November 13, 2025
Event recap of Fierce Biotech Week 2025
In biopharma, innovation is constant, but scaling that innovation is anything but simple. As companies move from early discovery to commercial growth, many find themselves slowed by something far less exciting than science: disconnected systems, unreliable data and the operational growing pains that follow success.
During Fierce Biotech Week, leaders from Repligen, SAP and Answerthink® shared how they’ve worked together to address these challenges, transforming operational complexity into a foundation for growth.
Growth brings complexity – and a hidden infrastructure gap
When biopharma companies expand through acquisitions or product diversification, the scientific excitement can quickly be matched by operational headaches. Keith Lee Robinson, chief information officer at Repligen, knows that tension well.
“Over the years, Repligen has acquired more than a dozen smaller companies,” Robinson said. “Each came with its own systems, processes and data. At some point, it became clear that we couldn’t scale innovation without first scaling the infrastructure supporting it.”
Robinson emphasized that Repligen’s decision to adopt SAP early wasn’t about being too big, it was about being ready. “We needed a platform we could grow on. When you get that big purchase order, or enter a new market, you want to know your systems can handle it. That’s what SAP gave us: a foundation we could trust.”
The data dilemma: Why confidence matters more than volume
One of Repligen’s biggest early challenges was data credibility. Inconsistent systems across acquired entities made it difficult to reconcile information – a major risk for a publicly traded company.
“To produce numbers that leadership and auditors could believe, we were literally doing physical counts across multiple sites,” Robinson said. “We needed to automate, standardize and make data trustworthy.”
That need for trustworthy data became the foundation of Repligen’s partnership with Answerthink®. “Our first engagement with Repligen in 2017 was a focused data migration effort – an eight-week analysis of their critical master data and source systems, said Michael Greene, principal and SAP Business Applications practice lead at Answerthink®. “That effort built confidence not just in the technology, but in the process of scaling responsibly. From there, we helped align enterprise resource planning (ERP) capabilities with Repligen’s growth priorities.”
ERP as a growth engine (not a cost center)
For many companies, ERP is still viewed as a necessary expense. But as Greene and Kevin Brophy, SAP’s Life Sciences Industry executive advisor, emphasized, the right strategy turns ERP into a growth enabler.
“When ERP decisions are tied directly to business strategy,” Greene said, “it stops being overhead. It becomes a driver of efficiency, compliance and speed to decision-making.”
Brophy added that waiting too long to standardize creates risks later. “In early phases, pre-commercial or pre-public, it’s tempting to rely on manual processes or lightweight tools. But as soon as you go global or enter regulated markets, that fragility shows. The sooner you standardize your business processes on a scalable platform, the easier it is to manage complexity as you grow.”
Preparing for the AI-enabled future
Today, the data conversation isn’t just about compliance, it’s about readiness for the next generation of intelligent systems, including agentic AI, that can analyze, decide, and act autonomously.
“We’re in a new world with AI,” Brophy said. “Boards are being told they have to adopt it, but adoption only delivers value if the data underneath is valid and contextual. If the data isn’t clean, the insights won’t be either.”
Robinson agreed. “For smaller and emerging biopharma companies, the foundation for AI starts with cloud ERP. That’s where you get the integration with supply chain and other platforms, and that’s where you’ll see the biggest gains.”
Lessons for the next wave of biopharma innovators
For growth-stage life sciences companies looking to scale efficiently, the panelists shared four consistent takeaways:
- Treat data as a strategic asset. It’s not just about storing data; it’s about trusting it.
- Invest in scalable systems early. Don’t wait for complexity to force your hand.
- Get executive alignment. Transformation succeeds when leadership sees ERP as a growth enabler.
- Choose partners who understand your journey. The right collaboration turns technology into a true accelerator.
As Repligen’s experience shows, scaling innovation in biopharma isn’t about outgrowing your systems, it’s about building the right ones from the start.
Interested in learning how Answerthink® helps biopharma companies scale with confidence? Contact us to explore how we can help you modernize for growth and AI readiness.
