If you’re interested in the latest trends in the pharmaceutical industry, you may be surprised to learn that many of these changes are rooted in technology. Digital pills could monitor patient health outside the clinical setting, increasing medical adherence while supporting pharmacovigilance. They could even identify adverse reactions more quickly. For example, ingestible sensors in digital pills may help drug manufacturers understand the true effectiveness of a product and spot potential problems before they even reach the patient.
Let’s see what knowRX Health, experts in diversity recruitment for clinical trials, has to say about technology in the pharmaceutical industry.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence (AI) can help pharma companies make decisions faster and more accurately. For example, it can monitor the progress of a drug study, alert doctors when a patient is not taking their medications as prescribed and arrange a checkup when a patient is not feeling well. This could help reduce costs and improve the safety of patients. It also can be used to improve the efficiency of a pharmaceutical supply chain.
AI is already being used in almost every industry, including the pharmaceutical industry. AI has the potential to drive costs down, improve patient care, and foster profitable innovation. Currently, most pharma companies’ IT systems are based on legacy systems that do not have the necessary data storing and interoperability capabilities to meet the demands of an increasingly complex business. Additionally, most of the medical data available is in free form, which makes it hard to use it effectively. Additionally, AI can help pharma companies avoid human errors and speed up the R&D process, which means more affordable yet profitable drugs.
AI can also help pharma companies with marketing. AI can analyze past marketing campaigns and identify the strategies that have the highest chances of success. Furthermore, it can help pharma companies forecast the success and failure of various marketing campaigns. This is an emerging area in which AI is gaining momentum, and there are many ways to apply it in the pharma industry.
AI can also improve drug discovery, as well as design and refine new drugs. It can also identify novel biological targets for drugs, which can speed up the drug discovery process. It can also help pharma companies repurpose existing drugs. For example, AI can identify molecules that have failed clinical trials but have potential to treat other diseases.
Blockchain
Blockchain technology offers many benefits for pharmaceutical supply chains. For instance, it can help pharmaceutical companies identify bottlenecks and eliminate double counting. It can also help the industry identify problematic products and remove them from the supply chain. The pharmaceutical industry needs a reliable way to track and manage patient data. It can also increase end-to-end visibility of the supply chain and ensure robustness of manufacturing processes.
Blockchain technology helps improve data quality and accountability. It is a distributed database that allows everyone to edit data without compromising the original version. This means that all changes are tracked and analyzed. This increases transparency and accountability in health data, which is essential in the fight against global health crises. The pharmaceutical industry is held accountable by the World Health Organization (WHO), whose analysis influences epidemiological decisions around the world. The World Health Organization relies on scientists’ information, but blockchain can help ensure that the information is correct.
As blockchain technology continues to gain traction, pharmaceutical organizations are leveraging it to improve their supply chains. The technology enables pharmaceutical organizations to track their products throughout their supply chain, including ingredient specifications and contractual information. Furthermore, it helps pharmaceutical companies to trace problematic products back to their production batch and can streamline the recall process.
With this technology, pharmaceutical companies can make sure that their drugs are safe and able to reach the patients. They can also do a better job of managing product recalls and make the supply chain more efficient. The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing many changes, and blockchain technology has the potential to transform the industry.
3D printing
The use of 3D printing in the pharmaceutical industry offers a host of advantages. For example, it can create a range of different dosage forms. For example, 3D-printed tablets can combine several active pharmaceutical ingredients into a single tablet. This means that patients suffering from multiple diseases can receive their formulations in one multi-dose form at their healthcare point. The process also enhances patient compliance by offering a customized dose.
The pharmaceutical industry is evolving rapidly, and modern technologies have enabled the development of novel dosage forms. However, the fabrication of such forms on an industrial scale is currently limited. Most of the industry’s products rely on modified tablets or conventional drug delivery systems. The use of 3D printing technology, however, has opened new avenues for research and development. The biggest benefit of 3D printing is the ability to produce small batches of medicines in customized shapes and sizes. Pharmacists can then tailor the formulation to meet a patient’s personal preferences and therapeutic needs.
