Life Sciences and Pharma Archives - Ninestars Digitization Services

Debut Dialogues – Our First CPHI: In Conversation with Ninestars’ Leaders

Ninestars makes its debut at CPHI 2025 in Frankfurt from 28 to 30 October. Ahead of the event, we spoke with Gopal Chandra Shekar, SVP – Creative Excellence – Life Sciences, about how AOTM PACKX is transforming life sciences packaging with AI and automation.

Visit us at Hall 4.0, Booth 4P12 to learn more: https://www.ninestarsglobal.com/CPHI-2025/

As the life sciences community prepares to gather in Frankfurt for CPHI 2025, from October 28 to 30, Ninestars is excited to participate in the event for the first time. We are looking forward to engage with customers, partners, peers, and innovators who are shaping the future of the industry.

This participation comes at a time when packaging is moving from being a backroom process to a strategic driver of quality, compliance, and speed. The growing role of AI and automation is redefining how pharmaceutical and medical device companies manage creative and proofing workflows, ensuring precision while reducing time to market.

At the centre of this shift is AOTM PACKX, our intelligent automation platform for packaging artwork. It brings together creative teams, regulatory reviewers, and production stakeholders in one connected ecosystem—helping companies simplify complexity and build packaging operations that are faster, more transparent, and fully compliant.

Ahead of CPHI 2025, we sat down for Five Questions with Mohan Doshi, Chief Business Officer, to discuss what is driving the change in life sciences packaging, how AOTM PACKX supports this transformation, and why this year’s CPHI holds special significance for Ninestars.

What strategic vision led to the creation of PACKX?

AOTM PACKX was born out of our broader strategic vision to extend Ninestars’ automation capabilities into new markets and verticals where creative, data, and content workflows intersect. Over the past four years, our sustained R&D investments have matured into tangible outcomes—both internally through operational excellence, and externally through client success.

Recognizing the growing need for intelligent automation in regulated and highly creative environments, we saw an opportunity to redefine how business outcomes are measured in terms of speed, compliance, and quality. AOTM PACKX is the result—a focused innovation designed to disrupt the packaging and labelling automation landscape through measurable business impact.

How are life sciences clients responding to automation in regulated creative workflows?

Life sciences organizations are under intense pressure to accelerate global product launches amidst shorter patent lifecycles and evolving regulatory demands. Automation is no longer optional—it’s mission-critical.

Clients see AOTM PACKX as a trusted enabler to achieve faster time-to-market without compromising on compliance, audit readiness, or design integrity. The response has been exceptional, largely because our approach blends deep domain expertise with regulatory sensitivity. We help clients transition from manual, fragmented creative workflows to intelligent, compliant, and scalable automation ecosystems.

How do you see PACKX evolving as part of Ninestars’ larger automation ecosystem?

Ninestars’ automation vision revolves around three pillars—Content, Data, and Creative. While the AOTM platform provides a horizontal automation foundation across industries, AOTM PACKX is a verticalized extension built specifically for packaging and labelling automation in regulated sectors like life sciences.

As we expand AOTM PACKX to cover more use cases—from artwork proofing to multilingual compliance automation—we see it becoming a cornerstone in Ninestars’ larger intelligent automation ecosystem. The convergence of content intelligence, regulatory data, and creative automation will unlock significant value for pharma and healthcare clients in the years ahead.

What does success look like for Ninestars in this space over the next few years?

Success for us is defined by business impact at scale—transforming how life sciences organizations manage packaging and labelling workflows globally.

In the next few years, we envision AOTM PACKX driving measurable outcomes across three dimensions:

Speed: Reducing packaging and labelling cycle times by 40–60%.
Compliance: Achieving near-zero audit findings through automation-driven traceability.
Scalability: Enabling global rollouts across markets and regulatory regimes through a unified automation framework.

Ultimately, success means becoming the preferred automation partner for life sciences brands seeking to balance agility, compliance, and creative excellence.

What are you most looking forward to at CPHI, and how does it align with Ninestars’ broader automation vision?

CPHI provides the perfect platform to engage with global pharma leaders who are reimagining the future of regulated operations through automation. We look forward to exchanging insights on how creative and content automation can directly influence market readiness, regulatory agility, and brand consistency.

For Ninestars, this aligns perfectly with our broader vision—to make intelligent automation a business enabler rather than just a technology initiative. AOTM PACKX embodies that vision by demonstrating how automation can drive measurable outcomes—from faster approvals to compliant global launches—impacting not just processes, but the entire value chain.

Let’s Connect: Visit Ninestars’ booth at CPHI Frankfurt 2025

If you are attending CPHI 2025 in Frankfurt, we would be happy to connect in person. Visit us at Hall 4.0, Booth 4P12 to learn more about AOTM PACKX and how AI and automation are shaping the future of life sciences packaging. For additional information, you can visit https://www.ninestarsglobal.com/CPHI-2025/ or reach us at contactus@ninestars.in.

