At this year’s MedCity CONVERGE, a two-day summit in which executives convene to discuss the future of innovation in healthcare and life sciences, digital was a hot topic. In a presentation titled “Digital Health’s Arrival (Or Not) In Pharma,” Dr. Naomi Fried, an expert on digital health innovation and past chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, asked three panelists from well-known pharmaceutical companies to give their take on digital strategy in pharma. Stephanie Baum from MedCity News highlighted the session in a recent article, and here are some key takeaways:
According to Dennis Hancock, vice president of global connected solutions with Pfizer, in order to achieve success, digital health tools need “to be useful and fill an important gap.” They need to be easy to use, capable of strong patient engagement, and ultimately, they need to be connected.
Michael Doherty, head of strategic innovation for pharma development at Roche, shared his specific interest on “using telemedicine to decentralize clinical trials and using apps to effect the outcomes of trials and reduce safety events.”
Joseph Kim, senior adviser for clinical innovation at Eli Lilly, likes the idea of using digital for clinical trial recruitment. “The rise of the e-patient is critical to speeding up drug development,” he said.
When it comes to the challenges of using digital in pharma, the three mention interoperability and compliance as big obstacles.
