How Sandoz Navigates Uncertainty with 400+ External Manufacturing Partners

“Nobody knows exactly what will happen, so making yourself anxious about unknowns doesn’t help. You must be prepared for multiple scenarios, ready and flexible to react quickly when changes do occur.”

Maik Talarczyk, Director of PMO Office and Strategy in External Manufacturing Operations at Sandoz, brings extensive expertise in managing external manufacturing relationships and strategic operations for one of the world’s largest generic pharmaceutical companies, with over 20,000 employees worldwide.

In this video recorded at CDMO Live 2025 in Rotterdam, Maik shares how Sandoz navigates tremendous complexity and uncertainty in pharmaceutical manufacturing while managing hundreds of external partners. His insights reveal a methodical approach to preparedness, partnership management, and strategic planning in an increasingly unpredictable global landscape.

Managing Complexity Through Strategic Partnerships

At the core of Sandoz’s approach to uncertainty is building and maintaining the right external manufacturing partnerships, structured for flexibility and mutual commitment.

“At Sandoz, we are managing around 400 suppliers just on the finished dosage form part. We’re not even talking about API. This brings a tremendous amount of complexity to handle,” explains Maik. “Big pharma has always tended to be very opportunistic in the past, which created this complexity.”

“The biggest mistake we made at Sandoz in the past was being opportunistic, always looking for the fastest or strongest supplier in the market. This continuously created new supply relationships. You have to be well-prepared and already select your preferred and alliance partners with flexible contracts to onboard new business.”

“What makes partnerships strong is mutual investment—we invest in you, you invest in us. We don’t want CDMOs in the future that take only the cherry but avoid the items that might be a bit ‘smelly’ too. Some products have smaller volumes or complexity, but we need CMOs who can handle this complexity, produce small volumes, and still be fast and cost competitive. In the generic industry, cost is a major factor.”

Preparing for Political and Regulatory Uncertainty

In an increasingly volatile global environment, being prepared for multiple scenarios has become essential for pharmaceutical supply chain managers.

“One highlight from CDMO Live was Gil Roth’s presentation on Trump 2.0, addressing how to handle the complexity created by potential US government policy changes,” Maik shares. “The key takeaway was: nobody knows exactly what will happen, so making yourself anxious about unknowns doesn’t help. However, you must be prepared for multiple scenarios, ready and flexible to react quickly when changes do occur.”

“The most critical error is not being prepared and then trying to find solutions too late. You need to have strong partnerships with flexible contracts already in place that allow you to quickly onboard new business with alliance partners. This enables you to develop products efficiently when they come out of the development pipeline.”

Approaching Digital Transformation

While embracing technological advances, Sandoz maintains a cautious, foundation-first approach to digital transformation that prioritizes data integrity.

“AI and digitalisation present many opportunities, but as someone mentioned on stage, you must first bring your master data under control. You cannot effectively use AI when your master data isn’t properly managed,” Maik notes.

“We’re working on getting our base data and master data into great shape before implementing AI tools. We’re proceeding very carefully and slowly, even with tools like Microsoft Copilot. We’re opening functionality gradually because we don’t want to put our company and intellectual property at risk.”

“Digitalisation can be very powerful, and it’s definitely the future. But we need to proceed cautiously and methodically, understanding each step thoroughly. Eventually, this will create opportunities to exchange the right data at the right time with the right partners.”

Learning Through Industry Connection

In uncertain times, comparing approaches with industry peers becomes even more valuable for validating strategies and sharing lessons learned.

“What I liked very much about CDMO Live was the great attendance of CDMOs that you can talk to directly. You can speak openly about challenges in the industry and understand their perspectives too,” Maik shares. “The event’s size is perfect—not too big, not too small—offering plenty of face-to-face meeting opportunities.”

“The morning session on network optimization was particularly valuable. Hearing about Malik Akhtar’s approach at Bayer and realizing that other large pharmaceutical companies face similar complexity challenges was reassuring. Seeing that other pharmaceutical companies face the same challenges with complexity management validated our own strategic direction.”

“One of my key highlights from CDMO Live was seeing that other pharmaceutical companies face the same challenges with complexity management. It was valuable to see how others are approaching network optimization with their strategic programmes. This external perspective helps us refine our own approaches to uncertainty and complexity.”