Impact of BI on the Global Pharmaceutical Sector

Today, organisations in the global pharmaceutical sector are facing a unique journey. The sector is seeing a greater focus on research, development and focus on delivering quality drugs (over quantity), expansions into niche markets and business model restructuring with greater adoption of AI and ML technologies.  

Multiple reports suggest that the global pharmaceutical market is likely to reach USD 1.5 trillion by 2023, and a major share of this growth is set to be led by big data, cloud computing and AI.  

However, the sector is also faced with unique challenges, which are leading them towards losses and ever lingering pressures to generate revenue from new drugs. When we say challenges, these largely encompass; 

• Pricing pressures from Governments and payers as they seek to control healthcare costs. This is particularly true for innovative drugs that come with high price tags. 

• Increasingly complex regulatory scrutiny, with greater scrutiny on drug safety and efficacy, and increased requirements for clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance. 
• Patent expirations as many blockbuster drugs are coming off patent. This is leading to increased competition from generic drugs and putting pressure on pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs to replace lost revenues. 
• Increasing costs of developing new drugs while the success rate of clinical trials remains low. This is putting pressure on pharmaceutical companies to find more efficient ways to develop new drugs. 
• Changes to healthcare systems, such as the move towards value-based healthcare and the rise of digital health technologies, which are creating new challenges for pharmaceutical companies to adapt to. 
• Supply chain disruptions which are impacting the availability of critical drugs. 

BI tools currently used by global pharma 

What can help pharma companies to ease the road ahead is investments in digital technologies. In general, we are seeing that the global BI and analytics software market is growing steadily and likely to reach USD 52.3 billion by 2025. Particularly in the healthcare sector, these numbers are expected to reach USD 3.9 billion by 2025.  

When we say BI tools, we’re not just talking about AI and ML. It encompasses a host of technologies like predictive analytics tools, data visualisation technologies, cloud computing software, and the like. Let’s look at how each of these technologies can impact the sector. 

Data Visualisation Tools 

Data visualisation tools like Tableau and Power BI can create interactive dashboards and visualisations with data, to allow pharma companies to quickly explore complex data and identify trends, patterns and outliers in large data sets. 

Predicative Analytics Tools 

Predictive analytics tools like SAS can be used to predict future outcomes based on historical data. For example, it can predict the efficacy and safety of new drugs, forecast sales performance, and optimise clinical trial design. 

Machine Learning Tools 

Machine learning tools like Python and TensorFlow can be used to develop predictive models to automate data analytics. For example, they can be used in drug discovery, delivering personalised medicine, and in optimising supply chains. 

Cloud-Based BI Tools 

Cloud-based BI tools like AWS and Azure allow companies to store, process and analyse large data sets in a secure and scalable environment. They’re particularly useful for companies with distributed operations, or those that need to access data from multiple sources. 

Real-Time Analytics Tools 

Real-time analytics tools like Apache Kafka and Spark Streaming can be used to analyse streaming data in real-time. They can be used, for example, for drug safety surveillance and supply chain monitoring. 

5 Ways Pharma Companies are Benefitting from BI Tools  

This brings us to the question; how are these BI tools going to help pharma companies tackle the current challenges? Pharmaceutical companies can benefit from using business intelligence (BI) tools and statistics in several ways: 

A Merit expert says, “BI tools and statistical analysis provide pharmaceutical companies with real-time insights, enabling them to identify new market opportunities, optimise R&D efforts, and make strategic decisions about pricing, marketing, and distribution.” 

Improve Operational Efficiency 

These tools can improve their operational efficiency by identifying areas of waste or inefficiency in their processes. For example, statistical analysis can be used to optimise clinical trial design, reduce drug development costs, and improve supply chain performance. 

Improve Patient Prognosis 

They can improve patient outcomes by identifying new drug targets and predicting the efficacy and safety of new compounds. These tools can also be used to develop personalised medicine approaches that are tailored to individual patient needs. 

Competitive Advantage  

They can empower pharmaceutical companies to gain a competitive advantage by providing them with insights into market trends, competitor strategies, and customer preferences. This information can be used to develop targeted marketing campaigns, optimise pricing strategies, and differentiate products from competitors. 

Tighter Compliance & Regulations 

They can ensure compliance with regulatory requirements by providing real-time visibility into key data points such as adverse event reporting, clinical trial outcomes, and post-market surveillance data.  

This can help companies identify potential safety issues early on and take corrective action as needed. 

Merit Data & Technology: A Trusted Web Scraping & Data Mining Partner, With a Deeply Ethical Approach 

At Merit Data & Technology, our team of data scientists have extensive, in-depth experience in working with data, leaving you to focus on the core areas of your business. 

Our data scientists understand your data needs and create customised tools to deliver the right data in the format you need. They scale up and scale down the data collection process based on specific needs and validate data quality before it is used for analytics and decision-making. 

To know more about our web scraping technologies and practices, visit https://www.meritdata-tech.com/data/