Global Pharmaceutical IT Scenario and Landscape
Author: Murali Sundararajan, Associate Director, Global Life Sciences Practice, Intelligroup
The Global Pharmaceutical market is poised to grow at the rate of 4-7% and expected to reach $ 975 bn by 2013 (Pharmtech) . This growth is on a Global scenario and has a stronger presence in US market. The therapeutic segments which fuel this huge Pharmaceutical growth are Cardiovascular and Anti diabetic drugs. Anti Hypertensive drug segment is another important area of Therapeutics which will be predominant in next few years. This is due to change in Lifestyle and demographic conditions across the Globe.
To reach these heights, Pharmaceutical industries across the Globe are facing huge challenges which include Patent Expiry, Product Recalls and Managing Regulations. The estimated revenue loss on Patent Expiry is $ 33 bn in 2011 and $ 29 bn in 2012 (IMS Health). At the same time Global Pharmaceutical companies are spending huge money from their revenue in managing the Regulations because of their Global presence and Marketing operations. Another noteworthy trend which is emanating in Pharmaceutical space is while US Pharmaceutical companies spends more than 50% in R&D, more than 20% of this spend is expected to migrate to Asia-Pacific and hence Outsourcing and managing the same has become a key for Pharmaceutical companies.
Because of the Financial, Operational and Regulation pressures, Pharmaceutical companies have to improve the efficiency of IT and also use IT to enhance business Innovation and Operational Efficiency. IT Applications helps Pharmaceutical companies in overcoming all these challenges to a larger extent. Hence the role of IT in Pharmaceutical companies have increased multifold with due importance to Regulations and Improving Brand Management / Customer Relationship Management. Smaller companies spend proportionally more on IT and the IT spending twice as fast for biotech companies, compared to branded and generic companies. IT organizations in Pharmaceutical companies are becoming lean and business focused.
Based on the above the following are the key 10 IT capabilities required for Pharmaceutical Industry
• Enterprise Resource Planning – Efficiency supply chain and batch management
• Experimental Work Management – Characteristics , Methods management, Stability testing and Results management
• Document Management – Document retention, control and 21 CFR Part 11
• Project and Portfolio Management – Workflow, Decision making and Project Financials
• Change Management – Release Management and change controls
• Security and Access Controls – Access controls and user rights administration
• Reporting – Search Engines and Business Intelligence
• Customer Relationship Management – Sales Force Automation and Consumer / Customer Relationship
• Computer System Validation – V Model of Validation and traceability
• Portal – Capture insights and manage knowledge
A Pharmaceutical company which has implemented the above integrated functionalities is expected to overcome the challenges being faced and are competing globally. Pharmaceutical companies are currently working on different stages in IT lifecycle in getting these functionalities up and running and some of the Pharmaceutical companies have these applications at matured stage and hence they are considered to be the leading player in the Global competition.
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Tags: Life Sciences, Pharma, Pharmaceuticals