Insights success the 10 fastest growing pharmaceutical companies oct 2017

www.insightssuccess.in October 2017

The way of business solutions

The

1 Fastest Growing Pharmaceutical Companies 2017

Editor’s Pick Revolutionary Factors Affecting Pharmaceutical Industry

Market Dashboard

Photo Courtesy: Florent Dubray

Social Media Marketing for Pharma Industry

Dr. Jacky Vonderscher Co-founder & CEO

ENYO Pharma Leveraging viruses to develop first-in-class drug candidates in many indications

Editorial

P

Quality Measures Driving Innovation in Pharma Industry

harma Industry has sustained decades of modest growth along with a healthy list of historical medical achievements.

Technological developments in the pharmaceutical industryfrom potent new drug chemistries to innovative R&D partnerships and marketing plans are reshaping the industry strategies of many pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. According to the recently published report, the last ďŹ ve years of Thomson Reuters Top 100 Global Innovators list consistently release pharma as one of the largest industry sectors represented. Though innovation is the lifeblood of any industry, the discovery and development of new drugs are supplemented by a host of unique challenges, ethical implications, and social responsibilities. The fundamental role of the pharmaceutical industry in maintaining and enhancing human life is further exhibited in the extent of its R&D activity. By some accounts, pharmaceutical R&D holds an impressive share of all business spending on R&D worldwidea remarkable ďŹ nancial commitment to a single industry.

Ranking pharma innovation isn’t easy. One typically includes new drugs approved, but that only gauges quantity, not quality. Several attempts at assessing quality have been made using such criteria as new modes of action; therapeutic need; medical value; or improvement over the standard of care. While some of these provide useful self-supporting insights, the acid-test of innovation ultimately is the impact it has on public health. Thomas Reuters proposed new quantitative measures of productivity and innovation and used these to represent an industry that has become more innovative and productive. These innovative measures include two quantitative standards of the industry based on the parameters collected for measuring productivity and innovation.

Assessing the current state the industry by these new standards will allow a more qualitative view of the state of the pharmaceutical industry and can be used to measure improvements in both productivity and innovation. Companies with an innovation edge will have a substantial competitive advantage.

Sugandha Sharma

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Ariana Lawrence Managing Editor Sugandha Sharma Contributor Nikita Doiphode Visualiser David King Art & Design Director Victoria Co-designer Alex Noel Picture Editor Pranita Mane Art Editor Vijaykumar Dudhbhate Business Development Manager Mathew Smith Nick Adams Marketing Manager Chris Business Development Executive David, Joseph, John, Mary Research Analyst Jennifer Circulation Manager Robert Database Management Steve Technology Consultant Swapnil Patil sales@insightssuccess.com

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Cover Story 08 ENYO Pharma: Leveraging viruses to develop first-in-class drug candidates in many indications

Articles

22

34

Exclusive

Market Dashboard

An Imperative Association between Neuroscience and e-Learning

Social Media Marketing for Pharma Industry

28

Innovation Archives

Editor’s Pick

Artificial Intelligence: A Game Changer for Healthcare

Revolutionary Factors Affecting Pharmaceutical Industry

42

Contents 20

ICM Pharma: Transforming Science of Drug Development

32

Quertle: Transforming AI-Based Analytics for Biomedical Big Data

26

16 Expert’s Column

Executive Talk

How Innovation in healthcare means going against entrenched beliefs about the nature of charting

Top 5 Best Practices that Defines a Successful Wellness Program

38 Professional’s Particulars Hospital Logistics: Accelerating the Patient Flow in Danish Hospitals

Post-Genetic Era requires “Patient-First” approach from Pharma Industries

R

ecent years have seen exciting breakthroughs in pharmaceutical sciences that are producing genuinely novel therapeutics for unmet patient needs. The challenging market dynamics have transformed the conventional pharmaceutical industry model from one of developing low-cost drugs of incremental advantage for large patient populations to one of efficient, high-value medicines for targeted, niche patient populations.

The most prosperous firms are shifting away from a traditional, top-down model of product promotion and toward a flexible, interactive approach: “Patients First,” which gives patients better tools and full focused information on the drugs they are taking and how to control their conditions. Pharma companies that succeed in patient engagement efforts increase their chances of regulative and commercial success as judgments about approval, prescribing, and marketing of drugs are more closely tied to patient results and needs. From a business perspective, this changes everything as pharma companies will need to become more proactive with large patients communities.

The need for proficient pharmaceutical solution providers has made us look out for “The 10 Fastest Growing Pharmaceutical Companies 2017.” On the cover page, we have Dr. Jacky Vonderscher, the Co-founder & CEO of ENYO Pharma, that bringing new opportunities to the Pharmaceutical Industry. ENYO Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company with an innovative approach inspired by viruses, and that leveraging viruses to develop first-in-class drug candidates in multiple indications. Their biotech mimics virus strategy is to modulate host cellular functions with numerous applications. Initially, ENYO Pharma developed against influenza virus; it has a mitochondrial cellular target which leads ENYO Pharma to explore new indications such as oncology or metabolic diseases.

To add an interesting angle in this edition, we have come up with some knowledge enriching articles from the experts of the industry like “Top 5 Best Practices that Defines a Successful Wellness Program” by Dr. Gary Tho, owner at Chiropractic Works, and “How Innovation in healthcare means going against entrenched beliefs about the nature of charting” by Richard Low, MD of Praxis® Electronic Medical Records. Along with such amazing pieces to read about pharma and healthcare, we have also covered some of the amazing articles crafted by editorial desk like Social Media Marketing for Pharma Industry, An Imperative Association between Neuroscience and e-Learning, Artificial Intelligence: A Game Changer for Healthcare, and Revolutionary Factors Affecting Pharmaceutical Industry, among many others.

Do flip every single page to unveil the secret of the success of these companies. Hope this issue will leave a mark on your mind and will enrich your knowledge about Pharmaceutical.

TELLING

LIFE’S STORIES FROM MEMORY

1800 102 2055

ENYO Pharma

Leveraging viruses to develop rst-in-class drug candidates in many indications

‘‘

‘‘

ENYO Pharma has licensed several Inserm patents issued from the discoveries of the founding scientists and developed a unique approach for the identification of intracellular therapeutic targets and first-in-class molecules

Photo Courtesy: Florent Dubray

Cover Story

Dr. Jacky Vonderscher Co-founder & CEO

The Pharmaceutical Industry: A Sector Facing Issues In Innovation

I

n the last decade, the pharmaceutical sector has been facing structural issues when it comes to bringing new pharmaceuticals to the patient. Indeed, studies have revealed that the average cost to develop a single drug has tripled to greater than €1.7Bn in real terms since 2003 while numerous patent expirations have reduced revenues from blockbuster drugs. Also, the average forecast for peak sales has declined by 43% due to increasing development of specialized drugs for smaller patient populations.

Lastly, the attrition in the drug development pipeline remains high notably for lack of efficacy. On average, 24 failed drug development programs occur for every one molecule entering to market.

In a word, the process of developing a new drug is very time consuming, extremely costly and highly risky, with minimum chance of a successful outcome.

In addition, the rate of innovation in pharmaceutical development is low, which results from a focus on a restricted number of drug target classes considered more tractable. One answer to that was to develop “me-too” drugs, which are clinically equivalent therapeutics to replace pioneering drugs as opposed to focusing on new targets.

Photo Courtesy: ENYO Pharma

Still there are a large number of diseases with unmet medical needs because of a lack of innovation and new cellular targets investigated by the pharmaceutical industry. In the last decade there has been growing awareness of the limited structural diversity in pharmaceutical company compound collections but there are still room for new approaches and new therapeutic strategies.