This technology is similar to that used in desktop inkjet printers. It works by applying droplets of ink from a print head to a bed of free powder. These droplets then bind to the free powder particles, which act as support material to prevent the structure from collapsing. The ink and powder properties are critical to the quality attributes of a finished product.
While medical 3D printing is not regulated by the FDA, state medical boards may have some regulatory powers. However, these bodies often react to complaints rather than conducting proactive investigations.
Personalized medicine
Personalized medicine is a new way to design drugs based on an individual’s genetic makeup. This approach to medicine has many potential applications in clinical trials and in patient care. For instance, individualized treatments for patients with breast cancer can result in a 34% reduction in chemotherapy. In addition, over $600 million in savings in health care costs each year can be realized with genetic testing for metastatic colorectal cancer. And, with the right genetic tests, 17,000 strokes could be prevented.
Personalized medicine is also changing the pharmaceutical industry. The emergence of personalized drugs has led to the development of more than 70 drugs. As the biopharmaceutical industry tries to get out of its tough innovation slump and the infamous “patent cliff,” personalized drug development is poised to become a real force.
Despite the benefits of personalized medicine, there are still challenges. Several key barriers impede progress in this field, such as the lack of widely accepted standards and continuous regulatory oversight. These barriers make it difficult for pharmaceutical companies to determine the best course of action for any given patient. To overcome these barriers, pharmaceutical companies must engage with policymakers, payers, and providers. They can help shape the rules of the game.
Another obstacle to personalized medicine is the FDA. Although the agency has signaled interest in changing its regulatory structure, it remains a major barrier to financial investment in this field. This uncertainty will slow down the pace of progress in personalized medicine. As an example, the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has established the Innovation Office to encourage cross-industry collaboration and advance the science of personalized medicine.
To compete in this new environment, pharmaceutical companies must act now to build up in-house expertise in data-related areas. Furthermore, they must forge the right working relationships with new vendors. While these new vendors are not viewed as equals, they should not be treated as rivals. Therefore, they must be ready to enter into fee-for-service agreements with these companies.
Flexible manufacturing
Flexible manufacturing is a key element in making the pharmaceutical industry more efficient. The ability to change processes at the last minute is one of the benefits of flexible manufacturing. Another advantage is the increased visibility of process data, which helps manufacturers make more informed decisions. This, in turn, leads to better control and results. Flexible manufacturing is also an ideal solution for pharma companies that are trying to meet the ever-changing pharmaceutical landscape.
The pharmaceutical industry faces more challenges than most sectors. It faces global competition, tariff confusion, in-house industry quality standards, and pressure from shareholders to release new products on a regular basis. Because of these challenges, pharmaceutical companies are finding it essential to be more flexible and adaptable. To address this need, more companies are adopting a “ballroom” approach to their manufacturing process, which involves having no fixed infrastructure but rather modular machinery. This allows for fast pivots from one product to another. Furthermore, modular infrastructure helps pharmaceutical companies eliminate the risk of cross-contamination.
Today’s pharmaceutical manufacturers are increasingly looking for solutions that can meet their needs and still remain profitable. In addition, they are looking for ways to meet sales forecast fluctuations, accommodate small-scale production, and experiment with new drug delivery techniques. Consequently, flexible manufacturing is gaining ground in the pharma sector. Traditional manufacturing setups typically consist of a variety of processes, including batch-level testing and production, and aren’t scalable enough to handle small-scale productions and novel products. In addition, traditional manufacturing setups are costly and inefficient.
The growing number of diseases and rare diseases is putting increasing pressure on pharma companies to develop more innovative products. With the increasing demand for new drugs, biopharma companies are pivoting from bulk manufacturing to flexible manufacturing. This change in approach enables them to make better use of their available production capacity.
