Each year in March, the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry gathers in New York City for DCAT Week, and this year is no exception. DCAT Week ’19, the flagship event of the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association (DCAT), will take place on Mar. 18-21, 2019. The event brings together DCAT members for high-level strategic meetings, networking events, and industry education programs.

DCAT is a not-for-profit, member-supported global business development association supported by more than 500 member-companies composed of innovator and generic drug manufacturers and suppliers of ingredients, development and manufacturing services, and related technologies.

A Unique Forum for Business Development

Unlike many tradeshows or conferences, DCAT Week offers member companies the opportunity to host private meetings with customers, suppliers and potential business partners in their reserved business meeting space in eight official DCAT Week hotels. Although those meetings are mostly pre-scheduled, DCAT Week’s activities and events offer additional opportunities for introductions, impromptu meetings and other business connections.

Powering Business Relationships

Throughout the week, a variety of exclusive member company networking events are provided to help members expand their network of customers, suppliers and colleagues.

New for DCAT Week ’19 is the Monday Meet-Up: Networking with a Dash of Trivia where attendees can connect with colleagues and friends and test their knowledge during a casual trivia competition while supporting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.

At the DCAT Member Company Reception over 700 member representatives meet, mingle, and make new contacts before heading out to private dinners with customers, suppliers, and industry colleagues.

The DCAT Women’s Networking Breakfast provides connection, community, and a shot of inspiration from professionals both inside and outside the industry. This year’s guest speaker is Ellyn Spragins, a former New York Times columnist and author of What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self.

The final networking event of the week is the 93^rd DCAT Annual Dinner – a black-tie event attended by over 2,000 DCAT members and their guests. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., professional race car driver, champion team owner, businessman, and one of the sport’s most enduring personalities is the featured guest.

Business Intelligence, Industry Insights and More

The Pharma Industry Outlook program on Monday, Mar. 18 begins with an in-depth pharmaceutical market overview by IQVIA followed by a panel discussion by industry experts on the key market and policy issues in drug pricing and the industry impact, including on bio/pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers.

On Tuesday, Executive Insights I: A CEO View: Drug Development, Manufacturing, and New Technologies will feature an on-stage interview with Marc Casper, president and CEO of Thermo Fisher Scientific, who will provide insights on the current and future direction of the pharmaceutical industry, including drug development. Executive Insights II: The Future of Pharma/Biopharm Manufacturing and Supply will feature executives from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Spark Therapeutics who will address the major drivers influencing pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply, including how technology and product mix will impact the future of supply lines and how pharmaceutical companies and manufacturing partners are meeting these opportunities and challenges. Frances H. Arnold, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry (2018) and the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry and the Director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology, will give the DCAT Week Keynote Address. Arnold, who was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes, an important advancement in pharmaceutical synthesis and in the production of other chemicals and biofuels, will share her journey of innovation, including the key milestones – both the opportunities and challenges – that she encountered and addressed to achieve success.

On Wednesday, Sourcing & Procurement: The Next Generation will examine two topics. New Modalities: Considerations from a Fast-Paced Sourcing World will look at considerations in strategic sourcing for evaluating capabilities, mitigating risk, scaling and maturing a supplier ecosystem to support cell and gene therapies while managing traditional modalities in small molecules and biologics. The second topic, New Tools Toward Robustness, Efficiencies and Risk Management in Sourcing, will look at one company’s approach in driving productivity and performance improvements through new initiatives in global strategic sourcing, improved coordination in the sales and operations planning process, for managing global inventories of active pharmaceutical ingredients and innovation in talent management.

Emerging Pharma: Aligning Regulators, Investors and Suppliers to Assure Successful Drug Development is a special program designed to assist emerging bio/pharma companies and their development partners to resolve key factors that influence the nature, pace, and cost of product development. Managing Changing CMC Regulatory Requirements from Pre-IND to NDA Approval will feature executives providing actual company experiences on how to determine the optimal amount of information to provide to regulatory authorities for initiating clinical trials while ensuring flexibility for continued process and formulation improvements. The second topic, How Investors and Other Parties Impact Drug-Development Decisions, will have a panel of pharmaceutical executives, a venture capitalist, and development consultant to discuss how Emerging Pharma Companies can manage investors’ expectations surrounding cost and time, and identify the key regulatory and scientific issues in drug development that may impact investor decisions.

Inside Canada: NAFTA 2.0: Trans-Border Trade and the Impact on Pharma Manufacturing and Supply, provided by DCAT through a special partnership with Pharmed Canada, a Montreal-based health industries manufacturing and R&D outsourcing network, will provide industry insights on the key issues impacting pharmaceutical manufacturing, supply, and trade inside, and with, Canada.