“We have plans to conduct all our molecules to Phase II Proof of Concept clinical trials”

Having made that analysis, two veterans of the pharma industry and four scientists of the Infectiology Research Center in Lyon, France created ENYO Pharma in January 2014.

Photo Courtesy: ENYO Pharma

ENYO Pharma: Bringing New Opportunities to the Pharmaceutical Industry

ENYO Pharma is on the mission to create a change by developing new therapies against diseases with unmet medical needs thanks to a wholly new approach.

ENYO Pharma’s team has developed a unique and innovative drug discovery engine inspired by viruses to identify and develop first-in-class drug candidates in multiple attractive diseases.

The company is currently developing its first leading product EYP001 in two liver diseases: chronic hepatitis B and NASH (Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis). However many other therapeutic areas such as oncology or metabolic disorders are also being investigated through ongoing development programs.

Dr. Jacky Vonderscher, the Erudite behind ENYO Pharma ENYO Pharma’s team is world class with a crucial mix of pharma senior leadership and scientific excellence notably in virology which drives the company forward. But a team can only coordinate thoughtfully and march forward towards excellence when they get a good leader. And ENYO has a genius as its leader, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Dr. Jacky Vonderscher, a pharma veteran and an experienced drug hunter. He saw the potential to rapidly translate the expertise in virus-host interactions of ENYO Pharma’s scientists into novel drug candidates in many attractive conditions beyond infectious diseases.

Dr. Vonderscher held multiple Senior Executive roles notably in R&D. Previously he was operating as a Senior VP Head of Translation Research Sciences and as a Senior VP Head of Molecular Medicine Labs at Roche in USA and Switzerland (2008-2012). He also held other senior positions with Novartis in the USA and Switzerland (1979 to 2008). He is well known for his leading role in the discovery and development of Sandimmum Neoral® in the 90s and was also involved as co-inventor of two other important drug products, the blockbuster Everolimus (Certican® and Afinitor® Products) and Mycophenolic Acid Sodium salt (Myfortic® Product) He’s a Board member of Inatherys, ObsEva and Step Pharma as well as a SAB member of Inotrem. He recently was also coopted as a board member of EBE (European Biopharmaceutical Entreprises, a European Trade Association).

Drug Discovery Inspired by Viruses Over millions of years of evolution, viruses have perfected their ability to modulate and hijack the cell functions for their own benefit.

ENYO Pharma's team is convinced that by imitating viruses it is possible to modulate cellular functions and proteins without endangering the cell to open new perspectives for developing medicines.

ENYO Pharma’s team is thus developing drug discovery programs on many intracellular host targets yet untapped by pharmaceutical industries because considered as non-tractable until now. This would lead to the development of first in class therapeutics.

The approach allows finding new cellular targets which are not exploited yet to diversify the current therapeutic pipeline and increase the chance of getting a cure for diseases with still unmet medical needs.

This approach matches the needs of the large Pharma to replenish their pipelines with innovative drugs through in licensing, maintains the primacy of public health interest and maximizes individual medical benefit.

Photo Courtesy: ENYO Pharma

ENYO Pharma’s expertise and knowledge have also raised the interest of major investors, who invested €22M in the company in early 2016 to continue the work on Hepatitis B and other programs. The company is currently discussing with various US and European investors to raise its Series B to fund its two Phase II in chronic hepatitis B and NASH and bring at least one new compound in clinic.

Other programs (EYP002, MIMESIS): ENYO Pharma further validation of ENYO’s approach ENYO Pharma already made the proof-of-concept of its drug discovery engine with its first candidate EYP001 being tested in patients. It second leading molecule, EYP002 was inspired by a strategy employed by Influenza to regulate host cell biology and allowed to find a unique novel target focused on mitochondria and stress responses that could also be relevant for oncology and metabolic diseases.

Following that, ENYO has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program for the MIMESIS project that results from the scale up of ENYO Pharma’s innovative drug discovery engine and aims at screening 10,000 molecules. This library of developable chemical templates is currently screened in phenotypic assays against 4 viruses (Flu, RSV and HRV (to respiratory viruses) and Zika), a mycobacterium (TB) and as inducers of Immunogenic Cell Death in tumors. With €3.6 million spending over 24 months, most promising chemistries will be the starting point for numerous hit to lead optimization programs funded within the EU grant.

The initial results showed a high number of leads and as a single organization ENYO Pharma will not be able to develop them all and will likely partnerships to licence or co-develop some of those molecules that are not part of an internal specific program.

Photo Courtesy: ENYO Pharma

“Thanks to the MIMESIS approach, ENYO Pharma will multiply the opportunities to bring very innovative drugs working on untapped human targets which will translate into higher pharmaceutical benefit to patients. This approach has not been used before in the pharmaceutical industry and is potentially transferable to any human disease. Within less than a year we have already gained 50 hit molecules on undrugged targets and they are being validated as we speak” asserts Dr. Vonderscher.

“We have deciphered virus-host interactions and built a unique Drug Discovery Engine based on mimetism of the virus strategy for modulation of cellular host functions”

Feather of Achievement in ENYO Pharma’s Cap ENYO Pharma is developing its leading drug candidate in both chronic Hepatitis B and NASH. NASH is the most common liver disorder in Western countries. Its main consequence is liver fibrosis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently no treatment exists for this disease which represents an important challenge.

Hepatitis B remains a major worldwide public health problem with over 260 millions of chronically-infected people despite extensive vaccination programs. Chronic hepatitis B evolves towards life threatening complications including liver cirrhosis and cancer. Current therapeutic regimen, often fail to cure HBV and are lifelong treatments.

Recently, ENYO Pharma has successfully completed EYP001 first in man Phase 1 study. The Phase 1a single and multiple ascending dose trial evaluating EYP001 in healthy subjects have been completed. The results show that EYP001 was safe and well-tolerated at all doses studied in 80 subjects. The drug is now starting a phase 1b clinical trial in patients with chronic HBV with results due in early 2018 with two phase 2 trials in HBV and NASH planned for mid 2018.

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Company Name

Management

Brief

ARCA Biopharma, Inc. arcabio.com

Derek Cole VP

ARCA was founded on the belief that a precision medicine approach to drug development, tailoring medical treatment to the individual genetic characteristics of patients, can enable more effective therapies, improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.

About Capella Therapeutics, Inc. capellatherapeutics.com

Dr. Yun Long Founder & CEO

Capella Therapeutics is founded in 2014 in San Diego, focused on the discovery and development of small molecule drugs to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases.

ENYO Pharma enyopharma.com

Dr. Jacky Vonderscher Co-founder & CEO

ENYO Pharma is a privately held biopharmaceutical company with an innovative approach inspired by viruses; their biotech mimics virus strategy to modulate host cellular functions with multiple applications.

ICM Pharma Pte. Ltd. icmpharma.com

Dr. Stuart Koe Managing Director

ICM Pharma is a Singapore-based, GMP-certified pharmaceutical manufacturer that develops, manufactures and markets a range of OTC and generic pharmaceuticals.

Leo Pharma leo-pharma.com

Henrik Heskjær Kyndlev Head of Global External Communication

LEO Pharma helps people to achieve healthy skin by offering care solutions to patients in more than 100 countries globally, supports people in managing their skin conditions.

MAX BioPharma maxbiopharma.com

Dr. Farhad Parhami Founder & President

MAX BioPharma is a California-based biotechnology firm developing novel small molecule lipids, referred to as oxysterols, as candidates for therapeutic drugs for debilitating and fatal human diseases.

