Pharmaceutical Engineers from Around the World Gather in Las Vegas for Annual Meeting

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Reported by Annette Kreuger, Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--An estimated 2,000 pharmaceutical engineering professionals and nearly 1,000 associated industry insiders are gathering in Las Vegas this week (November 3-7, 2007) for the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers' (ISPE) annual meeting. The theme of this year's event is "Delivering Today, Transforming Tomorrow."

Every day, millions of people take a prescription drug with little or no thought to how that drug arrived in their medicine cabinet. ISPE members work diligently to ensure that it gets there in the most efficient and secure manner. The choice of meeting at Caesars Palace is a nod to the ancient Roman tradition of intellectual group gatherings dedicated to refining the most efficient processes in architecture, engineering, science and medicine.

Some of the industry's best and brightest from 30 countries will split into seven tracks to address today's myriad challenges and offer solutions for the industry on how best to deliver products and services today and in the years to come.

This year's educational session tracks are as follows:

Regulatory/Compliance: Examining the latest trends in quality initiatives and regulatory thinking into every aspect of drug development and delivery.

Session Leaders:
Paul D'Eramo, Executive Director, Quality and Compliance Worldwide, Johnson & Johnson
Ronald Branning, Principal Consultant, Commissioning Agents Incorporated U.S.

Manufacturing: Focused on implementing new platform technology, managing manufacturing in a risk-based paradigm and investigating the financial impacts of these elements for the future.

Session Leaders:
Ray Scherzer, Senior Vice President for Engineering, GlaxoSmithKline, U.S.
Larry Kranking, Senior Vice President for Operations, Monosol RX, U.S.

Facilities and Engineering: An examination into Quality by Design initiatives that impact the implementation of design programs. A look into how the avalanche of new products and technologies challenge the concept of economical and expedited project delivery, along with new risk-based execution philosophies.

Session Leaders:
James Kimmel, Director of Engineering, Cephalon, U.S.
Thomas Trevithick, Vice President for Integrated Engineering Management, Wyeth, U.S.

Innovation: A discussion on the newly enhanced ISPE Communities of Practice with a look at what's new, what's here today and what's coming soon.

Session Leaders:
Timothy Tyson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Valeant Pharmaceuticals
David Selby, Managing Director, Selby Hope International Limited, United Kingdom
Sion Wyn, Director, Conformity Limited, U.K.

Investigational Products: A focus on innovation and strategic partnerships. A discussion of the issues facing Investigational Products professionals and what is driving innovation in a multitude of areas, including R&D, clinical supplies forecasting and planning, China's distribution channels, and forensic science.

Session Leaders:
Michelle Foust, Doctor of Pharmacy and Director of New Product Development, Almac Clinical Services, U.S.
Paula Mastrangelo, Associate Director, Bristol-Myers Squibb, U.S.
Bernd Steffens, Global Head, Clinical Trial Supplies Unit, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Company, Germany

Project Management: An in depth analysis of current innovations in project delivery, new regulatory guidance and how it will all affect projects in the future. Current and emerging trends will be discussed and how they can best be implemented for both today's projects and in the future.

Session Leaders:
Peter Bigelow, Senior Vice President for Consumer Healthcare Manufacturing, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, U.S.
Andrew Skibo, Vice President for Corporate Engineering and Capital Projects, Amgen, U.S.

Guides and Guidance Documents: New guidance documents will be explained, including the updated Oral Solid Dosage Baseline Guide and the new Maintenance Guides.

Session Leaders:
Brian Lange, Professional Engineer and Director of Engineering, Merck & Company Incorporated, U.S.
Gert Moelgaard, Vice President, NNE, DENMARK

A major highlight of the ISPE annual meeting will be the announcement of the 2007 Facility of the Year winner. The Facility of the Year competition recognizes state-of-the-art pharmaceutical manufacturing projects that utilize new and innovative technologies to enhance the delivery of a quality project, as well as to reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicine. An independent, blue-ribbon judging panel of global representatives from the pharmaceutical design, construction and manufacturing sectors will decide the winner of this prestigious award.

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