The injectable drug product landscape is changing quickly. Biologics are becoming more complex, self-administration and at-home treatment continue to expand, and drug-device combination products are playing a larger role in development strategies. Decisions that were once made separately, from formulation and primary packaging to device selection, assembly, and commercial manufacturing, are becoming increasingly connected.
These industry shifts were a major focus of The Injectable Innovation Forum, hosted by Pyramid Pharma Services on September 1, 2026, at our Costa Mesa, California facility. The afternoon brought together leaders from across drug development, drug delivery, primary packaging, automation, device assembly, CMC, and manufacturing to share perspectives on where injectable therapies are heading and what pharmaceutical companies should be considering as programs become more complex.
Across the presentations, one theme became clear: the future of injectable drug delivery will require a more integrated approach across the product lifecycle.
Injectable Innovation Is Increasingly Patient-Driven
Innovation in drug delivery ultimately begins with the patient, a theme that came through clearly in the keynote presentation from Evan Edwards, CEO of Kymanox. In An Innovation Story, Evan shared a perspective on the journey required to move an innovative drug-delivery concept from an idea into a successful product.
His presentation highlighted an important reality: innovation is rarely a straight path. Bringing new drug-delivery solutions forward requires persistence, collaboration, and the ability to navigate technical, operational, and commercial challenges while maintaining focus on the patient need that initiated the program.
That patient focus continued in Julie Gordon’s presentation, The Evolution of Self-Injection: Industry Trends and Future Direction. Representing SHL Medical, Julie explored how self-injection continues to evolve as more therapies move beyond traditional healthcare settings.
Autoinjectors and other self-administration technologies are becoming an increasingly important part of product strategy, while larger injection volumes, new biologics, and changing dosing requirements are creating new considerations for developers. As a result, the patient experience is influencing drug product and delivery decisions earlier in the development process.
Next-Generation Biologics Are Changing the Delivery Equation
As therapies evolve, so do the requirements placed on their delivery systems. Valeria Leone, Pharm.D., of Stevanato Group addressed this during her presentation, SG Large-Volume Containers: Enabling Self-Administration of Next-Generation Biologics.
Her session explored the considerations associated with delivering increasingly complex biologics, particularly as programs move toward larger injection volumes and self- administration. Primary packaging plays an important role in that equation, with factors such as injection volume, formulation characteristics, container performance, and compatibility with the intended delivery device all influencing the final product experience.
This means the primary container can no longer be viewed as an isolated component selected late in development. Instead, developers increasingly need to consider the relationship between:
– the drug product
– the primary container
– the delivery device
– the needs of the patient
When those decisions are aligned earlier, teams can create a clearer pathway toward a patient-ready product.
Planning for Commercial Manufacturing Starts Earlier Than It Used To
Creating an effective drug-device product is only part of the challenge. Companies also need a practical strategy for manufacturing it consistently as volumes increase.
Derek Kerr, Key Account Manager at Mikron Automation, explored this topic in From Development to Commercial: Process Equivalency in Combination Product Assembly. His presentation focused on the transition from development into commercial-scale combination product assembly and the role that standardization, flexible automation, and process consistency can play along the way.
Commercial manufacturing strategy is increasingly being considered before a program reaches commercial scale. Equipment strategy, assembly processes, device design, scalability, and repeatability can all have downstream implications, so addressing these considerations earlier can help create greater continuity as a product progresses through development.
For combination products in particular, teams need to think beyond whether a device can simply be assembled. They also need to consider whether the process can eventually be scaled, controlled, validated, and reproduced consistently.
Connecting Drug Substance and Drug Product Development
The same principle of early integration applies further upstream. Aaron Pilling, PhD, Director of Business Development at Wheeler Bio presented The Benefits of ModularCMC® as Part of an End to-End DS to DP Solution.
His presentation focused on connecting drug substance and drug product activities through a more integrated CMC strategy. Drug development programs often involve multiple technical teams, development partners, manufacturing organizations, and handoffs as they progress from discovery toward the clinic, with each transition introducing new requirements and potential sources of complexity.
