Digital innovations continue to redefine new and easier ways for people to communicate with each other in the environment of widespread availability of social networking and smart user-centred devices. Ironically, the compliance-led pharmaceutical and life science industry has not always responded to the innovative and imaginative union of emerging technologies and the opportunities they offer (social media, mobility, big data, advanced analytics, cloud computing, and IOTs).
In the heavy competition to discover, develop and market new therapies that explicitly demonstrate better results for patients, pharmaceutical and biotech CIOs must place emphasis on digital acceleration as one of the many ways to fuel fast business growth for their company IT strategies.
Cloud computing and cloud-based technology have opened up a number of possibilities in all pharmaceutical fields. Examples include fast extraction of real-time, multi-center clinical data on scientific and organizational analyses, management of population health, health and research outcomes, direct engagement with patients through the creation of social media, accelerated use of digital networks for enhanced stakeholder participation, product tracking from end-to-end to real-time monitoring.
In late 2015, U.S. FDA has agreed to the first digital NDA medicine to be used to monitor ingestion remotely and, if patient approval is given, share details with their health providers and caregivers — a prescription medicine licensed to treat some mental disorders and an ingested sensor in one tablet. This is also one example of the possible effect of smart technologies in combination with therapy on health. Adherence to medications remains a big problem at a time when advanced technology can provide a solution. If I had to bet on the next wave of Digital Transformation Care, my vote would be won by devices like the Internet of Things (IoT) that could link and speak with others without the need for a cloud or server to share information with each other. The delivery of health care and wellness through the smart use of these devices is a tremendous opportunity for life sciences and health companies. Imagine a world of possibilities when many such sensors and devices communicate in a cluster of coordinates that generate signal and action to control and create interference between humans and machines in the ecosystem of health care. In order to help data scientists ask the right questions, the big-data methods will become central strategic differentiators for pharmaceutical and biological companies in handling such an explosion. This requires a re-examination of the IT enterprise as a whole – not only by a re-evaluation of its current investment platform and technical approaches, but also by further developing its policies, organizational structures, governance model, and above all the way that it engages internal or external stakeholders, researchers, patients and clients. You will also need to develop new data strategies to reflect the shift in data sharing and analysis and a plan to manage all types of information that impact product sales, pricing, reimbursing, as well as other measures, while focusing on time and investment in digitalization of assets that impact the ultimate outcome, disease prevention and improvement of health and wellness around the world.