Facing the tidal wave 

Introduction

The pharmaceutical industry is facing a ‘tidal wave’ of complex age and behaviour related diseases creating increased economic, scientific and delivery risks. How can pharma companies evolve to overcome these obstacles?

New research from the Deloitte UK Centre for Health Solutions looks at the changing pattern of diseases and its implications for the industry whilst highlighting a series of bold choices. The report proposes that pharma companies should focus on de-risking and delivering greater value to healthcare systems to deal with the threats facing the industry and to succeed in the 21st century.

Options to create value and reduce risk

In response to the scientific, economic, and delivery risks, our report suggests seven strategies for developing the pharma business model.

• Design and build models of continuous R&D innovation
• Develop a “directed research approach” where governments or funders of the research direct the research
• Invest in agile development and accelerated access to speed up the availability of new drugs, increase adoption rates and redesign reimbursement and contacting models
  
• Develop lifetime patient, product and disease data management as part of a patient engagement strategy
• Invest in clinical pathway delivery (combining new drugs, devices, processes and digital platforms) to improve outcomes and potentially reduce costs
  
• Use digital platforms to transform patient management, outcomes measurement, and reimbursement 
• Build continuous launch factories to support multiple launches with lower costs and higher quality