A cross-industry consensus paper proposed a five-level maturity path for deploying digital twins in pharmaceutical freeze-drying. The framework maps modeling and sensor requirements and adds risk-based validation guidance to help teams decide when a digital twin is ready for operational use. The publication targets a practical industry gap: moving from research prototypes to validated systems that can support batch decisions, equipment optimization, and regulatory expectations. By defining maturity levels, the work aims to standardize how teams demonstrate that the model performs reliably under relevant operating conditions. For developers and manufacturing leaders, the consensus approach is a blueprint for reducing model risk and improving consistency across sites where freeze-drying knowledge and data streams differ.