{"id":25780,"date":"2017-11-15T20:50:26","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T01:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/digitalization-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry-pfizer\/"},"modified":"2017-11-15T20:50:26","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T01:50:26","slug":"digitalization-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry-pfizer","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/digitalization-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry-pfizer\/","title":{"rendered":"Digitalization in the pharmaceutical industry: Pfizer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Digitalization is the use of information shared through systems integration, connected devices, and more to understand and predict consumer demand, connect siloed businesses, and improve supply chain efficiency. Digitalization can provide enormous benefit for small and large businesses within the pharmaceutical industry.[1]<\/a> Pharmaceutical companies need to be acutely aware of changes in global healthcare and focused on how to best utilize digitalization.<\/p>\n

For example, the use of digitalization can help create counterfeit-proof medications with serial numbers that are trackable across the supply chain, ensuring quality while meeting upcoming serialization requirements.[2]<\/a> Pharmaceutical companies can also use digitalization to meet the expected increased demands from markets across the globe. Digitalization can help them meet regulations, find manufacturing efficiencies to address cost pressures, and use cloud-based information sharing to quickly connect with suppliers and distributors. In addition, automation, smart sensors, social media, and health apps can help measure drug compliance and predict demand across regions to support real-time manufacturing.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Currently, Pfizer is using digitalization to improve manufacturing, find supply chain weaknesses and efficiencies, and expand their reach. They introduced continuous manufacturing to pharmaceuticals with the portable, continuous, modular and miniature plant (PCMM). Through digitalization and standardization of processes, manufacturing has been streamlined, from the addition of raw materials, to continuous quality testing, to shipping. This has reduced temporary storage needs, time to transfer materials, and downtime. By enabling manufacturing to take place in a smaller footprint, the company can also expand to regions that do not allow the sale of certain drugs due to lack of local manufacturing.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Pfizer\u2019s long-term plan is to improve their supply chain by automating more sites, tracking the movements of raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods, and introducing more PCMMs worldwide. They are focused on connecting control networks in their supply chain to ensure that packages are verified upon delivery, goods are high quality, and cross-contamination is avoided. They also intend to track demand in real-time using health apps and other forms of information sharing to improve both supply chain and manufacturing efficiency.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

While I believe that Pfizer\u2019s PCMMs are a step towards reaching new markets, digitalization can also aid the research and development process. This flexible, agile manufacturing solution could be applied to R&D by facilitating rapid production of certain medications. They should apply this solution in both the short and medium term to help move drugs undergoing clinical testing along Pfizer\u2019s pipeline. By manufacturing in locations near large-scale clinical trials, PCMMs could save Pfizer valuable time and money while ensuring high quality testing. This would be of particular benefit for drugs requiring specialized distribution or transport, such as those requiring clean-rooms and \u201cactive\u201d drugs for cancer.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

With drug portfolios continuing to grow and many niche drugs coming to market, PCMMs and data sharing across the supply chain can be leveraged to manufacture drugs without over- or under-production. Pfizer should try to engage in data sharing with providers, pharmacies, healthcare systems, and even patients to best gauge customer demand in the short and long term. While the bulk of costs in pharmaceutical industry lies in R&D, manufacturing remains expensive and the opportunity to run a more efficient process using digitalization must be taken seriously. However, Pfizer must be wary of the cybersecurity risks posed by digitalizing manufacturing processes and sharing patient data.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Is this cybersecurity risk worth the potential manufacturing and supply chain efficiencies? How will it affect trust between pharmaceutical companies and patients? Given the recent introduction of the \u201csmart pill,\u201d which tracks and shares when patients take their medication, should Pfizer look to predict demand using this sensitive data or should access be restricted to healthcare systems and providers?[8]<\/a> Are there reasonable alternatives to this data?<\/p>\n

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(795 words)<\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> Barbara Jonischkeit, \u201cIndustry 4.0: Pfizer opens continuous manufacturing plant in Freiburg.\u201d BIOPRO Baden-Wurttemberg GmbH<\/em>, July 7, 2017, https:\/\/www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de\/en\/article\/news\/industry-40-pfizer-opens-continuous-manufacturing-Jplant-in-freiburg, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Evren Ozkaya, \u201cPharma\u2019s Digital Supply Chain Transformation.\u201d Pharmaceutical Manufacturing<\/em>, April 4, 2017, https:\/\/www.pharmamanufacturing.com\/articles\/2017\/pharmas-digital-supply-chain-transformation, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Andreas Gm\u00fcr, \u201cDigitalization: Blessing or curse for compliance? 8th Pharma Management Radar.\u201d CAMELOT Management Consultants AG<\/em>, May 2017, https:\/\/www.camelot-mc.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/Digitalization_Blessing-or-curse-for-compliance_8th-Pharma-Management-Radar.pdf, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Barbara Jonischkeit, \u201cIndustry 4.0: Pfizer opens continuous manufacturing plant in Freiburg.\u201d BIOPRO Baden-Wurttemberg GmbH<\/em>, July 7, 2017, https:\/\/www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de\/en\/article\/news\/industry-40-pfizer-opens-continuous-manufacturing-Jplant-in-freiburg, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Borja, \u201cIndustry 4.0 and Pharmaceutical sector: The Case of Pfizer.\u201d Arrizabalagauriarte Consulting, <\/em>May 13, 2016, https:\/\/arrizabalagauriarte.com\/en\/industria-4-0-sector-farmaceutico-caso-practico-pfizer, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Pfizer Press Release, \u201cPfizer announces collaboration with GSK on next-generation design of portable, continuous, miniature and modular (PCMM) oral solid dose development and manufacturing units.\u201d Pfizer<\/em>, October 29, 2015, https:\/\/www.pfizer.com\/news\/press-release\/press-release-detail\/pfizer_announces_collaboration_with_gsk_on_next_generation_design_of_portable_continuous_miniature_and_modular_pcmm_oral_solid_dose_development_and_manufacturing_units, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Marcus Ehrhardt, Peter Behner, \u201cDigitization in pharma: Gaining an edge in operations.\u201d Strategy& – PricewaterhouseCoopers, <\/em>October 19, 2016, https:\/\/www.strategyand.pwc.com\/ reports\/digitization-in-pharma, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> FDA News Release, \u201cFDA approves pill with sensor that digitally tracks if patients have ingested their medication.\u201d FDA News & Events<\/em>, November 13, 2017, https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/NewsEvents\/Newsroom\/PressAnnouncements\/ucm584933.htm, accessed November 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the advent of digitalization, the pharmaceutical industry is using information sharing to improve its manufacturing and supply chain efficiency. Pfizer’s creation of the PCMM plant is one way manufacturing may change in addition to gathering provider-level, and perhaps even patient-level, information. 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