Quertle, LLC quertle.com

Dr. Jeffrey Saffer & Dr. Vicki Burnett Founders

Quertle is a Biomedical Big Data leader; their BioAI™ Platform - based on advanced Artificial Intelligence - powers a suite of products that deliver relevant information and predictive analytics out of the flood of biomedical textual information.

Saniona saniona.com

Dr. Jørgen Drejer Founder & CEO

Saniona is a research and development company focused on drugs for central nervous system disorders, autoimmune diseases, metabolic diseases and pain relief; has a comprehensive portfolio of potential drug candidates in preclinical or clinical phase.

Dr. Tai-Sen T. Soong President & CEO

Senhwa Biosciences (Senhwa) is a drug development company, engaged in development of small molecule drugs for treating newly validated targets in cancer pathways; pipeline product portfolio includes two agents in clinical development for cancer, namely, CX-5461 and CX-4945.

Senhwa Biosciences Inc. senhwabiosciences.com

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Dr. Rajesh C. Shrotriya Inc. MD, Chairman & CEO sppirx.com

Spectrum Pharmaceuticals is an American biopharmaceutical company, located in Irvine, California; is a commercial-stage biotechnology company with fully integrated commercial and drug development operations, and a leader in hematology and oncology.

Expert’s Column

How Innovation in

healthcare

means going against entrenched beliefs about the

nature of charting A

merican Medicine is in an unprecedented crisis. Doctors are not happy. A recent study by the AMA shows that physicians are spending twice as much time with their Electronic Healthcare Records (EHRs) as they are in “direct clinical facetime” with their patients. The study also revealed widespread career dissatisfaction among physicians with 54% reporting “physician burnout.”

Doctors are wasting hours a day struggling with their computers to document medicine and provide care to patients with whom they spend less time every day. Patients feel their doctor is more concerned with data on the computer than listening to their problems and caring for their needs.

Meanwhile health care costs are

16

climbing while providers are getting progressively more frustrated at playing data entry clerks.

Remarkably, computers were first introduced to the examination room precisely to resolve the chaos that clinicians faced with paper. Initially, computers promised to make documentation easier and more effective. Instead, EHRs severely worsened an admittedly a bad situation. What is even stranger is that in all other fields of endeavor except medicine, information technology has been highly successful in streamlining paperwork and bureaucratic congestion. Why has this not happened in healthcare?

One strange explanation propounded many in the IT field is that doctors are “computer-phobic,” that physicians fear technology and lack the adequate technical skills to handle computers.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Physicians are highly-trained in the sciences and have used every new technology appearing in the medical field effectively for at least a hundred years. Other pundits argue that physicians are reticent to change and are stuck in their ways. That’s not true either. Doctors are more likely to embrace new approaches than any other profession. The answer must be looked for within the charting software itself. Yet, EHR software precisely replicates the paper charting

| October 2017 |

Richard Low Managing Director

Richard Low, Managing Director of Praxis® Electronic Medical Records, is one of a handful of physician CEOs methodology used for over a century. Maybe that’s the problem.

Innovation has not challenged entrenched beliefs in the old paper method of charting. The old paper paradigm remains bound to the past: an electronic typewriter regurgitating text inside a dead record.

The problem seems to be not with the computer but with the original paper record. Charting on paper never worked well even before the first computer ever saw the light of day in a doctor’s office. Indeed, the charting paradigm had been malfunctioning for at least thirty years, ever since the old three-byfive cards, used for more than a

| October 2017 |

running EHR companies. A graduate from Yale Medical School and practiced both Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine for more than 20 years. Doctor Richard started the company in 1989 to resolve the main problem with charting, precious time being wasted by providers. By learning from hundreds of medical clients throughout the years, Praxis is today more than just an EHR, it is a clinical tool that enables doctors to provide better medicine, save time and reduce professional stress and burnout.

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Expert’s Column

century to remind clinicians of the patient conditions, were replaced by reams paperwork as a response to the medical malpractice litigation beginning in the sixties. Then, with stacks of medical paper records filed and stacked up to the ceiling, third-party payers, particularly the government, began to use this paper as criteria for denial of payment for services rendered. So what was written on the medical record became more important than what was done. And no one questioned the paper approach. As lawyers put it, “res ipsa loquitor” (the thing speaks for itself), meaning: “if it’s not written, it it’s not done!”. Sadly, today’s physician can earn more by spending five minutes with the patient and twenty minutes with the chart, than by spending twenty minutes with the patient and five minutes with the chart.

Clearly, there is something profoundly wrong with this charting approach.

So why did medical software developers maintained the old charting paradigm in their EHRs instead of giving careful thought to take advantage of the unique power of the computer to handle routines better than humans can? The answer is simple. No one wanted to challenge physicians’ entrenched beliefs that the current way of charting is the only valid approach. Consequently, programmers worked on the wrong premise from the start and, by porting it to the computer, they made it far worse. The argument was simple: “It had always been done this way.” Except it wasn’t. Charting the essence of a clinical visit on a threeby-five-card, as used by our forebears, is not the same as a computer spitting out tons if complex computer codes to explain a clinical encounter only because computers cannot handle human language.

Indeed, after the initial CPT and ICD-9 codes developed by the AMA and the World Health Organization to describe acceptable treatments and diagnoses, an array of new codes appeared on the scene: G-Codes, F-Codes, RxNorm codes, LOINC Codes, SNOMED codes, the list seems endless.

These codes created havoc for busy practitioners who have turned into data-entry clerks of a sort, wasting time and creating stress and confusion, which can lead to clinical errors. SNOMED in particular is meant to describe the entire medical exchange: the patient symptoms, the clinical findings, the diagnoses and all the treatments in “computerese” rather than English, and drives doctors completely crazy in the process. Even a new medical syndrome is being recognized as affecting healthcare providers called the “Alert Fatigue Syndrome.” Now, the

18

law of the land is that doctors are to search all these codes to transmit clinical information to their peers. No one stopped this insanity and realized that we had the basics wrong.

So then how should busy clinicians document their clinical exchanges if not the way they were taught for the last two hundred years? We, at Praxis Electronic Medical Records, believe the answer is for the computer to help the providers think and express themselves using their own thoughts and words by retrieving them just in time from an artificial intelligence database so as to learn from their own past encounters of similar patients. As we like to say: “It’s faster, easier, and better to do what you wrote than to write what you did.” Charting backwards? You bet! This is not what physicians were taught to do, but then again, our forebears did not have computers to assist them in the examining room, nor reams of data to fill out, nor attorneys and third party payers to deal with. They did not need to chart up a storm to be able practice medicine. The chart then becomes, not a silly compilation of what is being observed over and over again, but an actual living checklist that ensures than nothing is forgotten or overlooked at the point of care, that all the questions are being asked, all the relevant findings and studies are being evaluated, and yes, it also charts instantly so saves about two hours a day.

It seems that doctors had the basics wrong from the start. If the goal is to practice higher quality medicine by taking better care of patients, paperwork should not get in the way.

On the contrary, documentation should assist the thought process, guide it along, and not hinder it. The computer can do that if it is programmed appropriately.

The concept processing solution works. It has been used for several years. Praxis EMR is consistently rated number one in physician user satisfaction studies performed by the largest medical organizations today, including the American Academy of Family Physicians the American College of Physicians, yet few know why Praxis scores so highly.

Indeed, this new charting approach goes against the grain.

