Last week, BioScience Today featured Marketpoint Recall founder Pete Gillett in a double-page spread exploring why life sciences firms must modernise recall operations before the next crisis hits.
The timing couldn’t be more relevant. In the past few months alone, the MHRA has issued multiple Class 2 recalls – from contaminated oncology tablets to Zaditen eye drops. Each incident highlights the same weakness: too many manufacturers still rely on disconnected spreadsheets and outdated communication processes when a fault is found.
As Pete put it in the piece, “recalls are a fact of life for pharmaceutical, medtech and biotech firms. What matters is how quickly and effectively organisations can act once a fault is discovered.”
That message struck a chord again this week at the ESGCT Congress in Seville, where Pete has been meeting with gene and cell therapy innovators to discuss exactly these challenges. Many of those conversations have circled back to the same theme – that rapid, traceable response systems are no longer just operational nice-to-haves, but regulatory expectations.
A sector facing complex recall realities
Recalls in life sciences are uniquely difficult to manage. A single medicine might pass through five countries before it reaches a patient, involving dozens of suppliers, distributors and clinics. When an issue arises, tracing affected batches can take days, or even weeks, unless every link in that chain is digitally connected.
Pete’s article in BioScience Today explores this challenge in depth: how fragile recall infrastructure exposes both patients and firms, why outdated communication channels can erode trust, and what digital-first solutions are now making possible. He points to modern recall platforms that use cloud-based traceability and AI-driven contact tools to automate clinician and patient notifications in minutes – turning what was once a manual scramble into a controlled, reportable process.
Why recall readiness matters now
For companies in the life sciences sector, recall readiness isn’t about avoiding headlines – it’s about protecting patients, preserving approvals and maintaining confidence in complex supply networks. With regulatory oversight tightening and expectations rising, firms that build recall capability in advance can cut costs, reduce disruption and stay compliant under pressure.
You can read Pete’s full article, Why Life Sciences Must Build Recall Ready Systems Now, in the latest issue of BioScience Today (pages 38–39).
