How is Digital Transformation Impacting Life Sciences?
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Life Sciences Review | Thursday, August 13, 2020
Life sciences being one of the most impacted industries by the pandemic, can be used as an opportunity for digital innovation.
Fremont, CA: Recognizing and understanding the vulnerabilities and developing and implementing a mitigation plan for the vulnerabilities will be the key to numerous pandemic-triggered digital transformation. How long will the situation last and the pandemic's overall impact on life sciences remains uncertain; thus, organizations will have to be nimble and proactively review vulnerabilities and develop creative contingency plans.
Digital Sustainability denotes the approach a company can take to improve or modernize its business operations by deploying time and money on the latest and the trending digital tools. Digital innovations and technology in the life science industry became a key factor for major pharmaceutical companies in the 21st century.
Key Digital Trends
Cloud Technology: It streamlines the sophisticated drug creation process and facilitates effective communication and efficiency throughout various clinical departments. Sharing of information becomes easy as clinical trial site managers can access data from multiple geographic locations.
Robotic Process Automation: It allows pharma companies to perform critical repetitive tasks efficiently without human intervention and reduces error chances.
3D Printing: 3D printing, also called additive manufacturing, enabled the medical device industry to manufacture items such as finger splints and biocompatible implants such as high-risk devices.
Key Challenges for Digitalization in Life Sciences
Supply Chain Considerations: COVID-19 has massively impacted the medical product supply chain, including a shortage of critical medical products or potential disruptions to supply.
Drug Shortage Notifications: The shortage of drugs cannot be avoided in this pandemic situation. So, product sponsors must have a proactive shortage notification process. They can consider options like expiry date extension to mitigate the shortage.
Business Travel: Commercial activities between representatives and HCPs also impacted as hospitals become highly restricted areas, and representatives are forced to stay at home.
Clinical Trials: COVID-19 has impacted clinical trial progress and results. For example, suppose clinical trial sites are in regions experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks. In that case, trial enrollment is likely to be slow in that region, and healthcare personnel may be deployed into COVID-19 related activities.
Promotion: Among the emerging digital trends, virtual and social media promotion will become more critical for commercial products.
