Deep Dive: Disruptive Technologies

This issue of pharmaphorum’s digital magazine, Deep Dive: Disruptive Technologies, looks at how digital health tech is changing medicine, research and development, and healthcare, and how the pharmaceutical industry is responding to these momentous shifts.

Evidera’s Dr Radek Wasiak examines how data is less disrupting, and more enabling, the pharmaceutical industry when it comes to clinical trial data generation and analysis.

He notes that machine learning is common in other industries, and already widely used in the drug discovery process, but identifies several specific challenges its application to healthcare data presents, particularly when it is used as a diagnostic tool. Nevertheless, in the context of the current explosion of demand for real-world data, he says the benefit of machine learning to pharma is potentially substantial.

Tracking the future paths for healthcare technology, pharmaphorum spoke to Syneos Health’s Duncan Arbour, Skye Hodson and Alex Brock to identify some disruptive technology trends, with the trio identifying voice-activated technology, health tech partnerships and digital therapeutics as preeminent.

Digital therapeutics make another appearance in articles from the Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA), which define the opportunity advances in the technology are set to provide to healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry. Drawing some valuable lessons from a recent DTA whitepaper, it’s clear that digital therapeutics’ journey into the healthcare mainstream has only just begun.

And, summing up the current state of digital disruption to healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, there are some reflections from the recent Frontiers Health conference by pharmaphorum CEO Dr Paul Tunnah on what’s driving the current age of digital medicine as technology and medicine converge.

With thoughts from Proteus, Bayer, Sandoz and Siemens, plus a whole host of new and emerging innovative digital health start-ups, it’s clear that disruptive health technology is set to provide us with the healthcare opportunity of a lifetime.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Deep Dive.

Dom

Dominic Tyer – Editor, Deep Dive: Disruptive Technologies