IT in translational medicine: from data to drugs

Global pressures for safer drugs as well as scientific and technological advances are forcing the pharmaceutical industry to re-think the role of IT solutions in research and development. Translational medicine, applying clinical knowledge to tailor drug discovery and development and vice versa, has the potential to transform both the business and technology processes of the pharma industry.

A silo-ed approach to the adoption of technology coupled with merging and acquisition activity over the years has left the majority of pharmaceutical organizations with some serious business and technological challenges ahead. As such, the industry will look to IT solutions to address some of those challenges and drive growth. The shift towards translational medicine necessitates ways of integrating IT earlier in the product life cycle.

The goal of translational medicine is to discover new and safer drugs. Translational research requires exchanging project data and disease knowledge between scientists in the various stages of a drug project and especially bringing the learning of both successes and challenges of candidate drugs from the clinic back into preclinical discovery projects.

Using technology to increase revenue

Technical and cultural challenges often prevent discovery and clinical departments from exchanging knowledge and possibly the biggest gap there is that between science and IT. Technology vendors must recognize the shift towards translational medicine efforts that extend from preclinical all the way to post-marketing stages. Datamonitor expects vendors to have a major impact in this nascent field delivering on its promise for more effective and safer drugs.

With the constant threat of generic medicines, the pharmaceutical industry is looking for strategies to remain competitive by continuously developing new drugs and extending the indications of marketed drugs. Streamlining product development processes is now becoming a major priority for pharmaceutical companies looking to increase their market share. Implementing the right lifecycle management strategy will allow a pharmaceutical company to survive and prosper by maximizing profitability throughout the lifespan of its products. The types of product lifecycle management (PLM) technologies that vendors offer must align with the customer's PLM strategy and will impact how the pharmaceutical PLM market evolves.

Improving sales & marketing

As the development of a single drug requires the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars over ten to fifteen years, pharmaceutical firms are eager to invest in new technology solutions that will help them to execute a highly effective sales and marketing strategy. The very core of the pharmaceutical industry lies in the analysis of experimental data from discovery through development and even the post-marketing phase. Given the industry's inherent devotion to data, it is surprising that the pharmaceutical sector remains years behind other vertical markets in customer relationship management (CRM) technologies.

Pressures to improve profit margins and market share are driving pharmaceutical companies to revisit their CRM strategies, which also includes improving sales force effectiveness. For the pharmaceutical industry, the greatest demand on CRM is the ability to cover multiple touch points across a diverse customer base (patient, providers and payers).

In this respect, the pharmaceutical industry is unlike any other, faced with a wide and varied array of customers, each of whom interact to varying degrees and at various levels. CRM vendors and pharmaceutical companies must understand how the industry will evolve beyond traditional sales and marketing strategies and have a holistic view of the CRM landscape.

The sheer size and growth of the pharmaceutical market in the US and Europe makes it an attractive market for technology vendors. In 2005 alone, Datamonitor estimates that the leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies' total sales exceeded $330 billion. Datamonitor forecasts pharmaceutical industry sales will see a modest 4.9% average annual increase from 2005-2011, although the forecast growth for the biotech market is markedly higher at 10.1% between 2005-2011. Clearly, the use of technology is an important part of enabling the continued growth of this market.

Related research:

 The Pharmaceutical Industry: Key trends and strategic issues shaping the industry