2025-12-05

Nawed Sidiqi, Technical Sales Manager, Optima, shares insights with Akanki Sharma on the company’s innovation strategy and its growing commitment to the Indian market.

Q. Kindly walk us through Optima.

Optima is introducing advanced technology for fill–finish systems, particularly the modern stop-off feeding unit for filling machines. A key strength of Optima is its fully integrated turnkey offering—providing the isolator, filling machine, and freeze dryer from a single source. In contrast, many competitors purchase isolators separately and integrate them into their filling lines, involving multiple vendors and creating added complexity for customers. Optima eliminates this challenge by supplying all three German-made components in-house, ensuring seamless integration, simplified project management, and higher reliability.

Q. What new has Optima launched at CPhI India 2025?

At CPhI India 2025, we brought the 3D wall that gives our customers, by wearing the glasses, an opportunity to look into the machine and to dive into the details. In addition, we also offer this solution to our customers for the purpose of training and technical evaluation of the machine. So, this is something which is unique this time.

Q. Recently, there have been geopolitical tensions, primarily due to US tariffs. Amid all this, what do you think is the most daunting challenge that the industry is facing right now in terms of doing businesses?

The most daunting challenge is the regulation, which becomes tough and tough. The inspectors are looking deep and sharp into each sterile process; and, nowadays the challenges are coming up in terms of the Annex 1 regulation that defines the requirements for sterile manufacturing processes. It places strong emphasis on critical steps—particularly when primary packaging enters the machine and undergoes inspection. Regulators now scrutinise these stages more closely to ensure that the filling process is carried out under strictly sterile conditions, minimising any risk of contamination.

Q. With AI and ML now shaping clinical trials, is Optima integrating these technologies into any of its machines or processes?

Absolutely. Today, technology is rapidly moving toward AI because it enables greater automation and significantly reduces the risk of contamination. Optima is integrating AI into its machines as a standard feature, particularly through advanced maintenance tools.

The company also offers its intelligent process and maintenance system, IPAS, which uses AI to automatically recognise each step of the operation. If an issue arises, the system triggers an alert, can auto-correct certain problems, and helps identify potential disruptions early—minimising machine downtime and reducing the risk of contamination to the greatest extent possible.

Q. Except AI and ML, what major trends do you see growing rapidly in the next 3-4 years that might be revolutionising the pharma industry?

I think digitalisation, in general, will definitely take the upper hand in the pharma industry. Why? Because the more automated a system is, the lower the risk of contamination during the process. We clearly see that the industry is moving toward gloveless technology.

At present, however, this is not fully practical. At Optima, our strategy focuses on glove reduction, where we minimise the number of glove ports wherever possible. Nevertheless, completely eliminating gloves is not yet feasible because it would require a fundamentally different machine design.

Digitalisation is a key driver here, because only a fully automated system can enable a truly gloveless setup. With no glove interventions and no operator involvement, digitalisation becomes essential to achieving this next stage of advanced and contamination-free manufacturing.

Q. This brings me to another important question, which is about the cost effectiveness of this process. Do you think it would be affordable enough?

We are certainly moving in this direction. Creating new technology initially comes at a high cost. At present, it is challenging for many pharmaceutical companies to accept this, as the price of such advanced machines can be significantly higher. However, we remain optimistic that, over time, we will be able to optimise these technologies and bring the costs down, making them more affordable for our customers.

Q. What are Optima’s expansion plans in India and abroad? Have you signed any MoUs or deals recently, or are there new partnerships on the horizon?

In terms of projects, we are moving aggressively because we see immense potential in the Indian market and aim to establish a strong leadership position here. Optima is expanding steadily in India—we recently acquired a new office that now houses 50 qualified engineers. This allows us to stay closer to our customers and strengthens our capabilities in machine design and support.

We continue to grow our team and presence because we believe success comes from being closely connected to our customers. Our goal is to keep expanding in India so we can offer faster, more efficient, and more collaborative support to the industry.

Q. Where is the new office located, and are all the engineers from India?

The office is located in Pune and every engineer is from India only. The colleagues who have joined Optima are qualified. We have fully integrated them into our global system. That’s because if we need their expertise in Germany, for example, they can travel there to support our operations. However, our primary goal is to expand our presence in India, build strong local capabilities, and equip our teams with the knowledge they need to support our customers here.