Regarding the use of digital twins for virtual process optimization, this is a still generally underutilized key component of the pharmaceutical industry’s digital transformation strategy.
A recent report from Forrester’s consulting branch, conducted during 2024-2025, concluded, among other things, that only 17% of respondents within the largest global pharmaceutical companies currently use a digital twin of their facility, which means that the pharmaceutical industry is lagging behind other industries in this respect. When it comes to new projects, however, four out of five companies (79%) use digital twins to improve collaboration and precision in design. The respondents were 161 technically responsible decision-makers at pharmaceutical companies with annual profits of at least $1 billion.
A general in-context observation is that few industries have such tough product development and production journeys towards a successful venture as this industry. Developing a drug is usually a process that spans 10-15 years. This includes things like research, discovery and patent application, toxicity studies, pharmacology, clinical trials, product registration and approval, and finally industrial scale-up with manufacturing, marketing and sales. All under very strict safety conditions and extensive regulatory requirements. Seen from this perspective, it is perhaps not so surprising that it is difficult to develop effective holistic models for product realization.
A Particularly Interesting PLM and Automation Potential
However, this conceals an interesting PLM and automation potential, even if development and implementation in themselves are not exactly simple to carry through, but require the combined use of a wide range of technologies, such as physics-based simulation, machine learning, HPC (High Performance Computing), real-time dashboard and IoT. However, here too, Altair can add a lot to the Siemens concept of “the market’s most comprehensive digital twin” that complements a broad solution in this context with optimal AI-powered S&A solutions.
Of course, there is still development and integration work to be done, but the prospects are really good considering what Siemens and Altair historically have been able to produce.
EDEM – a Sharp S&A Tool for Critical Insights
As for EDEM, the solution is related to Altair’s purchase of DEM Solutions at the end of 2019, which had developed this leading software for simulating bulk materials, a recognized tough branch in the simulation industry, using the Discrete Element methodology (DEM).
Among other things, James R. Scapa, Altair’s founder, thought that this bulk materials simulation software would improve the company’s own solutions for machine and material simulation with the power that EDEM added. This by offering new tools that could provide insight into the interaction between materials such as pellets, tablets, powders, coal and machinery.
These capabilities also shows that the solution is thus not only related to pharmaceutical manufacturing; with its simulation capacity at the system level, Altair was given a sharp tool for critical insights to optimize machine design, material handling and manufacturing efficiency in a wide range of industries. But as mentioned, pharmaceuticals, chemistry and food processing and the agricultural side are relevant areas for the use of this type of simulation, which sounds like a hand in glove connected to what Siemens’ newly acquired Dotmatics is developing: R&D software in medicine, chemistry, life sciences and materials technology.
Provides Pfizer and Novo Nordisk with Deeper Process Understanding
The discrete element method (DEM) is a computational technique that is used to simulate the behavior of granular materials, powders and other particulate systems. It represents the system as a collection of individual particles that interact through contact forces, which enables the study of particle-scale phenomena.
The issue is that efficient handling and processing of particles is crucial for the profitable manufacture of pharmaceutical products. Over 75% of all pharmaceutical products are in solid dosage form and particles are involved in almost every step of the manufacturing process.
Overall, it is about solutions that Altair claims, “develops, distributes and democratizes digital twins for manufacturing processes of pharmaceuticals in oral dosage form with Altair tools such as EDEM, TwinActivate and Panopticon.”
As noted in the introduction, industry leaders such as Pfizer, AbbVie, Novo Nordisk, Vertex, Eli Lilly and others are using the EDEM solution today to:
• Gain a new and deeper understanding of their processes.
• Inform design and scale-up. Reduce reliance on physical prototypes.
• Drive product and process innovation.
• Get products to market faster.