By considering downstream drug product requirements earlier in the development process, teams can better coordinate activities across the program and create greater continuity between development stages. This idea connected closely with the broader message that emerged throughout the forum: decisions made in one part of an injectable program increasingly influence what happens elsewhere.
One Common Theme: Injectable Development Is Becoming More Connected
Although each speaker approached injectable innovation from a different part of the product journey, the presentations consistently pointed toward the same broader industry shift.
Injectable drug development is becoming more patient-centered, as self-administration and at-home treatment place greater emphasis on usability, convenience, dosing, and the overall patient experience.
It is also becoming more technically complex. Biologics, larger injection volumes, new modalities, and combination products introduce additional considerations for formulation, primary packaging, devices, and manufacturing.
At the same time, development is becoming more integrated. Drug product development, container selection, device strategy, manufacturing, assembly, and scale-up increasingly need to be considered as interconnected parts of the same program.
For pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, this creates both opportunity and complexity. A successful injectable product does not depend on one decision or one technology. It depends on how effectively multiple decisions work together across development and commercialization, making collaboration across the industry increasingly important.
Growing With the Needs of Injectable Drug Developers
Pyramid CEO Dirk Lange opened the forum by sharing how Pyramid’s capabilities have evolved alongside the changing needs of its clients. That evolution has taken Pyramid from early development and GMP manufacturing into sterile vial filling, prefilled syringes, cartridges, and increasingly integrated drug-device capabilities, including autoinjector and pen-system assembly.
As clients advance from early development toward clinical manufacturing and ultimately commercial supply, their needs change. New dosage forms, delivery systems, manufacturing scales, and technical requirements emerge along the way.
For Pyramid, the strategy has been to continue building capabilities around those evolving needs and create greater continuity as programs advance. The goal is not simply to add individual technologies, but to help reduce the number of disconnected transitions a client may face as an injectable product moves closer to the patient.
Collaboration Across the Injectable Ecosystem
The conversations continued beyond the speaker program. Attendees had the opportunity to connect with participating partners through showcase tables featuring AGC Biologics, Mikron Automation, SHL Medical, Stevanato Group, Wheeler Bio, and Pyramid Pharma Services, as well as tour Pyramid’s Costa Mesa facility and continue discussions with speakers, partners, and fellow attendees.
Bringing these organizations together highlighted an increasingly important reality in injectable development: no single discipline operates entirely on its own. Drug substance, drug product, packaging, devices, automation, and manufacturing all play a role in ultimately delivering a therapy to the patient. Creating an opportunity for those perspectives to come together was one of the primary goals of The Injectable Innovation Forum.
Looking Ahead
The next generation of injectable therapies will continue to introduce new possibilities for patients as well as new challenges for the organizations developing and manufacturing them. More sophisticated biologics, expanding self-administration, evolving drug-delivery technologies, and increasingly complex combination products will require companies to think differently about how programs are developed.
The discussions at The Injectable Innovation Forum reinforced an important point: the earlier drug product, container, device, manufacturing, and commercialization strategies begin working together, the stronger the pathway forward can become.
Pyramid Pharma Services would like to thank Evan Edwards, Julie Gordon, Valeria Leone, Derek Kerr, and Aaron Pilling for sharing their perspectives, along with our participating partners and everyone who joined us in Costa Mesa. We look forward to continuing these conversations as the industry works together to advance the next generation of injectable drug products.
About Pyramid Pharma Services
Pyramid Pharma Services is a U.S.-based drug product CDMO supporting pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies across the injectable drug product lifecycle. From development through clinical and commercial manufacturing, Pyramid provides services including formulation and process development, analytical testing, aseptic sterile fill-finish, lyophilization, prefilled syringe and cartridge manufacturing, device assembly, labeling, packaging, storage, and distribution from its facilities in Costa Mesa, California.