Building Biopharma Resilience: Cytiva’s Joonho Choi on the Power of Connected Ecosystems

18 October, 2025 | Saturday

Building Biopharma Resilience: Cytiva’s Joonho Choi on the Power of Connected Ecosystems

15 October 2025 | Wednesday | Interview

Cytiva’s Vice President for Asia-Pacific, Joonho Choi, outlines how collaboration, digitalisation, and talent development are reshaping the region’s biomanufacturing future—and why resilience now means more than surviving disruption.

Amid global supply chain disruptions, tightening regulations, and shifting patient needs, biopharma resilience has become both a strategic priority and a collective responsibility. The latest Biopharma Resilience Index underscores a defining truth: connected ecosystems outperform isolated efforts. In this exclusive interview with BioPharma APAC, Joonho Choi, Vice President, Asia-Pacific, Cytiva, shares insights on how the region’s nations are balancing competition with collaboration, addressing urgent talent gaps, and embracing digital transformation. He also explains why sustainability and ecosystem alignment will determine which companies—and countries—lead the next decade of biopharma innovation.

The Index highlights that biopharma resilience now hinges on ecosystem collaboration. How do you see Asia-Pacific nations balancing competition with collaboration—especially when national interests and IP protection are at play?

Asia-Pacific nations are increasingly recognizing that biopharma resilience is not a zero-sum game. While national interests and IP protection remain critical, regional collaboration—especially in clinical trials, regulatory harmonization, and pandemic preparedness—is gaining traction. According to the Index, over 60% of executives identify ecosystem collaboration as a top resilience driver, yet challenges in securing high-quality partners such as CROs and CDMOs continue to limit progress.

Progress is being made, though countries like South Korea and Singapore demonstrate that IP protection and regulatory excellence can coexist with cross-border partnerships in R&D and manufacturing. Notably, South Korea has rapidly advanced in biopharma competitiveness—rising from 12th to 3rd place in the global index—reflecting strong investment and innovation capacity. Singapore, meanwhile, maintains a top-tier position, underscoring the strength of its biomanufacturing and regulatory ecosystem.

Still, collaboration remains underdeveloped in many markets, where fragmented regulations and protectionist policies slow the pace of innovation. For APAC nations, especially emerging ones, regional collaboration frameworks and shared innovation platforms can provide the opportunity to unlock faster commercialization, reduce duplication of effort, and contribute to broader economic growth ambitions. Opportunities include engaging with trade associations and regulators to shape policy clarity and encourage collaborative frameworks; pilot regulatory innovation to reduce uncertainty and accelerate approvals for emerging modalities; and promote transparency by sharing data and case studies to streamline regulatory learning curves.

Talent readiness has emerged as a decisive pillar. What are the most urgent skill gaps that need addressing in APAC to sustain its biomanufacturing growth?

Despite small gains reflected in our most recent data, talent challenges continue to hinder progress in the biopharma industry, and we see that, overall, access to talent is tightening. 38% of executives report a severe shortage of specialized talent, especially novel modalities and sustainability. This shortage is particularly acute for newer, more complex modalities such as cell and gene therapies, mRNA, and antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs). The index also saw challenges in finding skilled staff to support sustainability, manufacturing, as well as digital and AI implementation, all of which are key drivers in modern biopharma operations.

Only one-third of executives believe that government policy supports workforce scaling or overseas recruitment, indicating a current limitation in policy intervention to address the region’s skill gaps. Those companies that report being ahead of their talent acquisition and retention targets are able to draw a clear connection between talent and business performance as they are more than seven times as likely to be ahead on revenue growth and profitability, underscoring talent readiness as a key differentiator for commercial success.

To sustain growth, the biopharma industry in APAC must invest in capability hubs, targeted upskilling, and develop stronger retention strategies, especially as competition for skilled labor intensifies. Collaborative training initiatives—linking academia, industry, and government—will be essential to future-proof the region’s biomanufacturing ecosystem.

With supply chain resilience identified as a key growth driver, are we seeing a genuine shift toward localization and regional self-reliance—or are these still largely reactive strategies?

The Index shows a genuine shift toward localization, with 61% of firms planning to increase regional and domestic sourcing or onshoring to bolster supply security. This trend is particularly pronounced in markets like China, India, and the UK, where companies are adapting to shifting trade dynamics, capacity constraints, and evolving regulatory landscapes. While some of these moves were initially reactive—triggered by pandemic-era disruptions and geopolitical tensions—they are increasingly becoming embedded in long-term strategic planning.

