From Insight to Impact: Serving Pharma Better in Drug Delivery

Nadine Brun on why the industry’s biggest gap isn’t technology, it’s translation

This interview contains the personal and professional opinions of Nadine Brun, which are not necessarily those of BD or any of its affiliates.

Nadine Brun, recently appointed Vice President, Greater Asia, Pharmaceutical Systems at BD, and formerly VP Global Marketing & Strategy for BD Pharmaceutical Systems, brings over 20 years of experience in clinical diagnostics and life sciences to a conversation about what it really takes to serve pharma customers well. Drawing on the parallels between diagnostics and drug delivery — regulation, time to market, and patient outcomes at the center of both — Nadine shares how her background shaped a systems-level approach to combination product development. She unpacks the tension at the heart of the industry: unprecedented scientific innovation on one side, and deep resistance to change on the other, and why that gap is only going to matter more as biologics and complex therapies become the norm.

Her conversation with  Parth Kothari and Jonathan Amaya-Hodges covers the real difference between what pharma customers ask for and what they actually need, how to de-risk drug development from early-stage material selection all the way through to commercial supply, and why co-creation with the right partners at the right time is the fastest route to market — not a slower one. Nadine also shares her definition of genuine thought leadership in pharma, what a strong operating model looks like when you are bridging technical and commercial teams, and the one piece of advice she would give any pharma company before they engage a device supplier.

Key takeaways:

• Clinical diagnostics and pharma share more than people think — regulation, time-to-market pressure, and patient well-being as the core objective are common threads
• The biggest paradox in pharma right now is the push for scientific innovation running alongside deep institutional resistance to change
• Large established pharma and emerging biotech have fundamentally different needs from suppliers — one size does not fit all, and a strong operating model reflects that
• De-risking is not just about early-stage testing — it is an end-to-end process that includes scalable supply capacity from day one
• Co-creation with the right expertise around the table — MedTech, pharma, machine makers, service providers — is what actually accelerates development, not what slows it down
• Marketers in technical environments need genuine scientific knowledge; removing that understanding makes it impossible to serve customers well
• Thought leadership means identifying customer pain points, building solutions around them, and being willing to take the innovation risks that drive the market forward
• NPS surveys and structured customer feedback are practical tools for aligning what you offer with what different customer segments actually value
• Engage your supplier partner at the earliest possible stage — waiting until phase two or later to think about regulatory affairs or supply chain is one of the most common and costly mistakes in combination product development

Listen to the full episode of Navigating the Combination on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Amazon Music. Links below…

Connect with Nadine Brun on LinkedIn.

What is Navigating the Combination? Watch the below quick intro video…