In this episode, Parth Kothari and Jonathan Amaya-Hodges sit down with Nathan Kast, a seasoned combination product professional whose career has spanned SHL, Becton Dickinson, and now Stevanato Group. Nathan shares how he stumbled into the drug delivery space entirely by accident, why being a great mentee matters more than finding a great mentor, and what it actually takes to build the kind of supplier-pharma relationships that get therapies to patients faster.
The conversation digs into one of the most persistent gaps in the industry: the tendency of smaller and mid-sized pharma companies to treat drug containment and delivery systems as packaging rather than as integrated parts of the development process. Nathan breaks down why that mindset is rational but costly, how pricing pressures and supply chain regionalisation are reshaping device strategy, and why standardisation is rapidly becoming table stakes rather than a differentiator. A candid, experience-driven episode for anyone working at the intersection of device development and pharmaceutical commercialisation.
Key takeaways:

Being a good mentee — staying humble, open to mistakes, and eager to learn — is what attracts strong mentors, not the other way around
Smaller pharma companies often treat drug delivery systems as packaging rather than as integrated development components, leading to costly late-stage surprises
Framing decisions around total cost of ownership (TCO) helps pharma partners see the downstream risks of deferring device integration conversations
True supplier-pharma partnership means transparent dialogue about constraints on both sides — not just pushing risk downstream
Supply chain regionalisation post-COVID is accelerating, and pharma is now making strategic asset-level decisions about what to near-shore versus centralise
Device differentiation has largely shifted from a competitive advantage to a reliability and scalability question — it's now table stakes for at-home care
Pharma companies are splitting into two camps: those adopting standardised platform devices from suppliers, and those building proprietary internal platforms across their whole portfolio
Understanding why a request is being made — not just what is being asked — leads to better outcomes for everyone in the development chain

Connect with Nathan Kast on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathan-kast-4568641b/

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– Parth & Jonathan and the Navigating the Combination podcast team

Connect with Parth Kothari on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/parthjkothari/ Connect with Jonathan Amaya-Hodges on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanwhodges/ Visit the Suttons Creek website here: https://suttonscreek.com

Listen to Navigating the Combination on these podcast platforms:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033HRTwEj7aFLx9K8ZEsVG
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/navigating-the-combination/id6786238670
Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/12169e2d-2323-41db-bdb4-8a8e7841c799

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Navigating the Combination is the podcast for pharmaceutical and biotech professionals tackling one of the industry's most complex challenges: bringing drug-device combination products to market. Hosted by Parth Kothari and Jonathan Amaya-Hodges of Suttons Creek - the device team for pharma - each episode draws on 650+ combined years of experience and 120+ successful launches to cut through the complexity of combination product development, from device selection and regulatory strategy to OEM alignment, quality systems, and FDA submissions.
Whether you're a VP of Regulatory Affairs weighing your submission strategy, a program director managing a complex OEM relationship, or an executive trying to protect a multi-million-dollar drug investment, this podcast gives you the insight, clarity, and confidence to make the right calls - right the first time.