Overview
Digital’s potential to transform every aspect of the pharmaceutical value chain, from discovery to commercial, is widely documented. This analysis explores how far along pharma is in its shift to digital, and where digital is having the greatest impact – both on patients and the bottom line.
As technology firms wade into healthcare, and as regulators begin to approve “digital therapeutics,” there is an urgency behind pharma’s digital transformation. Pharmaceutical firms are engaging in different ways, and at different speeds. They are bringing in new skills, new systems, and new structures in order to capture the benefits of digital.
Many of these benefits are around process efficiency and research and development (R&D) productivity – and clinical development in particular. That is where most money and time are spent in the traditional R&D process, and thus where improvements are most visible.
Consumer-facing digital healthcare products, though much talked-about, are not currently influencing pharma’s bottom line. Instead, they are changing the way healthcare is delivered. These changes will influence pharma’s role within the healthcare system and its relationship with customers.
Culture is one of the biggest challenges that pharma companies face as they go digital. Digital must become a core capability, not a standalone function. Yet it comes with faster innovation cycles, plus new kinds of expertise and partnerships that threaten traditional hierarchies and demand a fresh mindset.
Digital’s potential to transform every aspect of the pharmaceutical value chain, from discovery to commercial, is widely documented. This analysis explores how far along pharma is in its shift to digital, and where digital is having the greatest impact – both on patients and the bottom line.
As technology firms wade into healthcare, and as regulators begin to approve “digital therapeutics,” there is an urgency behind pharma’s digital transformation. Pharmaceutical firms are engaging in different ways, and at different speeds. They are bringing in new skills, new systems, and new structures in order to capture the benefits of digital.
Many of these benefits are around process efficiency and research and development (R&D) productivity – and clinical development in particular. That is where most money and time are spent in the traditional R&D process, and thus where improvements are most visible.
Consumer-facing digital healthcare products, though much talked-about, are not currently influencing pharma’s bottom line. Instead, they are changing the way healthcare is delivered. These changes will influence pharma’s role within the healthcare system and its relationship with customers.
Culture is one of the biggest challenges that pharma companies face as they go digital. Digital must become a core capability, not a standalone function. Yet it comes with faster innovation cycles, plus new kinds of expertise and partnerships that threaten traditional hierarchies and demand a fresh mindset.
Table of Contents
OVERVIEW
THE DIGITAL IMPERATIVE
DIGITAL’S IMPACT ALONG THE VALUE CHAIN
DIGITAL PARTNERSHIPS
LESSONS LEARNED
APPENDIX
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