Geopolitical volatility remains a top concern, with 76% of executives citing instability, tariffs, and trade barriers as critical risks to supply continuity. These pressures are prompting companies to rethink global dependency and rebalance their sourcing strategies for the year ahead. The shift is no longer just about mitigating risk—it’s about building competitive advantage through agility, transparency, and control.

Leading biopharma firms are investing in digitalized, diversified supply chains that blend local resilience with global flexibility. This includes predictive logistics, real-time monitoring, and multi-tier risk mapping, signaling a move away from reactive cost-control measures toward proactive risk mitigation and sustainability. Companies are prioritizing initiatives such as end-to-end supply chain risk mapping, nearshoring, dual-supplier diversification, and automation to enhance speed, resilience, and sustainability.

Moreover, the use of advanced analytics and AI is enabling firms to anticipate disruptions before they occur, optimize inventory levels, and dynamically adjust sourcing strategies. Tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) such as On-Time-In-Full (OTIF), lead-time variability, supplier risk scores, and the proportion of dual-sourced SKUs is becoming essential to monitor and strengthen performance across biopharma supply networks. This data-driven approach is helping companies not only respond to volatility but also build smarter, more adaptive supply ecosystems that support long-term growth.

Countries like Singapore and Japan have excelled through public–private coordination. What lessons could larger, more fragmented markets such as India or Indonesia draw from these models?

Singapore and Japan continue to demonstrate how coordinated public–private strategies—anchored in policy clarity, long-term funding, and talent development—can accelerate biopharma growth and resilience. Their consistent top-tier index performance reflects a strong interplay between government planning and industry execution.

For larger and more fragmented markets, the lessons from these coordinated models are both timely and instructive. The Index reveals a clear trend: countries that foster strong connections between government, academia, and industry consistently outperform those with siloed or disjointed efforts. In fragmented markets, where regional disparities and bureaucratic complexity often hinder progress, the imperative is to build mechanisms that encourage alignment and collaboration across sectors and geographies.

The Index shows that connected ecosystems outperform isolated efforts, with countries that integrate government, academia, and industry collaboration achieving higher overall index scores. For larger and more fragmented markets like India or Indonesia, this underscores the importance of establishing regional innovation hubs with aligned incentives, streamlining regulatory pathways to reduce approval delays, and expanding academia–industry partnerships to build specialized talent pipelines. The Index shows that connected ecosystems outperform isolated efforts. Fragmented markets must prioritize coordination to unlock scale and speed.

Regulatory reform is another critical area. Singapore and Japan have built reputations for regulatory efficiency, balancing rigorous standards with streamlined approval processes. In contrast, India and Indonesia often face challenges due to fragmented regulatory systems and inconsistent enforcement. By harmonizing regulatory pathways and embracing digital tools to improve transparency and speed, these markets can significantly reduce time-to-market for new therapies and attract greater investment from global players.

Talent development also emerges as a cornerstone of resilience. In coordinated ecosystems, academia and industry work together to shape curricula, fund research, and create career pathways that meet the evolving needs of the sector. Fragmented markets must address uneven talent distribution by fostering deeper partnerships between universities and companies, investing in specialized training programs, and creating incentives for skilled professionals to remain within the biopharma ecosystem.

Ultimately, the Index underscores a fundamental truth: connected ecosystems outperform isolated efforts. Once markets embrace coordination—not just at the national level, but across regions, institutions, and disciplines, they can unlock the scale and speed needed to compete globally and respond effectively to future health challenges.

South Korea’s leap in the rankings is credited to digital innovation. How is digitalization—from AI to data interoperability defining operational excellence in biopharma manufacturing?

South Korea’s rise from 12th to 3rd place in the 2025 Index underscores how digital innovation is reshaping operational excellence across biopharma. The country’s strategic investments in AI-enabled process automation, digital twins, and smart manufacturing have strengthened agility and regulatory compliance while improving overall quality control.

The Index highlights that high-growth firms are significantly more likely to deploy AI, automation, and analytics across both R&D and manufacturing, reinforcing digital maturity as a core differentiator of resilience and competitiveness.

