The pharmaceutical industry has been no stranger to the rising costs of drug development as of late, but disruptive technologies could soon change this paradigm, according to a report by GlobalData.
Artificial intelligence (AI), big data and blockchain are set to impact the industry, not only by helping to add value in terms of personalised treatments, but to also counteract the unsustainability of skyrocketing drug prices, according to the data and analytics company.
The report states that there are currently over 100 companies applying AI to healthcare, with big names such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon and IBM Watson paving the way.
With the new technology, researchers are hoping to “generate more accurate hypotheses faster, making the drug discovery process less expensive and more effective”, said Valentina Gburcik, GlobalData’s cardiovascular and metabolic disease director.
She added: “In addition, the database of electronic medical records and public health data can be analysed to identify hidden patterns that can lead to a quick identification of potential molecular targets for a disease.”
And it’s not just the pharmaceutical industry that is set to see the change either. Quite recently it was reported that health insurers are also testing blockchain’s capabilities in generating more accurate and reliable demographic data, such as health records.
Gburcik concluded: “Blockchain could be a platform for sharing electronic health records between various health organisations in a secure way, which would further facilitate research and speed up the drug development process.
“Furthermore, there is a great potential for using this technology in pharmaceutical supply chain, medical billing and anonymised patient record transmission.”
