Perspectives
Intelligent biopharma
Forging the links across the value chain
The biopharmaceutical sector is facing digital disruption from multiple sources, the chief among them being artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud. Deloitte predicts that in 2019/2020, all industries will accelerate their use of cloud-based AI software and services, including biopharma companies. Among companies that adopt AI technology, 70 percent will obtain AI capabilities through cloud-based enterprise software, and 65 percent will create AI applications using cloud-based development services. In order to keep up with the changing competitive landscape and customer expectations, biopharma companies will need to accelerate their use of AI-enabled services.
Biopharma organizations have started using scaled versions of AI over the last 1-2 years in some areas. While still at an early stage, progress is being made throughout the biopharma value chain, from research and discovery, through clinical development and trials, manufacturing, establishing the supply chain and commercial launch, to post-launch surveillance and customer/patient engagement. The rapid growth in AI across the value chain is being driven by access to vast and growing quantities of data, increases in computing power to analyse the data, improved algorithms and a sharp reduction in the costs of computing.
Based on our research, the four applications that are expected to drive most of the AI market in biopharma between 2018 and 2025 are: drug discovery, precision medicine, medical imaging & diagnostics and research.
Selected Deloitte engagements
Drug discovery (Est. CAGR 52.0%)
Deloitte helped a large global pharma firm with the design and deployment of systems that helped it transition from a reactive to a proactive clinical risk management approach. This included an adverse event benchmark tool, predictive models and pharmacovigilance algorithms. The results from the tool were shared through a personalized report for study clinicians, safety scientists / physicians and data scientists to help them focus on the key areas of their interest and intervention. The project led to more effective identification of patients at risk enhancing medical monitoring and the understanding of drivers of adverse AE events.
Precision medicine (Est. CAGR 60.2%)
Deloitte collaborated with a behavioral design team and a private network of diabetes and hypertension clinics to help solve the “last mile problem” involving patient behaviour change even the most appropriate medical treatment will be effective only if the patient follows through on it. The engagement focused on understanding behavioural data from patients to help refine interventions that can drive improvement of their engagement and help improve the medicinal impact.
Medical imaging (Est. CAGR 54.9%)
Deloitte helped with the establishment of compatible standards, formats and an architecture that enables various health organizations to share data seamlessly thus helping improve resource use, and provide an even better pathology service. This will help to close the gap in the years ahead between the expected increase in workload and available pathology resources.
Diagnostics (Est. CAGR 54.9%)
Deloitte supported the design and deployment of systems focused on learning from patients surviving cancer by linking the different biological, behavioural, medical and lifestyle data that are used for building algorithms to help identify traits that can be used for cancer identification and patient treatment.
Customer Breach Support
Deloitte’s Customer Breach Support (CBS) service helps customers minimise the impact of a data breach by putting customers at the heart of the response and guiding them through the days and weeks following an incident. Our comprehensive offering is backed by our global infrastructure resources, covering 22 European languages. We assist with customer breach notification plans and communications, and a tested solution to engage, support and protect our customers’ clients– and thus their entire organisation – through the crisis.
Over the next months, we will explore each of the above areas, focusing on how AI is accelerating progress in each of the four area-specific domains and how organizations can adopt and scale AI to create differentiation in customer experience and accelerate building strategic competitive advantage.