Opinion: Don’t start with technology. Start with the patient

The rise of digital innovation provides opportunities to enhance our lives, from the devices we use for entertainment to those that help to increase our productivity at work. So it makes sense to look at how we can use digital to impact health outcomes too.

It should be obvious.

But for pharmaceutical companies, incorporating digital has not always come naturally. How do we keep up with developments that are happening outside of our core business? Should we see digital as a replacement for traditional ways of delivering treatment, or as the game‑changing key to a healthier future?

As vice president of Commercial Digital Health at AstraZeneca, I look at digital health tools — and the ever-growing field of digital therapeutics — as entirely complementary and often integral to pharmaceutical strategies. I see digital innovation as crucial to giving health care professionals the ability to deliver the right care earlier, leveraging the best strategy for the individual patient, and for health care systems to cope with growing populations and limited resources.

Although not traditionally seen as a core activity, digital is now a business-critical element that should run throughout organizations. At AstraZeneca, it is fully embedded and is directly impacting our mission to transform care.

However, to be truly patient-centric, it’s crucial not to overburden already challenged health care systems with shiny new technologies just for technology’s sake. We must identify which digital solutions will address patient needs, what is required to drive adoption at scale, and which opportunities will meet our customers where they are.

Navigating those opportunities can be complex, with so many conversations dominated by the latest technologies. As a pharma company, how do you cut through the noise? There is a simple way to answer that: Don’t start with the technology, start with the patient.

 Culture breeds innovation

My team and I share the same vision — using digital innovation to help translate science into patient care. That is why it’s vital that we are leaders not only in the fields of data science and digital delivery but also in health systems and user experience.

Starting with the patient, we look at their needs at all stages of their health care journey, then we consider how technology could deliver that, how that could fit into the health care system, and what needs to change to make it work. We look for the right solution to match the patient needs, whether that means partnering with existing technology providers or supporting new ideas and helping them to grow. And one of the most critical elements is to evaluate solutions, in close collaboration with health care providers.

It is my firm opinion that pharma companies should integrate digital solutions and ensure that digital fluency is as valued as the technology itself.

Tackling the biggest challenges

Technology can’t provide all the answers by itself, but when we start with the patient, we can identify the gaps where digital solutions can be applied. Three such critical challenges facing health care today are prediction and early diagnosis, personalized medicine and biomarkers, and treatment adherence.

We know that patients around the world need to be screened and diagnosed much earlier to achieve the best possible outcomes. My team is working with several partners to apply artificial intelligence solutions to help screen for early predictors of diseases such as lung cancer, heart failure, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — a common lung disease — with encouraging results.

Keeping patients at the center means improving the capabilities that help us match the right patient with the right treatment. AI is quickly becoming a prerequisite for increasing the development of personalized medicines. We’re seeing this through using AI to identify biomarkers that will predict patient response, insights that can then be used to personalize therapies for those most likely to benefit.

We also know that treatment adherence and navigating a care plan is a challenge for patients with long-term conditions. Smart, digital-based aids can help to significantly enhance their experience and lead to an improved quality of life, augmenting face-to-face care to meet the patient in all areas of their life. But there is so much more we can do here, by identifying the needs of different diseases and supporting innovation in these areas.

Partnership enables progress

Digital and data science offers a world of opportunity, and being able to translate that to the needs of patients is key. But as pharmaceutical companies, we cannot fully realize the potential of digital health alone. It is critical for us to collaborate with, and learn from, partners within and outside the conventional health care sphere.

We should of course work with all parts of the health care ecosystem, from governments and large health institutions to small technology startups. But we should also think beyond the traditional, and this is where the pharma industry can help by offering our expertise and experience, acting as a connector for the ecosystem and a catalyst for innovation that will ultimately impact health outcomes.

At AstraZeneca, we initiated A.Catalyst Network as one such facilitator and catalyzer. The network is made up of our own innovation teams in both global and country functions, as well as external partners, and provides a dynamic infrastructure that connects us with health ecosystems all around the world. It helps us create the right environment for innovation, so we can assess and nurture new technology, always matching it to patient needs, and to shape our programs in a way that prioritizes scale, so that solutions can benefit as many of those patients as possible.

Speaking the language of patient care

All transformational changes reach an inflection point where they become an integral part of how we operate. I believe digital health is at that stage now. We can use it alongside other elements such as medicines, lifestyle changes, and nutrition to address patients’ needs in a more personalized way.

To utilize digital effectively, we all need to speak the language of patient care. By keeping our focus on the patient, and putting digital health at the heart of pharma, we can harness the power of technology to support a healthier future for all.