packaging and how to shape its future’ with Frederic Di Monte, Innovation Marketing Manager. You can register for their webinar taking place on the 24th March at  11am New York/3pm London here.

Christer Johansson, CEO/Owner, BiQ Pharma and AQPS Academy of Quality in Pharm Science

1 Comment

Christer JohanssonMr. Johansson has over 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry and currently serves as the CEO/owner of BiQ Pharms and AQPS Academy of Quality in Pharm Science. Mr. Johansson also worked at Biotechvalley AB as the CEO and a senior consultant, quality director at Pfizer, Fresenius Kabi, Pharmacia, and the head of analytical laboratory at Astra. Mr. Johansson received his Master of Science in chemistry from KTH Royal Institute of Technologhy in 1980 and his MBA from Uppsala University in 2000.

1. Catalent are a loyal customer of ours and have delivered an extensive number of webinars with us; can you tell us what you have learnt from running this webinar?

Start planning with BRW as early as possible and touch base regularly to make sure there is flawless execution. Better understand your targeting audience and select the right timing, title and content.

2. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

 To speed up the efficacy and time to market I see the necessity to  make an early and coordinated start of the formulation of candidates parallel with preclinical and clinical testing. I’ll  emphasize the need of setting target profiles and built in quality in every step in a project. Project planning and coordination of the  specialized companies involved ,towards the set targets are essential to reach success and reaching project objectives.

3. If you could only ever listen to one song forever, what song would it be?

This is not an easy question but something with Deep Purple for example – Smoke on the water!

4. If you had to live in a TV show for a month, which would you choose?

If there is a TV-show on an old sailing ship over the Atlantic otherwise something with a connection to  nature (walking and talking).

5. What would you like to achieve in the future?

I want to play a role in the Swedish pharmaceutical landscape to make the national pharma industry more international competitive. 

Christer will be presenting Catalent’s webinar ‘Early Technology Selection for Optimized Drug Development‘ with Dr. Janet Hoogstraate, Director Biovation Park, Acturum Life Science AB and Julien Meissonnier, Director of R&D, Catalent Pharma Solutions. You can register for their webinar taking place on the 23rd March at 11am New York/3pm London here.

 

Dr. Janet Hoogstraate, Director Biovation Park, Acturum Life Science AB

1 Comment

Janet Hoogstraate

Janet Hoogstraate obtained her PhD from Leiden University in the Netherlands in Biopharmaceutical Sciences and an executive MBA from Hult International Business School in London, UK. She is associate professor at the Department of Pharmaceutics at Uppsala University. During her research career she has worked at the University of Utah, University of Iowa and in various positions at AstraZeneca R&D. As the director of DMPK in AstraZeneca she headed a group of 63 scientists working in the entire value chain of pain and neurology drug development projects. 

She is co-author of more than 45 papers and book chapters. Currently, Janet holds the position of director of Biovation Park at Acturum Life Science AB building a business and science park and incubator in Södertälje for life science companies and academic groups. She also hold various board positions such as chairman of the board of the Stockholm Brain Institute.

1. Catalent are a loyal customer of ours and have delivered an extensive number of webinars with us; can you tell us what you have learnt from running this webinar?

Start planning with BRW as early as possible and touch base regularly to make sure there is flawless execution. Better understand your targeting audience and select the right timing, title and content.

2. What are you looking forward to explaining to the audience?

Drug development is challenging in many aspects. Often scientists focus on strong pharmacology in the discovery phase and less on delivering the pharmacology to the right target in the body in on optimal time and concentration profile. That leaves a big hurdle to overcome in early development. Selecting technologies and planning your development early yet in a flexible way can provide a smoother way though drug development.  

3. If you could only ever listen to one song forever, what song would it be?

With music now so easily and abundantly available I don’t want to think about listening to only one song! But one I can listen to over and over again is Personal Jesus by Depeche mode, especially in a live version.

4. If you had to live in a TV show for a month, which would you choose?

I would love to be part of an expedition or a travel program. Spending time in a different country getting to now both the culture and exploring the nature would definitively be an good way to spend a month.

5. What would you like to achieve in the future?

My professional ambitions are to revitalize life science by connecting small companies and researchers and finding ways to deliver new treatments to patients by new constellations and smart processes. Outside professional life, I would like to advance my off-piste skiing skills. 

Janet will be presenting Catalent’s webinar ‘Early Technology Selection for Optimized Drug Development‘ with Christer Johansson, CEO/Owner, BiQ Pharma and AQPS Academy of Quality in Pharm Science and Julien Meissonnier, Director of R&D, Catalent Pharma Solutions. You can register for their webinar taking place on the 23rd March at 11am New York/3pm London here.