How Digital Transformation aids the pharmaceutical industry

The pharmaceutical industry contributes significantly to developing vaccines and medications for disease prevention and reduction, treatment of ailments, and enhancement of quality of life by engaging in innovative research and technological advancements to meet the population’s complex healthcare demands. 

India is the world’s top supplier of generic pharmaceuticals. The Indian pharmaceutical industry meets more than half of the global demand for various vaccines, 40% of generic demand in the United States, and 25% of total medicine in the United Kingdom. Globally, India ranks third in pharmaceutical manufacturing by volume and fourteenth in value. The domestic pharmaceutical sector comprises 3,000 pharmaceutical businesses and 10,500 manufacturing units. India holds a significant place in the global pharmaceutical industry. The country also possesses a vast pool of scientists and engineers who can propel the industry forward. More than 80% of antiretroviral medications used to combat AIDS are manufactured in the United States.

The typical human lifespan is exposed to more infections and diseases, necessitating preventative measures to maintain health and more significant research to improve the population’s quality of life. Hectic daily schedules, lack of exercise and sleep, improper eating habits, and other lifestyle choices have contributed to poor digestion, high obesity rates, breathing difficulties, and other health issues. Globalization and urbanization are important influences driving the increasing demand for health supplements and better pharmaceuticals. As chronic ailments have increased, people have become more reliant on health supplements and drugs.

With the covid 19, major disruptions have occurred in the Pharma industry. Some of the common challenges in the Pharma industry include

1. Difficulties in removing organizational silos which prevents Pharma companies from embracing the full potential of digital transformation
2. Lack of clarity in the current regulations regarding the use of technology
3. The Digital Transformation strategy prepared by the Pharma companies post covid is not founded on real knowledge of how to maximise business benefits.

With Digital Transformation in place there have been some massive upgradations that has happened in the past few years in the Pharma industry as well

• Artificial Intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) is speeding up drug discovery and development processes. Startups are investigating the application of these technologies to address numerous difficulties in the pharmaceutical sector, such as manufacturing process automation and optimization, as well as devising efficient marketing and post-launch tactics. Patient identification is essential in drug discovery and development, mainly when performing clinical trials. AI simplifies the identification of eligibility criteria and patient inclusion, making the cohort identification process faster and less expensive.

• Big Data and Analytics: The pharmaceutical industry requires high-performance systems to analyse the massive amounts of data created during the drug discovery and development process. Pharmaceutical firms rely on third-party vendors to share data with collaborators, making data management a critical priority. Analytical techniques advancements are also transforming historical and real-time data available to pharmaceutical businesses into valuable assets for predictive, diagnostic, prescriptive, and descriptive analytics.

• Flexible Production: Because of shifting market dynamics, the pharmaceutical industry is experimenting with innovative manufacturing methods, such as small batches for precision medicine. Single-use bioreactors are also gaining popularity due to their ability to reduce downtime and boost productivity. These bioreactors accomplish this by removing complex tasks like cleaning and validation between production rounds.
• Curative therapies: Curative medicines, such as cell and gene therapies, transform how we treat chronic diseases and difficult-to-treat ailments by removing the need for long-term medications. Gene therapy is introducing genetic material into cells to compensate for defective genes or produce a good protein. The most frequent vectors for gene therapy are genetically modified viruses.

CIMCON Digital pioneers in predictive and prescriptive maintenance of machines and enable industries to have an edge over the competition in the Pharmaceutical industry. With the state-of-the-art Vibration systems and Edge platforms, CIMCON Digital helps in the digital transformation of the Pharma industry with proper maintenance of assets and reduce the unplanned downtime. Supply chain being one of the major issues in Pharma industries, CIMCON Digital make sure that the supply chain works uninterrupted with no major unplanned shutdowns and the Pharma industries can work in better production of items.

Pharma industries will have to adopt Digital Transformation in the coming years in order to improve the supply chain and for better competing with other players in the world globally. Leveraging the technology like predictive maintenance, predictive maintenance, AI/ML, Edge technology will allow pharmaceutical companies to harness Digital Transformation successfully, optimise their processes and deliver the solutions to their patients in a more efficient manner.