Optimizing Process Development Through Upstream And Downstream Integration

This interactive panel discussion explored how upstream and downstream development teams can work together to reduce risk, accelerate process scaling, and support smoother downstream tech transfer. The panel featured Eric Doerr, drug substance technical lead at Sanofi; Mark Fitchmun, president and CEO of Somatek; Doug MacDonald, the director of purification and process development at Immunome; Branden Salinas, Ph.D., VP of process sciences at Umoja Biopharma; and Raj Prabu Vijayakumar Saraswathi, Director of Biologics Process Development at RAPT Therapeutics. These leaders, with collective experience across key modality types (e.g., mAbs, ADCs, and CGTs), shared their wisdom on the importance of coordination between upstream and downstream teams to avoid bottlenecks and mitigate failure.