Unlocking Data Transformation, Pharma's New Digital Frontier
Data and digitalization are shaking up industries, and pharmaceuticals are the next in line for a seismic shift. Driven by a confluence of factors, including technological advancements, regulatory pressures, and the need for faster, more efficient drug development processes, the pharmaceutical industry must reckon with both data collection and management.
To navigate this complex landscape, pharmaceutical companies are embracing innovative strategies. During a recent episode of Collider Convo, led by hosts Rhyan Robinson and Jacob Smith, Ramji P. Vasudevan, Senior Engineering Leader at Altimetrik, provided valuable insights into the prevailing challenges and opportunities within the pharmaceutical sector, as well as the pivotal role of data in shaping its future.
The Evolving Pharma Landscape: Challenges and Opportunities
Traditionally, the pharmaceutical industry has been characterized by large organizations with rich histories, often spanning several decades. However, the emergence of data and digital technologies is disrupting this status quo.
Vasudevan highlights that the industry is witnessing a shift, with new, more nimble players leveraging data and digitalization to challenge established actors. A case in point is Moderna's rapid development of an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, a feat made possible by harnessing data and digital technologies to expedite the process. While heritage-rich organizations currently dominate the landscape, Vasudevan suggests that the balance is poised for change over the next decade.
Regulatory compliance is another critical aspect of the pharmaceutical industry, where data-driven approaches can provide substantial value. Submitting clinical trial data to drug regulatory agencies is a time-consuming process. This complex process, which can take several months, offers an opportunity for improvement through better data consolidation and utilization. By adopting data and digital solutions, companies can significantly reduce the time required for submission, accelerating the approval process and enabling faster delivery of life-saving drugs to market.
Altimetrik's Approach: Breaking Down Transformation
Data transformation doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it’s a symphony of efforts from multiple teams and stakeholders. Vasudevan stresses the importance of focusing on business value and involving business, IT teams, and experts in the transformation process. By aligning business objectives with IT capabilities, organizations can ensure that transformation efforts are driven by value creation rather than mere technology adoption.
Breaking down the transformation journey into manageable segments is another crucial aspect of Altimetrik's approach, which emphasizes the value of adopting an agile methodology, where organizations tackle smaller challenges iteratively rather than pursuing a "big bang" transformation. This approach fosters a culture of collaboration between business and IT teams and ensures that changes are implemented with a focus on value generation.
Central to Altimetrik's approach is establishing a single source of truth for data. Vasudevan cites Novartis as an example of a pharmaceutical company that successfully created an enterprise-wide platform to consolidate and analyze data. However, he warns against the trap of attempting to bring all data into a single repository at once. Instead, he advocates for an iterative approach, where data is integrated into manageable slivers, focusing on immediate value generation. This method enables companies to avoid the pitfalls of attempting to centralize data without a clear understanding of its relevance or utility.
"You know, you can spend all the money, resources, and time getting the data into the system and then discovering that it doesn't do exactly what you need,” adds Jacob Smith, host of Collider Convo. “Versus taking the iterative approach and slowly bringing the data in, making sure it's valuable until ultimately all the data's in one place."
The Digital Business Platform: Enabling Transformation
Altimetrik's digital business platform is where the magic happens. But does it play well with different cloud providers and tools? Spoiler alert: It's all about developer freedom.
Vasudevan emphasizes that the digital business platform isn't restricted to a cloud provider or technology stack. Instead, it provides the flexibility for developers to choose the tools that best suit their needs, ensuring that the focus remains on delivering value through efficient code development.
"We want to provide developers the freedom to choose the tools which will make their code sing,” says Vasudevan. “So we should be able to provide options, and really good digital business platforms support that today.”
The Future of Pharma
As the pharmaceutical industry evolves, digital health will play a pivotal role in shaping its future. The proliferation of wearable devices and personalized medicine will generate unprecedented volumes patient data. The real challenge is making the most of this data to uncover useful insights, all while ensuring that patient privacy and data security are well-protected.
So, what's the future for pharma's digital makeover?
We envision a future where data-driven solutions seamlessly integrate patient information with medication management, leading to better patient outcomes and improved healthcare experiences.
The pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of a digital transformation fueled by data and technology. Aligning business objectives with IT capabilities is key while breaking down challenges into manageable segments and creating a single source of truth for data. By embracing this approach, pharmaceutical companies can navigate the challenges of regulatory compliance, data integration, and emerging technologies while delivering life-saving drugs to market more efficiently.
This is just the tip of the data-driven pharma iceberg. For a deeper dive, listen to the full-length podcast or contact Altimetrik to embark on your agile transformation journey.
Get ready to revolutionize pharmaceuticals, one byte at a time.