COVID-19 pandemic is not just a global health crisis, it is also a hard-hitting financial crisis forseveral economies. This unprecedented has been a hard time for the manufacturing industries in general, and highlighted the emergency for India to become self-reliant. Though the rhetoric of Atmanirbhar Bharat’ gives some hope of growth after a brief pause, the ongoing pandemic has affected the “self-reliant” agenda quickly. The pandemic reiterated the fact that India is dependent on imports for much of the essential medical equipment. The irregularities in supplies not just skyrocketed the domestic prices for many of the medicines but it has also disturbed foreign trade because of the restrictions on exports. The low presence of Key Starting Material in our country has highlighted the weak points of our pharmaceutical sector.
Over the coming years, we expect pharmaceutical industry models to be reshaped by some forces both from within and outside of the industry- that will demand present organisations to recognise shifting markets and figure out how they will compete in the changing market. Biopharmaceutical companies will continue to evolve in new ways to treat and cure a variety of diseases. However, i future actionable health insights, driven by artificial intelligence and big data analytics, can help doctors and patients to identify illness much quicker than the time we require today. In first place, the newly invented vaccines and other early interventions due to technological advancements could prevent a greater number of illnesses from developing. Other diseases can be prevented through other than pharmacological treatments. Changes in how diseases are recognised, prevented, diagnosed, treated, or cured might lead to basically different business models for traditional pharmaceutical companies.
The future of health that we will witness in upcoming years will be a much different from what we have now. Based on evolving technologies, we can be much sure that digital transformation driven by big data analytics, artificial intelligence and through such secure platforms will be key in leading this change. Unlike today, we can expect that care will be streamlined around the patients, rather than around the institutions that drive our current health care system.
In next few years, streams of healthcare data, combined with data from a variety of other relevant resources will probably merge to create a multifaceted and highly personalised picture of well-being of every patients. Many digital health organisations have already started to incorporate biosensors and software into devices that can create, gather, and integrate data. Advanced cognitive intensive technologies can be developed to analyse a precisely large set of parameters and create personalised insights into health of the patients. The availability of streamlined data and personalised AI can enable much precise well-being and actually real-time micro-interventions that will allow us to get ahead of illness and far ahead of catastrophic or chronic disease.
By 2040, health is much more likely to revolve around preventing some illnesses from happening, and curing others. Many fewer people might have long-term conditions or chronic disabilities with continued need for medicinal needs to treat symptoms. The few factors that may be the most important components of shaping the future of pharmaceutical industry can be: Prevention or Recognition and early detection, Streamlined or customised treatments, Curative therapies, Digital therapeutics, and Precision intervention.
Prevention and early detection: Vaccine and general improvements in wellness could help prevent illnesses, making treatment for some illnesses no longer essential. Progress in early detection will more likely enable interventions that halt diseases in the beginning stages before they progress to become more serious or chronic conditions.
Customized treatments: Personalised services in medicine driven by data-powered insights can effectively match patients with customised drug medicines, or design therapies that will work for just a few number of people, or even a specific person. The more customised treatments will be the most important part of the pharmaceutical industry in the future.
Curative therapies: As with prevention, treatments that cure the diseases can reduce or eliminate the much demand for some prescription medicines. Developing, marketing, and costing these curative treatments may require the pharma sector to adopt new capabilities and strategies.
Digital therapeutics: Increasingly effective, pragmatic and scalable non-pharmaceutical (digital) interventions or methods including those focused on behaviour modification can also reduce or eliminate the demand for medications.
Precision intervention: Increasingly urbane or evolved medical technology such as precise or to the point medical intervention enabled by Big data analytics, robotics, nanotechnology, AI or tissue engineering can reduce the need for biopharmaceutical intervention.
As we move ahead the future of health, biopharma starters should consider new strategic or more clever investments to set themselves for success. The changes that we see in general will likely require pharmaceutical companies to think of new types of markets, alternative creative business models, or a major change in how they precisely define what work they do.
Modern medicine is nothing short of miracles, especially in comparison to the medicine of even a decade or more ago. But medicine can always be much better, and the pharmaceutical branch of the healthcare industry plays a much bigger role than ever in our everyday lives and we all should recognize it, appreciate it for healthier lives and healthier contribution to our families, societies, nation and the world.
