E-solutions have come a long way, but life-sciences companies are still taking baby steps compared with other industries. Good or bad, regulatory restrictions, particularly regarding privacy and security issues, are holding companies back. The industry, however, is working through these issues. Steve Wozniak’s Apple I often is credited as being the first personal computer. It typically consisted of a wood case and circuitry. That was in 1976. It doesn’t seem that long ago. But when we tell our kids there were no personal computers when we were their age, it’s like our grandparents telling us there was no TV when they were kids. When Tim Berners-Lee “invented” the World Wide Web in 1990, we didn’t know what we had. In 1993, the first Web browser (Mosaic) was introduced, and the Web took off. Today, we take the Internet for granted. In just 17 years, we went from the origin of the personal computer to a community-based cyber space that connects people and ideas all around the globe through phone lines. Many industries have taken full advantage of the Web. Where would the financial industry be without the Internet? It’s been years since many of us have set foot in a bank; we pay our bills online, and we manage our 401Ks and investment portfolios online. RFID devices and smart cards give us instant purchasing power that ties into our accounts in real time via the Web. The volume of online purchases might one day exceed offline purchases. Manufacturing is now “lean” and “just in time,” thanks in part to the Web. Telecommunications is going through a massive overhaul since the emergence of VoIP, the coveted “triple play” of voice, television, and Web access now coexists through a single cable. The entertainment industry is quickly figuring out how to live in a digital world. Just as vinyl yielded to CDs, CDs are giving way to the MP3 boom. The list of industries adopting technology goes on and on. Information travels faster than ever; corporations have lost the ability to control the flow of information. Huge ad spends and PR campaigns don’t have the impact they once did. People are taking their discussions to the Web. Today, anyone can have a blog and provide opinions and pass along information. So where is the pharmaceutical industry in all of this? On a scale of one to 10, with one representing the least possible adoption of Web-based technologies and 10 representing the ultimate use of Web-based technologies, the pharmaceutical industry is about a four. As an industry, companies talk a good game about implementing e-diaries, EDC, e-CME, e-detailing, and e-sampling programs for physicians, and even using RFID tags on packaging. The companies that are leading by example are too few in number. The adoption rate as an industry is behind the curve. The industry will have arrived when a physician can control the flow of samples from any manufacturer using a single Web-based interface on his or her personal computer; when every patient’s complete medical history is carried on his or her key chain or accessed via the Web through a secure system; and when paper documents are the exception instead of the norm for clinical research and in medical practices. Daniel Limbach Managing Editor VIEW publications Daniel Limbach As you’ll read in the pages of this publication, there really is no definitive “killer app” in the pharmaceutical industry. We don’t know what one will look like, but we’ll know one when we see it. VIEW on E-Solutions October 2006

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