Stay tuned for more conversations from Ninestars’ leaders as part of the Debut Dialogues series.

Debut Dialogues – Our First CPHI: In Conversation with Ninestars’ Leaders

Visit us at Hall 4.0, Booth 4P12 to learn more: https://www.ninestarsglobal.com/CPHI-2025/

Ahead of CPHI 2025, we sat down for Five Questions with Gopal Chandra Shekar, SVP – Creative Excellence, Life Sciences, to discuss what is driving the change in life sciences packaging, how AOTM PACKX supports this transformation, and why this year’s CPHI holds special significance for Ninestars.

Q1. What’s driving the need for automation and AI in life sciences packaging today?

In life sciences, every label, leaflet, and carton carries critical information — and the cost of even a small error can be huge, both financially and reputationally.

Regulatory changes are constant, markets are global, and timelines are shrinking. Manual processes just can’t keep pace anymore. That’s where automation and AI step in — to handle the repeatable, error-prone tasks, while giving teams more visibility, control, and speed. It’s about creating packaging operations that are not only compliant but also intelligent and scalable.

Q2. How is AOTM PACKX redefining the creative and proofing workflow for pharma and medical device companies?
With AOTM PACKX, we wanted to bring true digital transformation to an area that’s often been left behind. We’ve built an intelligent platform that brings together creative teams, regulatory reviewers, and packaging engineers in one connected ecosystem.

What makes it powerful is the automation behind the scenes — AI that checks label content, verifies artwork, and ensures compliance automatically. It means less back-and-forth, fewer manual checks, and complete traceability across every version. The creative and proofing process becomes faster, smarter, and stress-free.

Q3. Can you share a specific challenge in life sciences packaging that AOTM PACKX directly solves?
One big challenge we see all the time is managing regulatory-driven label changes across SKUs. An update, say a dosage or ingredient change, can trigger a massive wave of artwork revisions across regions.

AOTM PACKX along with AOTM VAULT simplifies the chaos. It automatically identifies all impacted artworks, links them to the right master data, and pushes them through automated review and proofing workflows. What used to take weeks of manual coordination now happens in a fraction of the time, with far fewer errors.

Q4. How does automation improve both compliance and speed for pharma brands?
For a long time, people believed you had to choose between moving fast and staying compliant. But with automation, you can do both — and do them better.

In AOTM PACKX, every process is built with compliance in mind. Every step is tracked, every approval is auditable, and AI ensures the final artwork always matches the approved data. The beauty of automation is that it eliminates human bottlenecks while actually strengthening compliance. So instead of slowing things down, it builds confidence and momentum.

Q5. What excites you most about being part of CPHI this year?
CPHI is such a vibrant space — it’s where innovation really comes to life in the pharma world. For me, it’s exciting to see how packaging is finally being recognized as a critical part of the value chain, not just a downstream activity.

We are passionate about showcasing how AI and automation can unlock new possibilities — helping pharma and medical device companies launch faster, reduce risk, and create more agile operations. Being part of that global conversation, surrounded by people who are shaping the future of the industry, is something I am genuinely looking forward to.

Are you at CPHI 2025?

Stay tuned for more conversations from Ninestars’ leaders as part of the Debut Dialogues series.

Checklist: What to Look for in a Modern Artwork Automation Platform

In regulated industries, the label is your last line of defense—and your first impression.
Legacy tools can’t keep up with today’s compliance, speed, and scale demands. This checklist walks you through what truly defines a modern, intelligent artwork automation platform—from AI-powered proofing and regulatory enforcement to scalable global collaboration.
If you’re in pharma, CPG, or medical devices, this is the guide you can’t afford to skip.

In regulated industries such as pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer packaged goods (CPG), packaging is not just design—it’s a critical function tied to safety, compliance, and reputation. One wrong label can result in recalls, regulatory action, or worse, patient harm. As global compliance demands and product portfolios grow more complex, legacy processes fall short. The need for automation is no longer a nice-to-have efficiency measure; it’s a competitive necessity.

This checklist breaks down what defines a modern, AI-powered artwork automation platform for packaging and labelling—and how to evaluate one that fits the rigorous needs of regulated markets that you operate in.

Intelligent Proofing and Error Detection

Why it matters: Human oversight alone is no match for the volume and precision needed in regulated artwork production. Typos, colour mismatches, dieline errors, or outdated regulatory copy can sneak through even in high-functioning teams. The result? Costly recalls, compliance violations, and reputational damage.