It fights against entrenched beliefs about the nature of documenting medicine. Often for a major change to take place two things are needed. Technology must represent disruptive innovation, and there has to be a lot of pain with the way things had been done up to that point. The latter is already here among physicians. Doctors today must heal themselves.

| October 2017 |

ICM Pharma: Transforming Science of Drug Development

Dr. Stuart Koe Managing Director

R

ecent years have seen exciting discoveries in Pharma Industries that are generating truly novel therapeutics for unmet patient needs. In today’s connected world, the role of the Pharmaceutical Industry is changing rapidly according to the key trends. Having an identity in Pharma solutions in place that one can trust enhances day-to-day living and work life by creating many more opportunities and encouraging stronger communities.

At the center of this industry, ICM Pharma Pte. Ltd. stands tall among its contemporaries with providing its unmet patient needs.

ICM Pharma is amongst Singapore’s largest homegrown pharmaceutical manufacturers that develops, produces and markets a wide range of Over The Counter (OTC) and generic pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and disinfectants. Being one of the very first manufacturers to be GMP Certified by the Ministry of Health for the production of human pharmaceuticals in the 1980s, ICM Pharma is one of the leading suppliers to public and private healthcare institutions, clinics and pharmacies in Singapore.

With its wide range of OTC “Minor Ailment Remedies” found practically in almost every household in Singapore, ICM Pharma has established itself as a leading and trusted pharmaceutical manufacturer.

A Leader Who Inspired Change Founded in 1970 by Koe Khoon Poh, lauded as a pioneer and Father of Pharmacy in Singapore, ICM Pharma is now

20

helmed by his son, Dr. Stuart Koe, Managing Director of ICM Pharma. A pharmacist by training, Dr. Stuart, gained his experience running a dotcom startup for almost 12 years before joining his father’s company. Since taking over the management role, he takes all the charge and doubled the production capacity and improved its operational and manufacturing excellence with an investment of more than S$2 million. Also, the company has grown by 30% in an industry that has been experiencing a climate of stagnation.

ICM Pharma has invested more than €5 million in cuttingedge biological research that is now in Phase III clinical trials.

Under the leadership of Dr. Stuart, not only ICM Pharma is improving its operational and manufacturing excellence.

This shall undoubtedly solidify its business foundation as it begins to explore overseas regional markets with some of its award-winning products. Having spent the last few decades specializing in liquid mixtures, creams and ointments, today ICM Pharma is also enriching its product portfolio through the registration of dozens of new generics, comprising a broad spectrum of medical specialties from cardiology to oncology.

In an honor to carry forward of his father’s legacy, Dr. Stuart has also launched a new company, “PharmaKoe” that entrenches his family name cleverly in the pharmacy world. With the tagline “Get Better.” PharmaKoe promises that you will get better in all aspects - health, products, services. But more importantly, it is a commitment to improving itself continuously. | October 2017 |

‘‘

We know the better way to fulfill unmet patient needs; our best asset is our people and our willingness to adapt or iterate to a positive outcome

‘‘

Delivering Solutions and Services with Accuracy Already armed with its established line of award-winning products, this strategic expansion of its product offerings will further augment its competitiveness as it moves into vast overseas regional markets. In this respect, regional expansion plans and techno-commercial alliances with renowned international pharmaceutical players are already progressing at a rapid pace. The group’s expansive customer base, both in public and private sectors, can look forward to a whole new range of products and services across all the main therapeutic segments.

Bringing Innovation at the “Doors” of Alloksys Life Sciences ICM Pharma has invested more than €5 million in cuttingedge biological research that is now in Phase III clinical trials across, almost a dozen of reputable hospitals worldwide. It was the company’s quest for innovation that culminated in this landmark investment in Alloksys Life Sciences in 2016, a Dutch biotech company with its pipeline of novel, life-saving treatments based on the RESCAP® platform. The largest investment of its kind by a Singaporean pharmaceutical company in novel drug development, RESCAP® is expected to reach the market in 2019.

industry’s best talent. ICM Pharma has the rare distinction of being perhaps the only pharmaceutical company founded, owned and managed by pharmacists throughout its long history, which it considers to be one of its competitive strengths. How this company’s competitive strength has manifested is the bestowal of multiple prestigious awards on ICM Pharma, including the Enterprise 50, Singapore Prestige Brand, SMF Sustainable Growth, Entrepreneur of the Year, SME 100 – Singapore’s Fast Moving Companies and the 2017 Dun & Bradstreet Business Eminence Award.

ICM’s role in National Healthcare As an industry leader and apart from its business and financial successes, ICM Pharma is playing a key role in its corporate and social responsibility. Dr. Stuart chairs the Life Sciences Industry Group (LSIG) at the Singapore Manufacturing Federation, which functions as the representative communication platform for the Singapore’s pharmaceutical industry and the government, regulatory agencies and foreign countries, in addition to leading the Singapore Pharmaceutical Manufacturer’s Council and Singapore Pharmaceutical Trade Organisation. Recognising the significant macroscopic role it has to play in the national interests of accessible and low-cost healthcare by strengthening the capabilities of the local pharmaceutical industry, ICM is committed to working with these organizations to serve the country and community by maintaining world-class quality and safety standards. The company ensures that the healthcare needs of Singaporeans will be met with the sustainable availability and supply of affordable and effective pharmaceutical products and medicines.

Explaining the success: Human capital ICM Pharma recognizes that its greatest asset is its people.

The company has invested heavily in the human capital to prepare itself for the next wave of growth. Over the last one year, it has taken bold steps in creating an executive leadership team, headed by the CEO, Mr. Nandiraju Manohar, and pillared with novel and distinct business verticals. These key positions were filled by attracting the

| October 2017 |

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Exclusive

An Imperative Association between

n u r n a e i ng e e-L

d

N

e i n c c s e o a r

T

he upsurge of e-learning technologies is evident in education all over the world. Communication and applicationsharing technologies have had a great inuence on formal and informal education, particularly through the use of mobile and wireless devices. E-learning eradicates the barrier of time and distance, forming a universal learning-ondemand platform.

Understanding the working of brain and how people learn will help e-learning professionals to develop a paramount training model for business environment. Applying various learning models, as well as what incentives are needed before, during, and even after the learning process, helps instructional designers deliver a great learning experience for all their students.

While the content, layout and the accessibility of the e-learning course are important, determining how a learner’s brain actually acquires and retain information is an essential factor of e-learning design and development.

Understanding how the Brain Learns David Kolb’s famous four-phase model of the learning cycle can be mapped into four major brain processes.

22

| October 2017 |

Concrete Experience: The information-gathering part of the cycle engages the sensory cortices through which we hear, see, touch, smell and taste. They record these concrete experiences in the brain.

Reflective Observation: All of the new data collected from the sensory cortex flow towards the association regions, where they start combining to produce a meaningful concept. If we can find meaning in the subject being learned, the information can move into the working memory. Although reflection needs time and space to happen, without these it is impossible for the learners to process, search for connections, and integrate information. That is why, it is important to carefully incorporate reflection into the e-learning materials and significantly improve reflection by inspecting the amount of information and stride of delivering such information.

It should give students enough time to reflect on the material and eventually make meaning of it.

Abstract Conceptualization: This brain process occurs when the prefrontal integrative cortex is completely engaged. The learner moves past receiving and absorbing information and is now ready to create new knowledge, craft relationships and form abstractions. Thus the learner starts making meaning in his or her own way and shift from being a ‘receiver of knowledge’ to a ‘creator of knowledge’. This is the process that should be encouraged as it will result in a longer durable learning.

Active Experimentation: Trying out what you have learned involves the motor cortex. It is that part of the brain which converts abstract mental actions into physical action. After the brain has interpreted experiences through reflection and built meaning, it uses these concepts as guides for active experimentation.

