4. Pharmaceutical Sovereignty and Factory 5.0

Following the conclusions of the Green Chemistry Institute roundtables in 2007, which identified the next priorities for investment and development in pharmaceutical production, there was a push towards the implementation of miniaturized flow chemistry reactors at R&D level. A few years later, when regulatory authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began advocating continuous manufacturing at all stages of API development, this led to the gradual adoption of flow reactors at production scale. After more than 15 years of technological development, flow processes are now booming. This dynamic has become even more pronounced in the current context, where a succession of global crises is causing regular disruptions in the supply of fine chemicals and price volatility, with dramatic consequences in all economic sectors. The hardest-hit sector is undoubtedly the healthcare...