Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technology Can Save the Pharmaceutical Business
    Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technology Can Save the Pharmaceutical Business
    Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technology Can Save the Pharmaceutical Business
    Ebook385 pages4 hours

    Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technology Can Save the Pharmaceutical Business

    By Kamal Biswas

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The pharmaceutical industry needs a shot in the arm – and not a moment too soon. The executive suite is mired in a bygone era, a time when extensive, well-funded pharmaceutical R&D produced blockbuster drugs, kept everything in-house and reaped the financial rewards. But that way of working needs to change. Executives now need to know what the technologists in their companies are doing in order to survive the next decade. Written for those new to industry, as well as for experienced professionals or specialists looking to expand their knowledge, this book is a must-read for business executives and information technologists alike.

     

    Pharma’s Prescription bridges the knowledge gap between current business practices and the most valuable technologies today. This book is filled with practical, real-life examples from industry and is a straightforward guide for all pharmaceutical and information technology executives who need to improve their businesses.

    • Focuses on practical solutions that are easily incorporated in your day-to-day work
    • Integrates business operations and information technology
    • Highlights the industry's top turn-around stories
    • Discusses pharmaceutical industry trends, growth opportunities, innovation drivers, regulatory complexities, and emerging market operations
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAcademic Press
    Release dateOct 21, 2013
    ISBN9780124076884
    Pharma's Prescription: How the Right Technology Can Save the Pharmaceutical Business
    Author

    Kamal Biswas

    Kamal Biswas is a Partner and Leader of the Global Life Sciences Consulting Practice at Infosys. He has nearly two decades of hands-on experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Kamal worked for 10 years in pharmaceutical technical R&D, manufacturing plant design, manufacturing operations and new product launches. Kamal moved into management consulting to drive forward industry growth and margin preservation, accelerate innovation and improve compliance. He has worked with many pharmaceutical majors including Ciba Geigy, Novartis, Pfizer, GSK, Aventis, J&J and BMS, either as an employee or as a consultant. Kamal has also developed several technology driven solutions that have helped pharmaceutical companies transform business functions to enhance business values for the company and customers. He has worked in Europe, Asia and the Americas and currently lives with his family in the US. He has a Masters in Engineering, went to business school for International Marketing, is a certified ISO9000 Quality Auditor, and member of the board in several industry forums. Kamal is a strategist and evangelist of pharmaceutical business transformation through non-traditional methods and frequently speaks at industry councils.

    Related to Pharma's Prescription

    Related ebooks

    Medical For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Value-Based Healthcare

      May 1, 2018

      After several years at the Conference Board of Canada, you recently left that role to take on a new challenge in the U.S. What prompted this career change? I loved my job, which involved working on innovation policy for healthcare — but after 10 year

      5 min read

    • Article

      Indian Pharma's Big Leap

      Apr 30, 2018

      Indian Pharma's Big Leap
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Urge To Go Large

      Nov 28, 2019

      The Urge To Go Large
      9 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: A Doctor-entrepreneur’s Guide To Socially Responsible Capitalism

      Jan 31, 2020

      My experience as an accidental entrepreneur taught me that smart investing goes beyond immediate gain and serves the greater good. My colleagues and I practiced this brand of win-win patient-centered…

      4 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: Health Care Needs More Physician CEOs Like Atul Gawande

      Jul 13, 2018

      If Atul Gawande’s first week as CEO of a health care startup was anything like mine, I hope he is able to get away from it all and enjoy a completely relaxing weekend. He will have earned it. After Gawande was named to head the joint venture between

      4 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: Realizing The Promise Of Prescription Digital Therapeutics

      Oct 29, 2019

      Prescription digital therapeutics will be a key piece of the emerging global digital market, which may be worth more than half a trillion dollars by 2025.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Japanese Firms Accelerating Medical Innovation

      Mar 8, 2024

      With the oldest and fastest-aging population in the world, Japan’s healthcare is facing unprecedented challenges. However, with the help of Japanese ingenuity and innovation, the nation’s medical manufacturing companies are taking on these challenges

      2 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: Manufacturing: The Next Breakthrough In Gene Therapy

      Dec 18, 2019

      As the race heats up to bring gene therapy to market, breakthroughs in manufacturing are often the key — or break down the barrier — to delivering these therapies to…

      3 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: A Dearth Of Physician Innovators Can Derail New Biomedical Startups

      Jan 2, 2019

      As a physician shortage looms, few are talking about the lack of physician innovators and its effects on founding and growing biomedical startups.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: The FDA Needs To Set Standards For Using Artificial Intelligence In Drug Development

      Nov 7, 2019

      Poorly constructed AI algorithms for drug discovery and testing have the potential to cause harm. The FDA should play an important role in ensuring that AI-based drug development tools meet…