Active testing can exhibit in several ways such as reading another book related to the subject, explaining or discussing a previous lesson, searching topics online related to a lesson etc.

Leveraging the Understanding You cannot argue with the brain. It follows its own rules. For effective learning, learners need brain-friendly content.

Brain-friendly content is made up of fundamental notions that will help learners in understanding information deeply and retain it in the long-term memory. Let’s look at some of the fundamentals an e-learning professional can leverage to develop and design an effective e-learning model.

No multitasking: For years, multitasking has been considered as an essential skill. However, research has | October 2017 |

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established that our brains do not have the power to multitask. One hemisphere concentrates on one task, while the other is focused on a completely secondary task. Thus it takes the brain twice as long to complete a task, and also the error rate goes up by 50%. This is because, we are not ‘multitasking’, we are ‘context switching’. Thus it is important when designing e-learning courses to avoid modules which ask the user to perform multiple tasks at once, as it hinders the overall learning process.

Repetition: Do not expect the learners to go through content once and remember it forever. Dedicating attention thrice to a subject will retain more information. This has a lot to do with associative learning which states that “cells that fire together, wire together”. Repetition can be tedious, but it need not be. You can review information through knowledge checks as a form of repetition. Going over same information or ideas, at spaced intervals, can help you create a strong firing pattern in the brain and thus, allow them to be saved in the long-term memory.

Using Multimedia tools: Multimedia such as images and video, not only engage the learners but also helps them to actually remember what they have learned. Studies show that students, who use e-books and interactive learning tools, lead to improved knowledge retention. Furthermore, students who use e-books that contained sound effects, music, audio, narration, and images were able to retain and recite more information than the ones who read traditional textbooks.

Utilizing such interactive tools also led to group collaboration and interaction thus improving the overall educational experience.

Gamification: Games help exercise out mental muscles. Not only does it help in engaging learners in the e-learning process, it also serves as a remedy to boredom that so often leads to unsuccessful learning experiences. According to a research, students were more motivated to learn mathematics when presented in a gaming format. Even their attitude towards the subject changed which resulted in an improved overall success and alleviation of boredom that is often associated with repetition.

Learning is a definite, regular process that occurs inside the brain. There is nothing enigmatic about it. Learning experience is unique to each learner, so it is important for instructional designers to know how to deliver new information so that everyone can understand and use it.

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| October 2017 |

Executive Talk

Top 5 Best Practices

that Defines a Successful

Wellness Program O

ver recent years, more companies are incorporating wellness initiatives into their office environment.

It’s mission critical in todays competitive markets, to attracting and retain the best talents. One crucial measurement is the engagement levels of everyone in the entire organisation. Presenteeism is at an all time high.

People are not motivated by money alone, and wellness programs are part of the strategy to improve job satisfaction and productivity. However, only a few companies actually have comprehensive programs that produce better health outcomes among employees. As a result, improved engagement and performance at work, naturally follows since employees are healthier and happier.

Unfortunately not all health and wellness programs are successful. The first one or two initiatives may gain traction, but two years on, and the participation rates decline. One main problem is that the participants themselves aren’t part of the creation. Their needs and concerns aren’t addressed so there’s less motivation for them to commit. So what do employees want? Here are 5 best practices that help create successful corporate wellbeing programs that gain true engagement.

1. Programs Are Doable, Accessible and Sustainable Imagine a wellness talk or fitness class is starting in 15 minutes. Many employees easily dismiss it and think “I’d love to go, but I really need to get this work done.” Do programs run when employees are most busy? Are run after office hours? And if so, will people stay back for it? Is the wellness program a broad-based and holistic approach? Or is it just yoga classes, cooking demonstrations and nothing else?

Is it easy for participants to learn? What looks easy when a trained chef prepares a healthy dinner in 20 minutes could take the average person a lot more time, energy and stress.

Are steps provided for one to implement the new habit, accomplish their goal and sustain the success?

A comprehensive wellness initiative needs to offer a variety of scheduled programs that are broken down into achievable, sustainable habits that create a valuable

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outcome. Equally important is that employees can choose what they are interested in, and easily fit into their schedule.

2. The Work Environment Is Health-Conscious It’s no use having health and wellness programs if the physical and psychosocial environment within the office doesn’t support to healthy habits. Great office design that support wellbeing has been the trend, since Facebook and Google showed us how to do it.

Creating creative spaces for smaller pod meetings, having standing desks and ensuring the cafeteria and vending machines around the office offer healthier food choices that can be easily seen are some of the simple ways to encourage good health. Ensuring regulated noise, inspiring music, good air quality and temperature and adequate lighting are also simple yet impactful features of a great office space.

Allowing ‘down’ times, and work breaks that are encouraged, is essential. Most people don’t take breaks or chit-chat because of its negative perception. However this is absolutely necessary as it create real interaction and real friendships between co-workers that satisfy the basic human need for social connections. People need other people to love, trust and support them, in both business tasks as well as at a personal level.

3. Wellness Is Integrated Into The Company’s Structure Further to point 2 above, choosing a healthier lifestyle and doing well at work shouldn’t feel like a tug-of-war. I’ve heard of companies who pay for gym memberships for their staff, which is great. However, when an employee is working out in the gym, they get a phone call saying they need to get back in the office because of … (some reason).

Therefore it’s important that a company establishes wellness programs that are valued and honored in every aspect of the organization. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Another example includes the holy grail of “work-life balance”. If your company wants employees to be healthy and have better | October 2017 |

work-life integration, yet at the same time silently imposes that people must continue working beyond standard office hours, it really does not make any sense. One (partial) solution to this is introducing flexi-hours as well as remote working to allow people to get errands and family engagements done, as well as work from home, or a cafe instead of being physically in the office. It’s a partial solution because giving someone the ability to run errands and come to work later than usual is great, though it does not necessarily promote health, happiness or wellbeing.

4. Wellness Is Linked To Continued Support Programs When a company is genuinely concerned about their employees’ wellbeing, they will naturally ensure that any wellness initiative, game or workshop has some form of continuation. Employee assistance programs (EAP) are common for mental health concerns, however there needs to be other support systems in place for other health concerns.

In 2014, Apple’s Cupertino, Calif.-based headquarters boasted a medical one-stop-shop “wellness center” offering in-house chiropractic care, dieticians and more. Collective Works, Singapore, the largest premium co-working space in Asia, now also houses an in-house chiropractor, specializing in pain relief, peak performance for both individual and corporate health.

Gamification of corporate health programs usually run for a certain period of time. Workshops and classes may run for 8 weeks or throughout the entire year. Although participation rates are high initially, continued support programs are what sustains engagement, and creates the change both individuals and the CEO’s want to see. Engagement is what creates long term sustainable results.

5. Broad-based Approach Wellness Programs aren’t all about offering free gym membership or just having smoking cessation programs.

Health is health – a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being. Fitness is “the ability to perform work (sports, occupations and daily activities) satisfactorily”.

Pilates is a great way to exercise and strengthen the core muscles, however it is not equivalent to health.

A lot of people know they should quit smoking but doesn’t because they don’t realize how much damage it can do to their body. They may not have a strategy, nor enough motivation to make those changes. One method of offering voluntary health screenings while giving sound education and simple tasks from a variety of professionals is the key.

Helping people realise that the company does care, that their colleagues do care, that they too should care about their own health is of the greatest importance. Digging deep, and creating a safe place to improve their lifestyle choices on multiple levels should be the basis of every corporate wellbeing initiative. | October 2017 |

Dr. Gary Tho Founder

About the

Author

Dr. Gary Tho, Founder of Chiropractic Works, a Family Sports and Wellness clinic in Orchard Road, Singapore. He specialises in pain relief and preventative care and believes quality life is essential for happiness, success and peak performance. Dr Gary is also the author of The Pain-Free Desk Warrior, Free yourself from aches and pains which is the definitive guide for those stuck at their desk for more than 2 hours a day.

