During the 20th century, the world made great advancements in terms of health. Amazing improvements in healthcare have been made in the last 50 years; during this time, the world's life expectancy has increased more rapidly than it did in the previous 5,000 years. The research, development, production, and distribution of medications are all covered by the pharmaceutical industry. The global pharmaceutical market is expected to generate US$1,115.00 billion in revenues by 2023 due to its rapid expansion. The industry has seen a substantial transformation as a result of the introduction of new technologies and more efficient and effective manufacturing processes, and it will continue to flourish in the near future. This article discusses five major trends in the pharmaceutical industry.
AI can be seen in nearly every facet of the pharmaceutical industry. Every step of drug design uses AI, which can help reduce preclinical trial health hazards and costs. It can also reduce human errors and generate affordable yet quality products. Based on the vast pharmaceutical data and machine learning process, artificial intelligence is an efficient tool for data mining. Many pharmaceutical companies collaborate with AI companies to execute strategies in drug development and in the healthcare system. AI has its hand in drug discovery and, by doing so, invents a drug that has all the properties that are required. Additionally, it can be useful in predicting the compounds for synthesizing the product that has the desired attributes.
With the emergence of AI, pharmaceutical industries can easily cooperate with drug inventions, developments, production, and marketing. AI has become necessary for the whole world, and without it, it may become difficult to flourish in every aspect.
Dr. Kiron SS, assistant professor, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government Medical College, Kannur, Kerala
Pangaea Data
Pangea is a novel AI-driven product based in South San Francisco and London. It helps identify patient cohorts and can characterize patients by protecting privacy in a scalable manner. This product is highly efficient in discovering undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and miscoded patients
2. Digital Therapeutics
Another trend in the pharma industry is Patient-facing Software-driven, evidence-based therapeutic interventions known as "digital therapeutics" (DTx), which can work as stand-alone therapies or are combined with drugs to demonstrate therapeutic benefit and assist patients in the treatment, prevention, or management of a disease. Big names like Pfizer, Novartis, Sanofi, and BMS are adopting DTx for the betterment of patient care.
Therapeutic drug monitoring and individualized treatment approaches have taken over conventional therapy for the majority of the drugs. However, these approaches rely on the assumption that patients are adherent to their therapy protocols. In order to improve the existing standards, digital applications have to be utilized in clinics to monitor patients' medication adherence, adverse events, and quality of life between OPD visits. Although the regulations for these are still naive, undoubtedly there'll be growing research that has the potential to change traditional clinical practice.
Dr Sharath Kumar H.J. Pharm.D., Fellowship (Oncotherapeutics) Mumbai, India
"Gartner defined Big Data as high-volume, high-velocity, and/or high-variety information assets that demand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing, enabling enhanced insight, decision-making, and process automation."
Big data allows the pharmaceutical industry to better understand whether and where a treatment under development may require further customization and enhancement depending on the characteristics of the possible end users, reducing the lead time for the creation of new drugs. Infectious illness and other health-related data are uploaded by various organizations to these data banks, increasing their visibility as an early warning system in other parts of the world. Software solutions for big data analytics in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) are provided by the Israeli startup Pomicell.
This is considered the next frontier in the pharmaceutical industry. A DNA-containing functional gene is implanted into the patient during gene therapy to treat the effects of a disease-causing mutation. In future years, they will become more widespread. Gene therapies are divided into two categories: in vivo and ex vivo. Gene therapy can provide long-term benefits with just one dose. According to Pfizer, gene therapy is one of the new medicines. The major turning point in gene therapy was Glybera, a medication for lipoprotein lipase deficiency that was created by Shenzhen SiBiono GeneTech and approved in China for the treatment of head and neck tumors in 2003.
Gene therapy is a new territory for global health. To have the best chance of success, we really need to draw on the best research labs and networks. Novartis has some of the deepest expertise in gene therapy anywhere.
Dr. Mike McCune, head of the foundation’s HIV Frontiers Program
At every step of drug research, quantum computing has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical business. It is a rapidly developing, innovative technology. QC is anticipated to be more accurate than traditional computation at simulating and predicting the structure, characteristics, and behavior of these molecules. They can also analyze molecular interactions, forecast therapeutic efficacy, and suggest promising drug candidates. Quantum computing can improve clinical studies and supply networks. And it's moving into the center of the drug discovery universe.
“The power of AI-QC [quantum computing] makes accessible a range of different pharmaceutical problems and their rationalization that have not been previously addressed due to a lack of appropriate analytical tools, demonstrating the breadth of potential applications of these emerging multidimensional approaches. As such, a comprehensive knowledge of the underlying pillars is imperative to extend the landscape of applications across the drug life cycle,” based on Portuguese team of experts
The pharma industry's future is exciting, and these trends will be critical in advancing innovation and reshaping how pharma businesses operate. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused companies to reconsider multiple factors. To succeed in this fast-changing sector, one must be informed about how these innovations are being implemented and how they might be incorporated into one’s career planning.
References
1. https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/top-10-pharma-industry-trends-innovations-in-2021/
2. https://www.alpha-sense.com/blog/trends/pharma-industry-trends/
3. https://www.kayawell.com/blog/top-pharmaceutical-industry-trends
4.https://www.statista.com/outlook/hmo/pharmaceuticals/worldwide#:~:text=Revenue%20in%20the%20Pharmaceuticals%20market,US%241%2C478.00bn%20by%202028.
