At the 2016 BIO International Convention in San Francisco, CA, MilliporeSigma unveiled survey results of 250 global biopharmaceutical executives on how their companies will manage new risks associated with the changing biopharma landscape. The survey, sponsored by MilliporeSigma, was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a leading resource for economic and business research, forecasting and analysis.

“In response to the uncertainty and disruption facing the biopharmaceutical industry, MilliporeSigma has moved beyond old risk-management models and has adopted and is applying new strategies at the earliest stages of development and seeing them through to commercialization,” said Udit Batra, member, executive board, Merck KGaA, and chief executive officer, MilliporeSigma.

According to the study, 48 percent of respondents are developing or will develop novel therapies, such as gene and cell therapies, while the biopharma firms interviewed said they anticipate entering South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan in the next five years.

Regulatory uncertainty tops the list of risks that biopharma executives think might disrupt their company’s strategy in the next five years (32 percent).

At the same time, 80 percent of respondents are highly optimistic about their company’s ability to bring new drug products to market over the next five years.

Manufacturers in the biopharma industry face unprecedented challenges as they enter unfamiliar geographies, aggressively replenish pipelines and expand into novel areas such as gene and cell therapies requiring more complex development and production. The EIU study examines how new growth strategies are creating exposure to different types of risk and explores options for successfully navigating this unexplored territory.

Survey respondents offered a global view with 31 percent from Europe, 30 percent from North America, 29 percent from Asia and 10 percent from the rest of the world. Responses also reflect the differences in view depending on company size, with 50 percent of participants coming from biopharmas with less than $500 million in revenues and 50 percent from larger players.

To download the report, visit www.gobeyondbiopharma.com.