What to look for:

AI-driven content comparison: Can the platform automatically compare the approved source file to the final artwork using OCR and image recognition? It should highlight text changes, font mismatches, and layout shifts.
Colour and dyeline validation: It must detect technical errors—wrong Pantone codes, placement deviations, or faulty barcodes.
Automated compliance flagging: The system should proactively catch potential compliance violations based on pre-set rules or regulatory templates.

Takeaway: Choose a platform that acts like a second set of eyes—faster, more accurate, and tireless.

End-to-End Collaboration in a Unified Workspace

Why it matters: Labelling and artwork development involves multiple stakeholders – regulatory, marketing, legal, quality, packaging vendors. When teams rely on fragmented tools, email threads, or shared drives, version chaos is inevitable.

What to look for:

Role-based workflows: Ensure the platform allows tailored workflows for regulatory teams, marketers, legal reviewers, etc., with permissions and responsibilities clearly defined.
Real-time collaboration: Look for tools that support live annotations, comment threads, and simultaneous review—across geographies.
Audit trails and version history: Every change must be traceable, timestamped, and reversible. This is critical for both accountability and audit-readiness.

Takeaway: The platform should centralize all activities, eliminate confusion, and increase velocity without compromising control. A modern collaborative artwork review tool should bring structure and clarity across your labelling lifecycle.

Built-In Regulatory Intelligence

Why it matters: In pharma and related industries, packaging isn’t just marketing – it’s a regulated deliverable. Labels vary by country, language, product strength, and therapeutic area. A modern artwork automation platform must be compliance-first, not design-first.

What to look for:

Country-specific rulesets: Can it support country-wise compliance logic and adapt to local regulatory updates?
Validation gates: Before a label is finalized, the system should run automated checks based on current compliance templates.
Audit-readiness: It must be easy to generate evidence of approval timelines, stakeholder inputs, and validations.

Takeaway: Choose a platform that doesn’t just facilitate compliance – it enforces it. Look for AI in regulatory packaging that delivers automated decision-making built on global requirements.

Seamless Integration With Your Existing Stack

Why it matters: Most enterprises already have PLMs, ERPs, DAMs, and regulatory systems in place. An artwork platform must integrate rather than disrupt, ensuring seamless data flow across your digital supply chain.

What to look for:

APIs and connectors: Ensure compatibility with your existing systems—SAP, Oracle, Veeva, or custom tools.
Single source of truth: The platform should ingest approved data (like regulatory texts, product info, images) from master sources and apply it contextually.
Cloud-native infrastructure: For remote collaboration, scalability, and global deployment, cloud-based platforms offer resilience and flexibility.

Takeaway: A modern platform must fit into your digital ecosystem—not require a complete overhaul. Look for packaging compliance software that complements your infrastructure.

Built to Scale Across Global Teams

Why it matters: As portfolios expand and teams operate across time zones, the system must work as well for a single product update in Germany as it does for a product launch spanning 15 markets.

What to look for:

Multi-language support: From Arabic to Mandarin, the platform must handle diverse scripts, right-to-left formatting, and local legal text.
Template reusability: Can components be reused or modified for different SKUs, geographies, or strengths—without starting from scratch?
Performance at scale: It must support thousands of SKUs and artworks without slowing down or failing.

Takeaway: Don’t just plan for today’s needs. Choose a platform that scales as your business expands—and supports comprehensive label lifecycle management.

PACKX Checks Every Box — and Then Some

Many platforms claim automation, but few deliver compliance-driven intelligence at scale. PACKX is purpose-built for industries where precision and regulation are non-negotiable, such as life sciences, CPG, and medical devices, PACKX offers:

AI-powered proofing and auto-validation
Compliance-led templates and workflows
Region-specific logic and approval routing
Seamless team collaboration with full traceability
Scalable infrastructure for enterprise-grade deployment
Integration-ready APIs to connect with your PLM, ERP, and regulatory stack

Whether you’re facing recurring artwork delays, regulatory pressure, or costly errors—PACKX brings clarity, speed, and trust to every label. It’s more than a tool; it’s a complete pharmaceutical label automation solution designed for the future.

Don’t Just Automate—Elevate Your Entire Labelling Ecosystem

In regulated industries, the label is your last line of defense—and your first consumer impression. A simple packaging error can trigger costly recalls, regulatory sanctions, or worse, risk patient safety.

A modern artwork automation platform isn’t just about digitizing steps or saving time. It’s about creating a connected, intelligent, and compliant labelling ecosystem that keeps pace with market complexity and regulatory change.

Ask yourself: Is your current platform protecting you—or exposing you?

Use this checklist to evaluate where you stand. Then, choose a platform partner who doesn’t just promise automation but delivers resilience, accuracy, and scale—like PACKX, the leading solution in Pharma artwork management and medical device labelling platforms.