DDP Conference Recap:

Themes for Combination Product Development for the Coming Year

For 22 years, DDP has been the world’s largest drug delivery meeting place to accelerate drugs to market and lengthen lifecycles for long term profitability by finding new partners, new drug delivery technologies, and new formulation development strategies.

As the Drug Delivery Partnership Conference in West Palm Beach concludes and Pharma Pack ramps up in Paris this week, the themes for differentiation and success remain constant. A primary research-driven understanding of the patient journey is critical for developers in identifying opportunities and defining a device strategy that integrates delivery systems, meaningful utilization of connectivity, training and onboarding, value added packaging, and longitudinal patient and clinical stakeholder engagement. The two primary tracks reflected these areas perfectly: (1) Drug Delivery Technologies and (2) Patient-Centric Design and Development Principles.

Reinforcing these themes, our friends at Noble organized a panel discussion around how collaboration can improve patient care and outcomes, which we were pleased to participate in.

A key takeaway from the conference is that there are more potential technologies and means than ever before to support patients and clinicians throughout the patient journey. The broad nature of these opportunities—such as increased device connectivity and analytics—requires partnership and collaboration between complementary as well as competing firms. Consolidation and convergence will drive this need further as both technology companies—such as Amazon acquiring Pill Pak and offering private label medical devices, and payors, such as Aetna acquiring CVS— will drive change in how care is delivered and managed.

Both tracks in the conference addressed this dynamic and highlighted the acceleration of the connected device landscape from both the platform device/data management and analytics perspective.

“DDP is an excellent opportunity to connect with our clients and industry partners, all while learning about the latest advances in the market. This year’s conference reinforces the importance of a patient journey-driven device strategy.”

— Mark Tunkel, Partner and Business Development Director

How can you ensure successful outcomes with your delivery system? Reach out to see how we can support your device strategy.