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Market Dashboard

Social Media

Marketing for

T

“

he absence of pharma brands on social media creates a significant void of reputable healthcare information to aid patients,” writes Dawn Lacallade, LiveWorld’s Chief Social Strategist.

Social media infiltrate virtually every facet of an individual’s digital life. Today, patients are using social media as a major source of information and healthcare research. Thus, it is essential that pharma companies should be present on social media to provide full and accurate information to the consumers. To comprehend how social media can assist patients, it is crucial to understand what compels people to use social media as a source of information.

Social media allows interaction among people which involves exchange and creation of information. It is the perfect conduit for pharmaceutical companies to connect with their customers, patients and physicians.

According to the current FDA regulations, pharma companies are not able to easily join in a conversation to provide accurate and balanced information. Regulations dictate that, in a single social post, brands are required to provide precise facts on the benefits and hazards associated with conditions and products. Due to the character limitations on many social media platforms, most pharma companies prefer to stay out of the conversation. This results in circulation of falsified information.

This information can be either marginally inaccurate or significantly harmful.

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| October 2017 |

Although the communication of pharmaceutical industries is highly regulated, they are gradually adopting social media platforms to reach and interact with consumers and healthcare professionals. Here are some of the top social media practices to look out for: Crafting Customer Experience Several marketers think that their job is finished once the sales team takes over, but in reality, it is just the beginning. The way people experience your brand will impact the way they think about you, which will have an enormous effect on the success of your company in the long run. Devoting a part of the marketing budget to nurture the existing clientele will make their experience splendid and thus promote brand loyalty. It is also crucial to respond whenever your brand in mentioned publicly, whether positively or negatively, which will help cultivate a strong and lasting relationship with your customers.

Younger generations are increasingly withdrawing from traditional social media platforms and adopting more innovative channels that are more intimate in the way of communication. To keep up with this challenge, companies need to find a way to automate the process wherever possible.

Regulating Content Pharma companies need to develop content marketing strategies that merge each piece of content on every channel with their organization’s objectives and customers’ needs. Creators need to have a clear business objective including the value that will be delivered to distinct audiences. All companies need to have a social media compliance officer who will work closely with a corporate legal counsel and develop a complete strategy and decide if there will be consolidated social media posting or if individual employees will have the consent to participate. And lastly, it is critical that all employees understand their role in corporate social media and be trained on the rules.

Overall Integration Pharma companies should stop thinking about content marketing and social media as add-ons. To boost their outcome for clients, content and social marketing need to be a part of almost every program. To develop a fully integrated program, companies need to involve influencers and content marketers during the initial stages. Implementing an organized approach to content and moderation will not only optimize the processes, but also aid in assuring authorities that all the bases are covered to protect and provide value for the brand.

Investing in Employees An independent survey discovered that 72% of social media users expect response within an hour from the brands they follow. This has caused brands to start heavily investing in crossfunctional social media teams that can keep up with the increasing number of client pings

| October 2017 |

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every day. Encouraging and incentivizing team members to share brand messages on their own social media accounts, is predicted to be a game-changer in the coming days. However this cannot be forced, it is essential for employees to want to share company posts, and along with this the content has to resonate with their own audiences.

Influencer Marketing Influencer marketing will continue to develop and become an even more established part of the strategy. Currently many brands try influencer marketing and fail as it is not easy to find effective influencers. Additional data will help in selection of the right influencers and analyze the results from influencer campaigns. Today, in healthcare, influencers are often regular people. Some are directly affected by a disease or are being treated with a specific product, while others have gained a lot of knowledge about a condition and are considered as Subject Matter Experts. The common trend is to select someone who has an ever-increasing community of followers who value their opinion.

Numerous companies still think of social media as merely a marketing tool which is not true anymore. Consumers learn about products on different social networks and seek customer service on messaging channels. Moreover, good storytelling has always been an essential part of effective marketing. But social media is changing the way audiences consume stories and pharma companies will be required to keep up with the evolution of social storytelling if they want to remain relevant.

Yet there is still a note of caution with compliance being the foremost priority of pharmaceutical companies. But as industries are starting to adopt social media without clear regulatory guidance, remaining compliant will be the main challenge to face.

SS G E N IN SI BU RKET MA

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| October 2017 |

Quertle: Transforming AI-Based Analytics for Biomedical Big Data

Dr. Jeffrey Saffer Founder

Dr. Vicki Burnett Founder

N

owadays, most applications used for searching biomedical literatures are based on keyword technology, which is more than half a century old approach. Quertle, a leading AI-based analytics company, recognized that adding more bells and whistles on top of that old technology could never suffice. Quertle understood that artificial intelligence could revolutionize literature searches and grow as needed in the future. The company approached this problem from the perspective of biomedical industry experts, who know a great deal about data science and programming.

Inspiring Leaders behind Quertle: A Tale of Researchers Dr. Jeffrey Saffer and Dr. Vicki Burnett are the Founders of Quertle. Both are long-time biomedical researchers who had been personally frustrated by the inefficiencies of finding critical information in the biomedical literature.

They understood the importance of that literature to R&D (80% of potential drug targets are identified from the historical literature), to business decisions such as Publication Planning and Medical Affairs, and to healthcare itself. Thus, they were motivated to establish Quertle in order to re-invent the approaches for using biomedical literature and transform that process from frustration to fruitful discovery.

Jeff and Vicki took some time to execute their vision, but it eventually led to a unique approach that has been validated by the use of their solutions by pharmaceutical and biotech companies, universities and research institutions, and practicing physicians around the world – covering 192 countries.

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Mission to deliver the Best in Class Services Quertle is a leading artificial intelligence (AI) solutions company dedicated for research and discovery from textual biomedical information. Biomedical literature is the backbone of drug discovery and provides a scientific foundation for the entire healthcare industry. Searching this vast and constantly growing literature corpus is fundamental to the work of every pharmaceutical & biotech company, hospital, and physician and biomedical & life science research institution. Arising from more than a decade of research by scientific experts in the field, Quertle uses machine learning, conceptual understanding, and predictive visual analytics to transform literature discovery from a slow, agonizing process to faster development of new therapies - minimizing costly research mistakes, making better business decisions and improving physician awareness.

The Greatest Projects Central to Quertle’s success was the building of an entirely new foundation for discovery from textual content – the BioAI™ platform. Starting with simple natural language processing and then evolving into a fully fledged AI approach, capable of learning directly from the text encountered, the BioAI platform is adaptable and extensible, supporting unparalleled discovery as well as integration into pharmaceutical workflows.

Quertle offers its powerful solution via Qinsight™, a Software as a Service application, which covers biomedical journal articles, patent grants and applications, treatment protocols, NIH grant applications, and many other sources for comprehensive discovery. Soon to be included is the | October 2017 |

‘‘

Vision is the most important aspect of starting a business; if your dreams include building something of your own, just do it, and Quertle is the most Powerful Biomedical Artificial Intelligence-based Visual Analytics Provider that meets Unmatched Insight

‘‘

Factiva news from Dow Jones, full-text books and articles from Oxford University Press and more. Also, Quertle creates custom applications to incorporate additional visual analytics, other content sources such as proprietary in-house documents or healthcare records, and other custom features.

