The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated change like never before and digital transformation is reshaping business models across industries, including pharmaceuticals. Adaptability to changing market conditions has pushed companies to evaluate and renew their business models around sustainability. Integrating digitisation into strategic priorities has helped life sciences companies transform the core business models and unleash the power of digital.
The use of digital technologies is not a new phenomenon for the industry. Still, there is much to be done to drive digitisation of processes, from R&D and clinical trials to manufacturing and logistics. The drivers for industry growth have primarily been innovation, mergers and acquisitions, and geographic expansion. But addressing today’s complex regulatory regime requires companies to leverage digital technologies for making data available and accessible to all parties involved, and comply with regulatory requirements.
The pandemic was a wake-up call for companies with a significant dependence on overseas supply chains. To address challenges such as supply chain continuity and cross-border data governance, pharmaceutical firms have to restructure their supply chains. They are looking at data analytics and insights to optimise inventories, reduce operational risks and maximise productivity.
Life sciences companies also realise the need to innovate and transform their business models to address market saturation and increasingly complex regulatory systems. The eventual success of these new business models depends on how well companies in pharma, biotech, and medtech collaborate to leverage existing and potential growth sources over the next few years.
As companies look to leverage cloud technology and advanced analytics solutions, data monitoring, management and security will play a significant role in digital strategies for growth over the next few years.
The latest issue of our magazine covers an interesting write-up by Brian Smith, Principal Advisor, PragMedic on business model innovation in life sciences industry. In this article, Smith outlines research into the business models and offers interesting perspectives on the evolution of pharma business models and evolving approaches to build a successful model. I hope you find this edition interesting and insightful.
Prasanthi Sadhu, Editor, Pharma Focus Asia
