Reflecting a Broader Audience: CPHI Americas Event Preview

As the month of May marches on, the city of Philadelphia prepares itself to once again play host to CPHI — this year under its new guise of CPHI Americas. For 2025, the event organizers have updated the name of the show to reflect the broader audience, which incorporates Latin America and Canada in addition to the U.S.

This year’s event, taking place on May 20–22, is expected to attract thousands of attendees and over 370 exhibitors from across the entire pharma supply chain. In this article, The Pharma Navigator provides a snapshot of what to look forward to at this year’s event

Insights Across Five Tracks

The CPHI Americas conference program has been sectioned into five tracks, providing expert insights into a variety of topics. The tracks are Market Trends in Pharma; Optimizing the U.S. Value Chain; Biotech IPOS; Bio-Innovation; and Clinical Innovation & Technology. Below are some of the highlights picked out by The Pharma Navigator for this year’s conference.

Tuesday May 20, 2025

On the Market Trends in Pharma track, Peter Pitts, President of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, will look at the impact glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies are having on the industry. Pitts’ 20-minute talk, titled ‘Obesity Shakes the Market: How GLP-1 is Reshaping U.S. Pharma’, will take place at 10 am in the Main Stage Theater.

A little later in the day, on the same track and continuing in the Main Stage Theater, Claudia Lin, Executive Vice President of Pharmatech Associates, will be discussing the Biosecure Act in more detail. The 20-minute talk, titled ‘Biosecure Act: A Cure for Supply Chain Weakness or More Red Tape?’, is set to start at 11.15 am and will delve into the actions Chinese companies have taken in response to the Biosecure Act.

During the afternoon session of the Market Trends in Pharma track from 2.50 pm, Michael Regn, Vice President, Business Development, Ten23 Health, will tackle the issue of sustainability. In Regn’s talk, titled ‘Sustainable Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: How CDMOs are Making a Difference’, he will run through the strategies being employed by CDMOs to drive sustainable manufacturing forward.

For the Biotech IPOS track, between 10.25–11.10 am in the Main Stage Theater, a panel of experts will be investigating drivers of investment and dealmaking in the biotech and pharma industry. The panel, titled ‘The Investment Heat Map: Where Capital’s Surging — and Where it’s Not’, will include Maha Radhakrishnan from Sofinnova Investment; Audrey Greenberg from Mayo Clinic; Brian Scanlan from Edgewater Capital; Stella Vnook from Likarda; and Yi Yen from Penn Center for Innovation.

Opening the Bio-Innovation track, Christopher Molineaux, President and Chief Executive Officer of Life Science PA, will highlight how Philadelphia is becoming a center for innovation in pharma. The talk, titled ‘Opening Address: Exploring Philadelphia’s Role as a Global Pharma Innovation Hub’, will take place in the Innovation Theater from 10.30–10.40 am.

Sticking with the same track, Cynthia Pussinen, CEO | Board Member, Owl Bio Advisors, will explore how novel technologies and approaches are shaping advanced therapies. Pussinen’s talk, titled ‘Driving the Next Wave of Innovation in Advanced Therapies (Cell and Gene Therapy)’, will take place from 2–2.20 pm.

Wednesday May 21, 2025

Kicking off the morning sessions for the Optimizing the U.S. Value Chain track at 10.10 am, Kevin Webb, Chief Operating Officer, API Innovation Center, will be broaching the issue of supply chain security. ‘Protecting Tomorrow’s Medicines: Securing the Future of the U.S. Pharma Supply Chain’ will be a 20-minute talk where Webb will look at reshoring API manufacturing as a strategy to mitigate risk.

From 12.25 pm on the same track and staying in the Main Stage Theater, Joseph Zeleznik, Chair, IPEC-Americas, will be focusing on excipients in detail. Zeleznik’s talk, titled ‘The Increased Relevance of Excipients in the Pharmaceutical Industry’, will explore a variety of excipient-specific topics that may have an impact on the regulation or formulation of drug products.

Moving over to the Innovation Theater and onto the Clinical Innovation & Technology track, and Kenneth Getz, Executive Director and Professor, Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, Tufts University, School of Medicine, will be revealing the benefits of CDMO–CRO integration. During the talk, starting at 11.20 am and titled ‘CDMO–CRO Integration: Transforming the Landscape of Clinical Research’, Getz will present empirical study results that quantify the net financial benefit of efficiencies gained through CDMO and CRO integration.

If the topic of contract research, development, and manufacturing organizations is of interest, then take a look at The Pharma Navigator’s interview with Kevin Li from BioDuro, about the company’s focus for CPHI Americas — Driving Innovation with BioDuro.

Notable Agenda Mention — Registration Required!

Furthermore, a notable agenda mention must go to the CDMO Panel, taking place on May 20, 2025 between 12.15–1.45 pm. This panel discussion, ‘Tackling Pharmaceutical Pain Points Through Strategic Partnerships’ is open to registered attendees only and will feature several industry experts who will look at emerging trends, collaboration models, and the evolving role of CDMOs in the future of pharmaceutical development. The panel will include Gil Roth from PBOA; Carrie Bracco from Novartis; Dave Powell from Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing; Dr. Stephen Hermitage from Sai Life Science Limited; and Srinivasan Shanmugam from Adare Pharma Solutions.

Further insights into what can be expected from this panel discussion can be found in Navigating Complexeties with Strategic Partnership — an interview featuring Shanmugam — and Meeting Biomanufacturing Demand — an interview with Bracco.

Opportunities to Connect

In addition to the conference agenda, visitors will be able to roam the exhibition show floor where over 370 exhibitors will be showcasing their companies and capabilities. The exhibition space has been separated into zones and offers areas for networking and meetings. The floorplan can be found here.

A further opportunity to connect with industry peers is in the form of the CPHI Celebration Gala. Taking place on Tuesday May 20, 2025 between 6.30 pm and 9 pm at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the evening event will offer a relaxed environment for people to come together and form new business connections. Food and drink will be provided at the event; however, registration is mandatory and a further charge for standard badge holders is required.

Meet The Pharma Navigator at the show

The editors of The Pharma Navigator wish everyone a wonderful and successful event. If you should wish to meet with a member of our team to discuss commercial and editorial opportunities, please reach out to Michael Kushner, Commercial Director, at Michael.Kushner@thepharmanavigator.com, who will be in attendance.

Photo by Heidi Kaden on Unsplash