Quertle’s Unique Strategies to Compete in the Global Market The key to sales of Quertle’s products is that the pharmaceutical industry is finally recognizing the inadequacy of old-fashioned search methods. Hence, Quertle’s strategy is to make the industry aware of its fullyfunctional AI solution that can be put to work immediately.

As a part of this, Quertle makes the following three points.

exploratory framework, enabling users to have those critical moments.

Success Attributes towards their Greatest Accomplishments Quertle’s success stems from its unique approach, built on recognition that incremental improvements to outdated approaches could never solve today’s literature discovery problems. Gaining worldwide awareness and acceptance of its methods, and the ensuing impact the technology has had on pharmaceutical discovery and in saving lives, has been Quertle’s most significant accomplishment.

Successful Customers, Successful Business Quertle is growing its customer base through active support of users. The company understands the industry needs, and communicates with customers as scientist to scientist. Also, Quertle provides free training and support with all site licenses.

Future Aspects Initially, Quertle’s biggest challenge in the pharmaceutical industry’s use of textual information was getting individual users to recognize that the frustrations they feel with standard approaches are indeed solvable. There is, fortunately, increasing awareness that AI can help and that Quertle’s AI, which learns directly from the meaningful text in the documents, is the future.

The best part of Quertle is imagination – defining a problem and building a solution, without constraint to prior biases.

This imagination extends through Quertle’s entire team and is a core value.

1. Quertle’s AI methods minimize the risk of missing critical information: The investments in pharmaceutical projects are huge. Yet, realizing - after the fact - that previously known information would have changed project decisions still remains a commonplace occurrence.

Supplementing current discovery methods with Quertle’s unique approaches can significantly reduce the money wasted on these projects.

2. The time required to discover that critical information is considerably shortened: For example, one user reported finding out in minutes what previously took an entire team a full month. This is possible by combining Qinsight’s AI discovery with the intuitive predictive visual analytics.

3. Quertle’s approach inherently supports serendipity: Literature searching, by its nature, is geared towards finding out what you are looking for, and the critical associated information is often lost. Quertle’s AI automatically discovers related concepts and presents these in an intuitive

| October 2017 |

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Innovation Archives

Artificial Intelligence: A Game Changer for Healthcare T

hink about all the inefficiencies in your daily life; traffic jams, snail mails, long queues, and so on.

These inadequacies though annoying are not a matter of life and death. Such is not the case in healthcare.

The requirement for efficiency in healthcare is distinct and the potential for applied sciences especially computerization is enormous. Healthcare has a big data opportunity opposed to a big data problem, thanks to artificial intelligence.

Initially, Artificial Intelligence (AI) was introduced as a notion to imitate human brain and explore the real-world problems with a wholesome approach. Researchers all around the world are thrilled about the upcoming development of technologies which will help in facilitating the mankind to deliver outside their stature. The implementation of AI in healthcare is escalating and deciphering a variety of issues for patients, hospital and healthcare industries.

Take a closer look at how AI is resolving problems and what’s on the horizon for the industry.

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| October 2017 |

Maintaining Health One of the major advantages of AI is the ability to assist people in staying healthy.

Mobile applications are already encouraging instilment of healthy habits in individuals and assisting in the proactive management of a healthier lifestyle. It also increases the ability of healthcare professionals in understanding the needs of the people they serve and enables them to provide a better direction and assistance for maintaining health.

Furthermore, AI chatbots are being used in addressing cases like helping customers select a benefit plan, providing customer service and guiding consumers to resources. Though it is early in the espousal of AI chatbots, indicators of requisite and fulfillment are encouraging. “Chat-bots will continue to get more intelligent over time, thanks to AI and machine learning techniques that will make them very efficient, and of course, more timely than a human can ever be,” says Khal Rai, an AI expert at SRS Health.

Early Detection Cerebrovascular Accident or Stroke, for a maximum number of times is caused by blockage in the supply of oxygen and blood to the brain. However due to the lack of detection of early symptoms, very few patients are able to receive timely treatment. Other

| October 2017 |

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Treatment Beyond scanning records, AI can help take a more comprehensive approach towards disease management, assist in better coordination of healthcare programs and help patients in managing their long-term treatment plans. Using AI, doctors are able to gather collective information on patient’s visits and analyze which treatment works best for them. conditions like Cancer and Alzheimer’s face similar consequences. The utilization of AI is enabling review and analysis of lab reports much faster and with better accuracy.

Recently developed AI software at Houston, Texas claims to detect cancer risk 30 times faster than any doctor and with 99 percent accuracy. Moreover, researchers are training AI to detect Tuberculosis on chest X-Rays which could help in screening and evaluation in TB-susceptible zones which lack access to radiologists.

The increase of wearable and other medical devices used in accordance with AI are also assisting in detecting earlystage heart diseases and enabling doctors to monitor potentially life threatening events at an early and treatable stage.

Medical Diagnosis Numerous healthcare organizations are applying cognitive technology to unlock enormous amounts of data and promote diagnosis. The ability to store more medical information containing journals, treatments and symptoms is much faster than any human competency. Earlier, diagnostic programs regarding disease specific features were written using predefined assumptions. Now with the development of AI, a wider variety of conditions and diseases can be easily handled.

AI is particularly used to improve imaging modalities which include reading X-Rays, CT scans and doubtful nodules and lesions in cancer patients. This technology combines machine learning and neuroscience to generate powerful learning algorithms into a neural network which mimics a human brain.

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For more than 30 years, robots have been used in medicine.

From simple laboratory robots to highly advanced surgical robots that can assist a human surgeon or execute it themselves. Furthermore, they are used in labs and healthcare organizations for repetitive tasks and in support of those with long-term conditions.

Customer Service Healthcare providers are using healthcare bots to tackle challenges in this area of medicine. Patients can now interact with AI through phones, or a website for all their medical queries and requests. Virtual assistants are replacing humans in booking appointments, scheduling visits, medication and even billing requirements. They offer 24/7 medical assistance and improve service for any basic requests. Moreover it leads to the decrease in administrative costs for healthcare providers.

End-of-Life Care Life today is much longer than the previous generations, and we are dying in a different and slower fashion from conditions like dementia and osteoporosis. It is also a phase of life which is often lonely. Robots have the potential to modernize the end of life care and help people in remaining independent for longer periods of time and reducing the need for hospitalization and care homes.

Eventually, all of us will be a patient. We have family and friends who will also be patients. Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence is about improving the lives of individuals so that all the acquired data from lab tests, genomics and so on, can be analyzed and used in real time for the highest quality and most efficient delivery of healthcare needs.

| October 2017 |

Hospital Logistics: Accelerating

the Patient Flow in

Danish Hospitals

F

or more than a decade hospital productivity has been a priority in Denmark. A focus on quality and quality improvements has reduced the rate of re-admittance to Danish hospitals and a demand from central authorities on hospitals to increase their productivity by 2% every year, has during recent years resulted in a lot of new initiatives and innovations. With a re-organization of the Danish hospital structure, this has led to a total productivity increase of 30% since 2003.

The concept of Hospital Logistics and Solutions to improve logistics and create just-in-time scenarios in hospitals is another factor behind the productivity increase which is further explained in this article.

Healthcare systems around the world are challenged by an increased share of

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elderly citizens and chronically ill patients as well as more expensive forms of treatment.

These factors are causing a significant demand pull in terms of treatment needs as well as expectations, which accentuate the need for our healthcare systems to work smarter on all levels. Therefore, hospitals need to consider means to increase efficiency and productivity in order to be able to treat more patients without increasing costs.

For more than a decade, Danish hospitals and companies have worked together on improving logistics in hospitals. The overall aim has been the creation of just-in-time solutions in order to optimize coordination and efficiency and reduce the patients’ length of stay.