      3 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: 5 Tips for Creating Effective Biotech Partnerships

      Jan 8, 2018

      I've been on both sides of forging biotech partnerships. Here are five tips for creating good ones.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Dr. Satya Vadlamani spearheading The New Age Of The India Pharma Industry

      Dec 23, 2023

      Dr. Satya Ramani Vadlamani is the Chairperson and the Managing Director of Murli Krishna Pharma Private Ltd., a young and dynamic NanoSphere Innovations company in India that provides a range of effective solutions to optimize the delivery of pharmac

      2 min read

    • Article

      Put Patients At The Centre

      Oct 18, 2020

      In recent years, there has been much conversation about the healthcare sector’s realisation of the importance of placing emphasis on high-quality healthcare that incorporates the patients’ perspectives on products and care, which ultimately improves

      2 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: 10 Reasons Why Health Care Startups Fail

      Feb 10, 2020

      Here are 10 of the most common problems we've seen that can cause a health care startup to fail and some tips to solve them.

      6 min read

    • Article

      Gaming & Living Life!

      Mar 14, 2022

      Gaming & Living Life!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Gaming & Living Life!

      Mar 14, 2022

      Gaming & Living Life!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Gaming & Living Life!

      Mar 17, 2022

      Gaming & Living Life!
      4 min read

    • Article

      Opinion: 5 Ways To Address The Challenges Of Direct-to-consumer Health Products

      Apr 2, 2019

      Oversight of direct-to-consumer health products must accept their presence in the health care landscape, emphasize the need to acquire and disseminate accurate information, and leverage digital tools for effective outreach.

      3 min read

    • Article

      Q & A

      Nov 27, 2021

      With the COVID19 pandemic exerting enormous pressure on the healthcare infrastructure, the sector finds itself under the compulsion to step up. In this interview Dr. G.V. Sampath, Chairman, Naruvi Hospitals, Vellore addresses how India can make optim

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Pharma's Prescription

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Pharma's Prescription - Kamal Biswas

      councils.

      Introduction

      When Stephanie was born in Monaco in 2012 she was born with a 90-year life expectancy; once this level of life expectancy becomes a reality all over the world the pharmaceutical industry will have kept its promise. With the advancement in technology this could be a viable reality and could improve even more in the near future. Human life expectancy has more than doubled in the last century and we are now moving towards tripling it soon. Access to clean drinking water made the initial impact, but the advent of pharmaceutical products has extended it considerably more.

      When Linda first finds a lump in her left breast at the age of 39, she is very worried. She is first comforted and placated by her physician for several reasons—firstly, it looks noncancerous and secondly science and technology have advanced enough to find a cure with a higher success rate. The doctor’s first prediction is incorrect and Linda’s lump proves to be cancerous, but the prognosis is still good. With the advancement of genetic engineering and technology today, scientists have identified several gene subtypes, each with a unique genetic fingerprint to diagnose breast cancer with a survival rate of over 90%. This was less than 50% two decades ago.

      In Liberia or Sierra Leone over 40% of people have been a victim of counterfeit drugs. Counterfeit medicine—a deliberately mislabeled drug with respect to identity or source―is a huge problem in sub-Saharan Africa and it needs to be stopped. Sproxil, the social enterprise to empower consumers, uses cell phones to text a code on any medication they have, to see if it’s counterfeit. With only 4% of households in Africa having internet connectivity, a cell phone-based solution is trying to crack down on counterfeit medicine issues. This and other similar mobile technology solutions can easily combat the USD 600 billion counterfeit industry [1a].

      Today, half of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day and a billion on less than one dollar a day. The advancement of healthcare and technology has to be far more affordable than it is today. So, the task isn’t just to find innovative ways to treat but also at an affordable cost.

      Christina’s appeal on a website says it all. Her 35-year-old husband and father of their two children is suffering from Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC), a chronic liver disease, and the only recovery option is to do a liver transplant. He has been on the waiting list for over a year and has almost lost hope in finding a donor before he breathes his last. A liver recipient currently waits between seven months and four years and almost one out of four of them die before a donor is found.

      Christina doesn’t yet know how she will raise money for the transplant. A liver transplant can typically cost up to half-a-million US dollars. This is not affordable for this single earner family of four. But Christina’s situation will change soon with the help of a 3D liver printing solution. Organovo has printed functional human liver tissue—yes, liver tissue which will produce a fully functional liver as 3D printing matures further [1b]. This will eliminate the long waiting list and make transplants affordable to all. Technology will make this miracle work.

      The pharmaceutical industry has brought significant changes to our lives in two waves: firstly by inventing medicines that cure disease and secondly by inventing newer and more efficient techniques with higher success. Technology plays a colossal role in improving healthcare in society today.

