UpFront
A brief review of industry news at press time
Merck Supports Challenge for Patient Adherence Merck has teamed up with the Heritage Provider Network to create the Merck | Heritage Provider Network Innovation Challenge, which will present awards that total $240,000 to the teams who create the best solutions for care plan adherence. The challenge calls on innovators to create products or services that will support patients with diabetes and/or heart disease in adhering to their care plans. Two finalists have been chosen. Sense Health’s concept helps providers both create care plans and monitor care plans, while delivering SMS support to patients in between appointments. Wellframe reinvents the care plan using mobile devices, artificial intelligence, and human-centered process redesign to deliver care plans to patients on mobile devices. Sense Health and Wellframe will now enter into the mini-pilot phase of the challenge. The winner will be announced in May. “There is an incredible amount of innovation happening right now in healthcare delivery, and Merck would like to get closer to that innovation and get the physician and patient perspective to make care better," says Sachin H. Jain, M.D., chief medical information and innovation officer, at Merck. “This innovation is happening at the grass-roots level where there is a world of entrepreneurs thinking creatively about how to solve our biggest healthcare problems. The biggest benefit for us is to get closer to where change is happening." The Merck | Heritage Provider Network Innovation Challenge calls on entrepreneurs, data scientists, designers, healthcare providers, and big thinkers to create the products or services that will support patients with diabetes and/or heart disease.
PwC Reports Technology is Transforming Life Sciences Technology, demographics, and shifts in wealth are transforming the pharmaceutical and life-sciences sector. Pharmaceuticals and life-sciences CEOs are even more convinced than their peers that technological advances will transform their businesses in the next five years, according to PwC’s annual survey of global CEOs. Only around one-third of sector CEOs are concerned that the speed of technological change may negatively impact growth, compared with almost half of CEOs across the overall sample. Innovation is a top priority — and protecting intellectual property a worry, the survey found. Sector CEOs are already transforming their R&D function to cope with transformation — 38% say they’ve completed or have in progress a program to change their R&D and innovation strategies, more than across the sample as a whole. And the same number believe that their R&D departments are well-prepared for the challenge. Other findings: » 64% of pharmaceutical and life-sciences CEOs are somewhat or extremely concerned that an inability to protect intellectual property will hamper growth. » 57% of pharmaceuticals and life-sciences CEOs are not concerned that cyber threats, including lack of data security could threaten growth. That’s despite a boom in big data and data analytics — 79% agree there’s a need to change strategies in that regard, although just 23% have already started. » Almost half of CEOs (47%) are extremely concerned that over-regulation could put the brakes on growth. That said, a full 72% believe that their production and/or service delivery quality standards improved over the past 12 months as a result of regulation. Health Storytelling Offers Hope for Chronic Illness Remedy Health Media is bringing immersive multimedia storytelling to online health media. Launched on HealthCentral (healthcentral.com), Live Bold Live Now (LBLN) is a new series of immersive patient stories that educate, connect, and inspire. They leverage the power of multimedia storytelling and digital media innovation to modernize online health content and make an emotional connection to inspire better health outcomes. The first three LBLN stories share accounts of patients’ struggles and successes while living with rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn’s disease. The integration of video, interviews, music, first-person narratives, photography, and illustrations take health storytelling to a new level. Online health information needs to evolve beyond definition and articles to meet ongoing health needs of the chronically ill, which are largely emotional. Research shows that online health seekers, especially patients and caregivers living with chronic or rare illnesses, are looking for peers who are going through similar experiences and seeking to build relationships with them for both educational and emotional support. INDUSTRY at Large Merck Supports Challenge for Patient Adherence Health Storytelling Offers Hope for Chronic Illness PwC Reports Technology is Transforming Life Sciences Podcasts Who are the Uninsured in America? Thought Leader: Patricia Ensor, Senior Advisor, Kantar Health Why a Retail Strategy is Critical to Your Brand Success Thought Leader: Dick Domann, VP, Pharmacy Services, TrialCard Inc. White papers The Uninsured in America: What do Characteristics and Behaviors Tell us About Likely Participation in the Healthcare Exchange Marketplace? Provided by: Kantar Health Real-World Insights From the Trenches: Results of a 2013 Worldwide Survey About the Impact of Clinical Supplies on Investigator Sites Provided by: Fisher Clinical Services Does Your Brand Have a Retail Strategy? Does Your Pharmacist Know About it? Introducing a Solution for Prescription Abandonment Provided by: TrialCard Inc. Weblinx Building Physician Engagement and Trust with Mobile Sales Enablement (OnDemand) Sponsored by: Prolifiq
