Life Sciences

Had the pleasure of attending this event today.  Summary below. The University of Chicago Innovation Fund (IF) is excited to announce the Fall 2017 investment cycle. Applicants from across the University of Chicago, Argonne National Lab, Fermilab, and the Marine Biology Laboratory will compete for up to $250,000 in proof-of-concept capital. …

The factory of the future must consider the requirements of an ongoing changing product portfolio. Mergers and acquisitions lead more frequently to product transfers and closing down of older factories. Shorter product cycles and changes on market demands may turn big production volumes to smaller ones and vice versa. The …

Had the pleasure of attending this event today.  Summary below. The University of Chicago Innovation Fund (IF) is excited to announce the Fall 2017 investment cycle. Applicants from across the University of Chicago, Argonne National Lab, Fermilab, and the Marine Biology Laboratory will compete for up to $250,000 in proof-of-concept capital. …

As the block buster drug pipeline decreases; strategy consulting and analysts are advising Life Sciences companies to focus on core competencies like complex Biologics manufacturing, that have high potential for growth with Biosimilars to retain market share. These manufacturers have already outsourced IT shared services like Travel & Expenses, HR, …

The enormous cost associated with drug development is one of the biggest challenges for pharmaceutical manufacturers. With an estimated cost of $2.6 billion and more than 10 years (1) to develop and test a drug candidate, the pharmaceutical industry is constantly looking for new efficiencies that will save time, money, …

Following years of growth and favorable market trends, the global life sciences industry now finds itself facing a challenging “new normal.” A changing health care landscape, expiring patents and generic competition, pricing pressures, heightened regulatory scrutiny, expansion into emerging markets, increasing alliances and acquisitions, and a persistent economic slowdown are …

Pharmaceutical companies of all sizes meanwhile routinely outsource much of their research, development and/or manufacturing requirements to contract organizations around the globe. Outsourcing increases the overall performance of pharmaceutical companies by allowing them to focus their resources on core activities, such as understanding the fundamental effects of disease states, the …

  Medical devices, whether used at home by patients, or in the hospital, are relied upon to be in operation consistently. The average hospital is operating a “manufacturing facility” that must be in operation 24/7 with big consequences when their machines go down. When medical devices don’t work – “device …

Blockchain is here and drives value within the serialization process. The DSCSA regulation requires manufacturers to serialize product; however today, DSCSA actually does not require the manufacturer to give the serial numbers to the distributors. Solution – Blockchain! If you have a platform which supports blockchain services and leverages a …

The global pharmaceutical industry is becoming ever more digitized, connected and traceability  centric. A wave of global mandates exist in the industry, to which SAP reacted to in 2015, by the creation of a network which integrates members of the pharmaceutical supply chain. Since then, SAP has positioned itself as …

History Pharmaceutical companies are regularly seen as leaders in adopting high technology solutions, especially in support of their extensive R&D ambitions. However, when it comes to the actual manufacturing of commercial products, especially in tablet form, the picture is usually anything but cutting edge. Tablets are still manufactured in batches, …

Politics, war, catastrophic events – these are the things that mostly dominate our TV screens these days. But although you won’t see it in the news too often, drug counterfeiting is a real global threat to public health, and it often – quite literally – goes under the radar. But …

The global life sciences industry is currently undergoing dramatic changes.  With greater access to personal health information and health science information in general, patients are better informed and want to participate more fully in their own care.  Both patients and payers are demanding personalized, cost effective treatments with superior and …

    3 Ways Medical Device Brands Can Beat Unauthorized Sellers    When it comes to medical devices, an unauthorized seller can have a big impact on a patient’s health and a brand’s credibility. Jim learned this the hard way, when his aging mother fell and fractured her hip. He …

Life science companies are adopting and changing rapidly. Adoption of new business models, mergers and acquisitions and entrance into new markets are some key driving forces. Today, within Life Sciences, data is the king. For Life Science Organizations to be successful quick access to accurate information is critical. One of …

The pharmaceutical industry was forced to undertake significant structural changes to address increasing challenges from regulatory policies, patent expiration of blockbusters, lower productivity, innovation gaps and price competition from generics during the last two decades. Outsourcing of research, layoffs, mergers and acquisitions became a common place in an industry which …

Life Science companies are facing several challenges that are forcing them to innovate their businesses. A survey published in Harvard Business Review (March 2016) found that internal dysfunction and creeping complexity was the main barrier to continued profitable growth.  The survey polled 377 business leaders, most whom represented companies with …

At SAP Health, we believe that the future of healthcare will be shaped by digital, cloud-based solutions that solve real-world problems. Yet as much as we are fans of the power of great technology, we believe even more strongly in the collective power of great ideas and great minds. We …

Recently, I was on a business trip through Asia that took me through Japan, Hong Kong and Western China.   The timing was perfect as spring had arrived in all the cities I visited, and my meetings were very enjoyable as I reconnected with co-workers and customers while meeting numerous new …

The diagnosis of medical conditions is undergoing significant transformation as we move from a rule-based approach to an approach modeled on how the human brain detects patterns. This new approach exploits so-called neural networks to enable machine learning, as an article recently published in The New Yorker magazine described (April …

How to price returned products is not an easy task in life science, mainly because there are some returns that are mandatory for example their acceptance when products are expired or remaining SLED (Shelf-life) is less than the one determined by law. Law is different by country as well as …

Managing strategic sourcing across the globe in regulated the Life Sciences industry is complex due to the difficulty in interpreting country regulations relevant to anti-corruption activities, involving transactions like Contract Research Organization (CRO) consulting services, investigator grants payments, and key opinion leader speaking engagement etc. These high value, low volume …

           Healthcare as an industry is undergoing significant changes in the developed world.  In the US, the managed care industry is transforming from volume-based to value-based reimbursement.  France, Japan and Germany are working to solve the increasing costs of aging populations and their healthcare needs. Countries …

Counting down just over five weeks until the SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference, the excitement is building in Life Sciences.   Our agenda this year promises a showcase of digital transformation stories, product enhancements, solution innovations and highlights from best run Life Sciences companies.   Join your peers in Orlando to …

Identification of Medicinal Products (IDMP) is a new legislation developed in response to a world-wide demand for internationally harmonized specifications for medicinal products.   IDMP is the marketing authorization in Europe for Medicinal Products. IDMP will help drive patient safety. Currently, Pharmaceutical, biopharmaceuticals and biotech companies should be preparing to comply. …

Traditionally pharmacies have been seen by pharma companies as independent outlet at the end of the sales chain without paying them too much attention when planning their Go-to-Market plans. Nowadays, pharmacists are playing much more important role than before in the healthcare transformation by influencing patients in the generic buying …

Within the last couple of decades, the cost and time to market for new drug development have soared. Nowadays we are talking about an average of 15 years from first molecule investigations until we can get finally some sales revenue and an average cost of 500-600 million Euros. On top, …

This is the second part of a two-part blog. You can access part one here.   In part 1 we looked at serialization, the genesis for serialization and prognosis therefore and business benefits of serialization. Now let us look at four industries that have high potential business transformation opportunities as …

This is the first part of a two-part blog. You can access part two here.   Major markets such as the US, European Union, China and Brazil and a host of other countries are promulgating regulations for the serialization of prescription drugs. See timeline here. The objective of such regulations …

With the advent of several IT players in the Healthcare ecosystem leveraging their mobility and cloud strengths to connect with medical devices, fitness apparel, and monitor patient conditions, traditional Life Sciences manufacturers are under pressure to deliver innovation for improving patient outcomes. Automation is not new to our industry. Life …