      However, things are not as shiny as they look. The majority of the world’s population does not have access to medicines. Although individuals as well as most governments see health as a priority and access to health as a right, 80% of the world’s population have no or very little access to medicine. Business and technology combined have a huge task to accomplish—make medicine accessible to most of the world’s population. The pharmaceutical business is central in making this happen throughout the world’s healthcare ecosystem, along with providers and payers and with the help of innovative technologies. The industry has done a terrific job in improving medicines—they have very successfully brought in several new medicines and there are brilliant people around to make pharmaceutical science more meaningful to society. On the other hand, technology is constantly changing with newer and better solutions to serve human health. Although both business and technology teams have done extremely well in their own fields, there’s a great opportunity to combine the two for a much better result. This can happen through focusing more on the interface between business and Information Technology (IT). Business needs better understanding of IT possibilities to improve business outcomes and IT needs to understand business functions and challenges better to apply newer technologies more meaningfully. This book entirely focuses on this interface.

      In mid-2000, I led a team to build an IT solution for analyzing existing product mechanism of action and predicting the possibilities of repurposing them for other disease conditions at one of the top five global pharmaceutical companies in the US. On one occasion, when an R&D scientist was explaining the business process, he used the term GxP and an analyst in my team asked him, What is GxP? The scientist paused for several seconds before carrying on. He saw this as a very silly question as he expected anyone who works in this area to be well versed with the foundational industry regulations, e.g. Good x Practice (GxP). It was, however, a valid question from the analyst as this was her first project in a pharmaceutical company. Though both of them were correct in their thinking, and even if we believe that no question is entirely wrong or irrelevant as it always removes ambiguity from the mind of the inquirer, it doesn’t always offer value to everyone. This reminded me of the story of the middle school student who had to find X in a triangle. The student had circled the X and written Here it is. This story makes everyone laugh, but the student was logical―he found the X in the diagram as if he was playing a treasure hunt game and wasn’t sitting for the math exam. The examiner did of course expect a different level of maturity for better acceptance. These stories reflect the need for stronger basic knowledge in the area of work for higher success. The IT team needs to know the fundamental elements of pharmaceutics and business should have a basic understanding of technology for harmonious teamwork.

      Today, everyone in the business needs to be a team player. Individual excellence needs to be expanded to form part of the goals of the larger team to make a business successful. An effective team can be created only if one understands what others want from you or how your output can offer and add value to others. Knowing what others do and using your deliverables is not easy. When I worked as a process design engineer in a pharmaceutical R&D laboratory, I always wondered how a lab-scale process is converted to mass-scale production. This question took me to the product scale-up lab, then to manufacturing plant design work and finally to the shop-floor production operations. I couldn’t stop there; my next question was How is the product I manufacture sold in the market and that led me to the product launch team. My desire to always understand the next step of what I do led me to work across various functions. When I moved to the manufacturing shop floor operation from the scale-up team, I wondered if my earlier job would not have been more meaningful if I had known more about the production operation. Knowing the customer is the best way to improve your own work. This brought me to the realization that every executive, manager, supervisor or technician in the ecosystem should build on this desire to understand how their services are used by their customers.

      However, moving between job functions is easier said than done. Hence, I wanted to write this book to provide a quick overview of all the business areas without actually having to work in those areas. This book will allow the entire community to quickly understand various functions in the pharmaceutical value chain well enough to make their own work more meaningful. A wider view of the industry will help readers become aware of their internal and external customers and it will make their daily work more customer-centric.

      As the pharmaceutical industry goes through a series of challenges including declining topline growth, a dried product pipeline, increasing regulatory demands and changing customer needs, the role of technology increases remarkably. Every company is being challenged by shareholders to justify high R&D investments while earnings per share are shrinking every year. The industry response includes restructuring of business organizations to make them nimble, increasing the focus on customers, identifying non-core work to be executed through external partners and using innovative technologies to make operations more simple, efficient and productive.

      Pharma’s Prescription is meant to prepare stakeholders of the pharmaceutical business and technology interface to take on the journey of technology-driven business improvements together. When I moved into the IT consulting world, I found it difficult to have meaningful business conversations with people who had limited business knowledge in spite of having vast technical knowledge. This knowledge gap prevents pharmaceutical and technology companies from effectively applying the right technologies which will improve business operations. Technology companies fail to proactively identify more complex industry problems due to lack of business knowledge, and pharmaceutical business stakeholders are unable to secure the technological benefits due to a limited understanding of available IT solutions. This book will help business executives, IT executives, analysts and programmers to understand the pharmaceutical business process across the entire value chain as well as IT solutions that can improve business outcomes. These business and IT leaders will significantly enhance their preparedness for and understanding of technology innovations, the potential impact on the pharmaceutical industry and within their business function. Readers will be able to use the knowledge to discuss strategic and operational initiatives, both with their business and IT

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1