In Korea, several leading CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) companies are implementing integrated, digitized manufacturing systems to reduce human error and help clients accelerate project timelines while maintaining high quality standards. Drug development companies are also increasingly leveraging AI and digital technologies to enhance their biopharmaceutical operations. These advancements include AI-driven drug discovery and development, data analytics for optimizing bioprocess manufacturing, and the integration of digital tools into clinical trials and supply chain management. Predictive maintenance, cloud-based quality systems, and real-time data interoperability are further enhancing speed, scalability, and cost efficiency.

Crucially, the Korean government has played a catalytic role in accelerating AI adoption across the biopharma sector. Including a recent announcement for the K-Biopharma Industry Leap Forward initiative, the government has been investing heavily in AI healthcare R&D, with a focus on AI-driven drug discovery, clinical trials, and regulatory innovation. It has launched a multi-year roadmap to integrate AI into healthcare and drug development, including platforms for medical data interoperability and AI-powered clinical research systems. Funding programs are supporting the development of AI-based preclinical and clinical models, and significant resources are being directed toward ‘biobetters’ using bispecific antibody technology.

In parallel, the government is nurturing interdisciplinary talent by training thousands of medical AI experts through university-led programs and supporting startups through voucher schemes that enable the development of AI healthcare applications using hospital data. These coordinated efforts are transforming Korea’s biopharma landscape—linking technology, talent, and capital to foster a globally competitive, AI-powered ecosystem.

For APAC, embracing digital-first strategies from discovery to delivery will be key to sustaining global competitiveness. Standardizing data pipelines to enable seamless integration between R&D and manufacturing, adopting pilot-to-scale models to validate and expand new digital tools, and automating analytics to support living therapies and reduce batch failures are critical steps toward embedding operational excellence throughout the biopharma value chain.

Sustainability has often been seen as an add-on rather than a performance pillar. How are leading APAC manufacturers embedding sustainability into their innovation pipelines and supply networks?

According to the Index, 63% of executives say sustainability is being deprioritized in favor of cost and operation, reflecting a pivot driven by economic volatility. Yet companies ahead of their sustainability targets are also significantly more likely to outperform every other business metric—from clinical-trial success to talent acquisition and retention, this underscores that sustainability is not just a reputational measure, but a core enabler of long-term competitiveness and value creation.

In APAC, leading manufacturers are moving beyond ESG reporting to embed sustainability directly into product design and operational strategy. This includes adopting green chemistry principles, energy-efficient bioreactors, and circular packaging systems—signaling a gradual but meaningful shift from compliance-based approaches toward strategic sustainability grounded in practical steps with a high degree of relevance and applicability to industry and customer needs.

However, the shift remains uneven across the region, and sustainability is more than just the product outcomes. Firms in APAC must align policy, talent, and incentive structures to accelerate progress and avoid sustainability being sidelined by short-term cost pressures.

To advance this agenda, the Index recommends several priority actions:

Digitizing a firm's environmental footprint using AI and analytics to monitor emissions and optimize packaging.
Wire sustainability metrics into KPIs across talent, resilience, and commercial performance.
Mobilize the firm's network by extending ESG standards to suppliers and CDMOs.
Prioritize sustainability from the top with leadership-driven programs and clear milestones.

Looking ahead, what does “resilience” mean for APAC’s biopharma sector by 2030—and what will differentiate the next generation of regional leaders from those simply keeping pace?

By 2030, biopharma industry in APAC will be defined less by scale and more by adaptability, the capacity to pivot rapidly across modalities, markets, and disruptions. The Index emphasizes that the strength of the sector will increasingly depend on four interconnected pillars: talent agility, digital maturity, sustainable operations, and cross-border collaboration.

High-growth firms already illustrate this trajectory—those ahead on talent, digitalization, and sustainability are over seven times more likely to exceed revenue and profitability targets. This suggests that future regional leaders will be those who integrate these capabilities into their core strategy rather than treating them as isolated initiatives.

By 2030, resilience will mean designing flexible networks with diversified sourcing and digitized operations; recruiting and developing adaptable talent through continuous upskilling; embedding sustainability into every layer of the value chain; and engaging proactively with regulators to co-create pathways for emerging therapies. In short, the next generation of APAC leaders will not just withstand disruption; they will use it as a catalyst for innovation and long-term growth.

( arcilla.fran@biopharmaapac.com )

Building Biopharma Resilience: Cytiva’s Joonho Choi on the Power of Connected Ecosystems

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