Healthcare & Life Sciences

The healthcare and life sciences industry has been traditionally very slow to change, yet digital transformation is inevitable as we move toward 2030. Digitalization is impacting industry and nations at once. The advancement in cloud, edge computing, quantum computing as well as material sciences will impact drug discovery, sustainability, clinical trials, process analytics, supply chain and medical device invention among others. As computational power is being harnessed that is far above what we have experienced across generations. Collaborations among academics, patient groups and industry too will progress more toward addressing imperative areas of medicine such as precision and gene therapies. Access to technology and data offer opportunities to greater patient interaction, monitoring and intervention.

          The advancement in technology and the sheer power of speed to engage and access creates immense opportunities for the healthcare and life sciences to deploy hyper-automation in any given field. For instance, it may merge data from operational data collection points such as sensors generated during clinical trials, supply chain, manufacturing or production to locate wastage and inefficiencies. Though several functions currently collect and engage such data, the overall process remains fragmented. Additionally, offering a full spectrum of integration across the entire drug cycle, for instance, data generated throughout the supply chain can be leveraged to deliver real-time demand-supply inventory insights for production and manufacturing. To understand weakness within the chain, to prepare and mitigate such risks. Creating an end-to-end solution that grants visibility, control and reliability. Signs are emerging that a handful of companies are implementing such technologies and reaping benefits. Yet the sector has traditionally been a very slow mover toward change and optimisation. Part due to regulatory and compliance issues, and owing to its incremental nature of embracing change. As over 80% of medicine in Europe is temperature-controlled transportation and growing, data analytics is naturally a crucial aspect of the chain. 

          The industry has began moving, be it at a slower pace than is desired; toward a high-performing and quality driven manufacturing units too. It is now able to support smart factories and production units connected to the product life cycle from R&D to market authorisation. For instance, production units are being set up with the objective of not serving a single medicine or a wide range of interrelated products. Rather, capacities are being inbuilt to ensure a wide range of internal customers are catered for through the same production unit. Permitting companies to move away from the 1-fit all pill concept and offer precision medicine for a targeted smaller grouping of patients. Technology and agility are being built into infrastructure. This is further backed through the genetic-based precision formulas that offer major shifts away from traditional medicine. To truly understand the necessity for this shift, one can point out that from 1997 to 2022 over 450 medicines were withdrawn from the market. While in the medical device sector 409.5 million medical device units were recalled in 2016-2017.  The associated wastage and cost are incalculable, and is forcing the entire industry to think radically differently. The call however is not to change the current model, rather to create an additional business model where precision medicine or medical devices can work auxiliary to it. Thereby opening new pools of revenue and to utilize the deployed infrastructure to optimise the current business model.