In Denmark, the focus on hospital logistics has played an important role in | October 2017 |

Professional’s Particulars achieving a 30 pct. increase in hospital productivity since 2003. Optimizing hospital logistics within different areas of hospital services and needs, including supply logistics, clinical logistics, sterile goods and sample logistics can accelerate the patient flow and lead to increasing hospital productivity.

‘Just-in-time’ logistics Innovative hospital logistics solutions are already implemented in Danish hospitals in order to reduce delays and waiting in order to speed up the patient flow.

| October 2017 |

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Hans Erik Henriksen Chief Executive Ofcer Healthcare Denmark

At the New Aarhus University Hospital, a fine-meshed IT system will enable real-time localization of people and equipment right down to room level.

At Aalborg University Hospital, the introduction of a similar and new solution has resulted in a close to 20 pct. efficiency increase.

Danish solutions for just-in-time logistics include systems for locating and tracking staff and equipment, solutions for automating basic and repetitive tasks, as well as solutions for guiding patients around the hospital, all of which help avoid delays and peak times in the hospital process.

Sample logistics Accelerating the patient flow is also about reducing the time from taking a lab test and until the result is ready at the point of care.

At Hospital of Southern Jutland in Aabenraa, the number of patients has increased by 13 pct., but with the new sample logistics solution, the hospital has managed to cope and even reduce the average length of stay.

Intelligent solutions for handling samples help hospitals reduce their sample turnaround-time and subsequently speed up patient diagnostics. Fully automated laboratories improve sample flow by handling and sorting all blood samples without any manual handling, thereby minimizing the risk of errors and freeing up time for value-adding tasks such as patient related work.

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Sterile goods and sample logistics The Capital Region in Denmark will centralize all handling of sterile goods at two departments at Rigs hospitalet and Herlev Hospital. With fully automated handling of sterile equipment, the two centers will improve hygiene and reduce the risk of infections. At the same time the budget for purchasing and storing sterile equipment will be reduced because of the just-in-time solution.

The future Integrated logistics is the next step. Automatic delivery of medicine from the hospital pharmacy directly to the wards and just-in-time housekeeping, based on the hospital discharge system, is already a reality in Danish hospitals.

Storage space, which is built directly into the hospital walls, will prioritize short walking distances, large coherent clinical areas and patient related functions.

Denmark is in the process of building 16 new highly specialized hospitals that are all constructed as hospitals of the future, taking into account the changing role of hospitals in our future healthcare system. While optimal hospital logistics is important for all existing hospitals, it is vital for the new, large and specialized hospitals.

| October 2017 |

Editor’s Pick

Revolutionary Factors Affecting Pharmaceutical Industry

T

he world is changing at an ever-increasing pace.

Shopping malls have been replaced with online shopping; traditional classrooms have given way to online classes and soon, driving your own car may seem like a nostalgic activity. Pharmaceutical Industry is no different. Pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are facing an upsurge of challenges as a part of what could be the New Health Economy.

The global pharmaceutical industry is said to have a relative growth over the next few years. Be on guard for the following pharmaceutical trends and set the right course for your strategies.

Patient Empowerment Gone are the days when individuals relied on doctors for diagnosis. Due to the easily accessible information, patients today can learn about their health conditions online and obtain the necessary knowledge to be aware of the available treatments and choose the ones they prefer. Doctors have lost their power to influence this choice and thus pharma companies have to look for new and innovative ways to get their medications sold.

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The patient-first business model helps to do just that. The pharma companies which succeed in patient engagement increases their chances of commercial and regulatory success as decisions are taken in accordance with the patient's needs and results. For productive collaboration with patients, pharma companies are required to find better communication techniques and also invest in more effective data analytics. Although many patients are skeptical about sharing their personal information, an independent survey found that most people are willing to let pharma companies know about their medical activities if it leads to a better care.

Furthermore, Virtual reality is used to motivate consumers to be more active and compassionate. If used as a marketing tool, this can build empathy, enable training on medical devices and create detailed demos that illustrate the mechanism of action with extreme clarity and help facilitate a stronger bond between pharma companies and consumers.

Increase in Biosimilars Biosimilar products are suspected to continue to have a significant impact on the pharmaceutical industry. Due to

| October 2017 |

Small companies are deriving other solutions for creating drugs that can be metabolized faster and can be marketed more easily. Because of this entire pharma industry will have to be restructured within years, perhaps even months.

Digital Healthcare

the increase in approval of biosimilars and their rapid introduction in the market, market conditions will have to evolve accordingly. This will not only provide patients with numerous treatment options but also have the ability to get drugs for serious disorders at a much cheaper cost than the original biologics. This is an opportunity for manufacturers specializing in generics and biosimilars to grow their business rapidly. It is said to be a very sizeable opportunity and if companies do it correctly, the probability of success is higher than the traditional pharmaceutical approach and the cost of development should be lower than novel drugs.

Precision Medication Arbitrary costs of trial-and-error therapies and the increasing need for decreasing the cost of healthcare has inspired the transition of one-fits-all model to the outcomebased targeted therapies. Precision medicine eliminates the need for guesswork, variable diagnosis, and generalized treatment strategies. Thus far only a few cases exists which used genetic information to make a decision regarding a suitable treatment.

Currently, the drug development industry is heavily investing in precision medicine. Furthermore, scientific advancements in genomics field suggest that time and costs are no longer a hindrance for precision medicine. Increasing awareness about the human genome and its correlation with disease progression are expected to shift the current focus beyond oncology.

3D Printed Drugs 3D printing assures a future of drugs being printed on demand with custom doses and the possibility that price may no longer be an obstacle. The first 3D printed medicine that dissolves rapidly is used for the treatment of epilepsy.

| October 2017 |

The global healthcare industry has seen a transformation which has been driven by advances in biopharmaceutical, medical and surgical procedures and automation. The Digital Health applications in information and communication technologies aid to utilize the full potential of big data analytics and change the healthcare industry.

Today, if the pharma companies are not thinking about how to integrate such programs and educational resources and not just use them as a tool to promote, they will be left behind.

The digitization of the patient, from the electronic health records to genome mapping allows for targeted treatment that is revolutionizing healthcare. The introduction of mobile health sensors and wearables offers a real-time insight into a patient’s progress. Furthermore, computers with the ability to easily analyze enormous amounts of data and scientific literature can assist pharma companies in the development of new drugs and improve the existing ones.

Counterfeit Drugs Counterfeit Drugs are fake medicine. They can be either contaminated or contain the wrong or lack of active compound. Pharma companies are required to track the product ID from manufacturing process and trace its movement throughout the supply chain. These drugs are not just available via the black market, but are also accessible through legitimate pharmacies. Fake drugs are said to be more deadly than terrorism. An independent survey concluded that 200,000 people are killed on an average due to counterfeit drugs.

All of this concludes into the complexity of the supply chain of pharmaceuticals. With an increased dependence on outsourced manufacturers and third party logistics, the lack of clarity across the various components of the supply chain has never been so blurred. This together with the intrinsic demand unpredictability from anywhere in the world and the disparity of supply and demand makes an increasingly volatile value chain.

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UI/ UX Our role is to oer the expertise and determination to deliver each site to the utmost standards.

User Engagement MOBILE APPLICATION

We do it by using artiďŹ cial intelligence to provide true end to end personalization and continue to engage shoppers across unlimited segments to deliver experiences that convert.

UI / UX

USER ENGAGEMENT

Email id: contact@ascratech.com | Contact No.: +91-9769162289 | www.ascratech.com