Digital Transformation

Deal Snapshot: At a same-day conference, Amgen’s CEO outlined the importance of AI/ML to the company’s drug development strategy, as numerous large biopharma companies have recently made similar deals.

Iris Zemzoum, Novartis Pharma's president for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, outlines how the company is shaping its strategy in the region, which comes with “extremes” in market profiles, via a distinct archetype that factors in commonalities between national healthcare systems. The company is also progressing interesting initiatives in digital therapeutics.

The 10-year deal aims to use artificial intelligence to map out the cellular biology behind neuroscience and oncology and accelerate drug discovery in another boost to the field.

The UK computational medicines specialist is listing on the Euronext Amsterdam after linking up with healthcare-focused special purpose acquisition corporation Odyssey which is advised by former Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt.

After returning to the neuroscience space in the summer through a big-money deal with Alector, GlaxoSmithKline is setting up an institute with the University of Oxford that will target neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, frontal temporal dementia, ALS and pain.

Early COVID-19 therapies including Gilead’s remdesivir, China-plus procurement policies, vaccine partnerships and a dovish stance by the central bank led to returns on India biotech and healthcare funds outperforming global returns. Meanwhile, funding for e-pharmacies and online consulting firms gathered pace.

The UK firm has not completed a clinical trial yet but having raised over $350m from its NASDAQ initial public offering and an extra $160m from a private placement, Exscientia's future looks extremely bright.

Pharma is switching up its digital marketing playbook to map multiple touch points, including digital congresses and social media chats to deliver not just a product but a better customer experience, executives from Pfizer, Novo Nordisk and ViiV Healthcare say.

Janssen’s Troy Sarich outlines why it’s hard to emulate randomized controlled trials with real-world evidence studies, emphasizing that the two are “not in competition.” He also highlights the huge strides made by AI-driven technology firms to provide “research-ready” structured data and new game-changing advances in the area of health sensors.

Moderna’s CCO Corinne Le Goff highlighted panomics and pre-emptive care as the industry’s future at a recent event, even as she saw on-shoring and “regaining sovereignty” over health expenditure as being essential to medicines security.

Biopharma experts discuss at a summit core issues around ensuring that fast-paced digital acceleration does not jeopardize the overall experience of healthcare professionals. Clarity about customer needs/behaviors, embracing a fail-fast, learn-fast mindset and measuring customer experience were among the aspects touched upon.

Amgen’s former chief information officer Diana McKenzie highlights the inroads made by technology firms in healthcare and how life science companies can adapt from them while leveraging core capabilities at scale.