“The flexibility that I got from the Aizon team was what I needed; they are more a partner than a vendor. They are proactive in terms of asking for things or finding improvements that maybe I didn't realize we could achieve.” — Jose Manuel Bernardez, Curia’s global senior director of data and business analytics.
Curia, a global leader in the CDMO space, needed to better utilize its most valuable asset: data. They needed real-time and historical data to reduce variability in four products used to make pharmaceuticals.
Variations in chemical reactions affect production outcomes, causing fluctuations in product yield and quality. For too long, Curia used manual records and Excel sheets, which made it hard to consolidate data from multiple sources for global reporting. And data extraction discrepancies led to empty or inaccurate top-level reports.
It’s an all-too-common problem for CDMOs: too much data, too few actionable insights. And without the latter, you can’t generate revenue or improve margins.
Company leadership wanted a software platform that does more than solve these basic problems. They wanted to push the company to the forefront of life science manufacturing’s digital revolution. This was the perfect opportunity to see what advanced data analytics could do… if they found the right system.
And they found it in the Aizon Intelligent GxP Manufacturing stack.
Fast implementation of an insight machine
At the time, Curia was partnered with a company lacking pharmaceutical manufacturing expertise. Aizon was designed and developed specifically for life science manufacturing, making it an obvious choice.
Setting up the system typically takes eight to 16 weeks — far shorter than other companies. And in Curia’s case, they started seeing results after just a few weeks. That’s because Aizon worked hard to understand Curia’s processes and goals to build the ideal system for their needs. This included meeting with operators to understand their processes before collecting sensor data from the chemical reactors. Then Aizon analyzed the data, considering every variable in the chemical reaction, without a heavy burden on the production staff.
“They asked the correct questions,” Jose said. “One of the things that we were looking for is a vendor with subject matter knowledge. We didn't need an IT company. We needed a pharma-focused company with IT knowledge. And this was, for me, the best strength that Aizon had.”
“We didn't need an IT company: we needed a pharma-focused company with IT knowledge.”
Curia was excited to test Aizon’s batch comparison tool, which was tailored to their specific needs. The system initially contextualized a batch’s nine- to 10-hour precipitation phase. Prior production data was used to create a golden profile showing the ideal pressure rates. New batches were recorded and highlighted if they strayed from the ideal range. And the data insights were displayed in an easy-to-use dashboard.
The tool proved effective, comparing aggregate batch-level data to determine univariate statistics, regression, correlation, heat maps and more. The system also automatically correlates and aggregates all sensor data before performing hundreds of correlations, ranking results from most to least relevant. Then the Curia team compares batches based on the outcomes of the correlation report.
The Batch Comparison solution
Aizon Unify is a comprehensive data integration solution that gives Curia’s process engineers far more value than any other system on the market. It unifies real-time sensor and manual batch data collection to give Curia a holistic look at their operation. New batches are automatically compared against a selected cluster of preapproved batches called “golden batch profiles.”
The system also tracks process parameters and trends them in a discrete and correlated manner. This allows for historical and real-time data analysis. So when the program compares a batch to the “golden batches,” it can point Curia to the causal relationships that led to poor — or great — results.
Comparing data from multiple sources has transformed how Curia can make lasting process improvements on an ongoing basis. The process team can now analyze batches from different reactors to fix miscalibrations and other issues. With other batch comparison systems, manufacturers typically can only compare one datapoint, like temperature, within batches from a single reactor.
Direct benefits: time saved, variability reduced
Now the Curia process team relies on the dashboard to minimize out-of-spec product and reduce yield variability. Chemical analysis spawned changes to maximize yield by weight. For example, they found that further crushing the ice in their process increased yield.
The project exceeded the savings goals outlined in 2023 Curia's Cost Improvement Program. Their IT team saves a significant amount of development time. And everyone appreciates the automatic, on-demand reporting.
“The Aizon platform is providing a way to extract data from our production environment, publishing this data on a website and applying all the advanced analytics methodologies,” Jose said. “And my stakeholders are accessing to this data, showing how we are saving money directly.”
Today, Curia can set up alarms fast. Supervisors get automated emails when batches exceed new process thresholds.
“Without Aizon, there’s no telling how long these improvements would have taken. Scaling Aizon across their other products took only one week, and useful insights followed in short order.”
Now, Curia compares good vs. bad phases and process performances across several products to drive more continuous improvements with a lot less effort.
Scale your growth with Aizon
For Curia, Aizon Unify was just the start. By strategically designing an application for their needs, they received a platform offering unmatched visibility with real-time and historical data. But their digital ambition doesn’t stop here and they’re laying the groundwork for something even bigger.
The vision is to fully industrialize AI for predictive optimization, with the foresight to drive optimal settings at each process step, for every single batch produced. We call it Aizon Predict. The system will operate ahead of the current status of actual manufacturing lines, predicting when they will be at risk of incurring production issues so Curia can prevent them without sacrificing time, resources or material.
José Manuel did a smart move by pioneering Intelligent GxP Manufacturing: implement fast, improve processes soon and scale easily. On our mission to empower digital leaders like José Manuel, we can get you on the fast track to Pharma 4.0, no matter where you’re starting from. Reach out to us or request a demo.
To learn more about this case, watch Curia’s Global Sr. Director share the steps they’ve taken to industrialize AI in a GxP environment.
