A

Mini Project Report On

“ISSUES CHALLENGE AND APPLICATION OF EMERGING

TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY”
Submitted in the partial fulfillment of the
requirements for
Master of Business Administration:MBA

SUBMITTED BY

Name: SHIVANI
MBA 1ST YEAR
Batch: 2020-22

UNDER GUIDANCE OF
Prof. Siddhartha Bose

Universal Business School,

Mumbai (Karjat), 410201
 Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Prof. Siddhartha Bose for guiding me. Without their support and guidance, I
wouldn’t have come so far to prepare this report.

I would like to express my thankfulness to Universal Business School, who has given me
great opportunity to work on this project.

I am also grateful to my loving parents and my kind friends whose prayers, affection and
support are always a source of encouragement. Their suggestions and supply of information were
really very valuable and helpful to me. Their continuous encouragement and support helped me
for completing this project successfully.

SHIVANI

MBA 1ST YEAR

Universal Business School, Mumbai (Karjat).

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the mini project report entitled “ISSUES CHALLENGE AND APPLICATION OF
EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY ”, submitted to Universal
Business School, Mumbai (Karjat) in the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the MBA
embodies the results of bonafide project work carried out by SHIVANI under my guidance and
supervision.

To the best of my knowledge the results embodied in this project have not been submitted to any
other university or institute for the award of Degree or Diploma. The assistance and help received
during the course of this investigation has been duly acknowledged.

Project Guide: Siddhartha Bose Program Director (PGDM): Prof. Vijay Tandon

Date:

Place:
 DECLARATION
This is to declare that I Shivani of Universal Business School, Mumbai (Karjat), MBA batch 2020-
2022, has given original data and information to the best of my knowledge in the mini project report titled
ISSUES CHALLENGE AND APPLICATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL

INDUSTRY is a record of independent work carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of the
Prof. Siddhartha Bose towards the partial fulfilment of requirement for the MBA course.

I also agree in principal not to share the vital information with any other person outside the
organization and that I have not submitted it for any award or any other title, degree or diploma.

TABLE OF CONTENT:
1. Introduction
2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 3. INDIAN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
4. A HISTORY OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
5. ISSUES CHALLENGE OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
6. APPLICATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES.
7. BLOCKCHAIN IN PHARMA.

Preface

Practical exposure in the form of training is extremely important for it gives a close view of the relatives of the
real business issue. For any business student who is striving to perform outstanding it is of paramount importance
that apart from theoretical knowledge, he must also gain some practical knowledge. The Project Report deals
with providing an opportunity to management students to have some exposure in the real business world.
The project report is concerned with the “Comparative Study of Marketing of Different Products of Various
Pharmaceutical Companies.” During the tenure of Report, I studied the role played by Chemists and
Pharmaceutical companies in promoting their product.
During the project I visited various pharmaceutical companies and chemists. I had studied various promotional
strategies using by pharmaceutical companies.

 
 Introduction to Pharma Industry
Drug abuse is becoming a serious problem in India. Thanks to the easy availability of various addictive
substances and inadequate control, drug abuse has assumed an alarming proportion both in the urban and rural
areas. Fast-growing unemployment in rural India and the outgoing personality of the average Indian have given a
boost to the problem. Many research workers, social scientists and religious organisations have been regularly
pointing towards the rising incidence of alcohol and drug abuse.
My project report is based on Analytical and Survey Study through questionnaire. The study deals with the
comparative study of various Pharmaceutical Companies that deals in manufacturing commonly used drugs like
Antibiotics, Antifungal, Topical Steroids etc. The study is related to study their average sales in comparison with
each other, their schemes and brand loyalty of customer.

 
 An Introduction
Pharmaceutical Industry: Pharmaceuticals are medicinally effective chemicals, which are
converted to dosage forms suitable for patients to imbibe. In its basic chemical form,
pharmaceuticals are called bulk drugs and the final dosage forms are known as formulations.
Bulk drugs are derived from 4 types of intermediates (raw material), namely :

• Plant derivatives (herbal products)

• Animal derivatives e.g. Insulin extracted from bovine pancreas.
• Synthetic Chemicals.
• Biogenetic (human) derivatives e.g. Human Insulin.
Doctors, post-diagnosis to cure a disease or disorder in the patient primarily prescribes formulations. To prevent
misuse/incorrect administration, most formulations are disbursed by pharmacies only under medical prescription
and these are called ethical products.
 
 Executive Summary of Project Report

The pharmaceutical industry is a knowledge driven industry and is heavily dependent on Research and
Development for new products and growth. However, basic research (discovering new molecules) is a time
consuming and expensive process and is thus, dominated by large global multinationals. Indian companies have
recently entered the area and initial results have been encouraging.
In the global pharmaceutical market, western market are the largest and fastest growing due to introduction of
newer molecules at high prices. A well-established reimbursement and insurance system implies that per capita
drug expenditure is abnormally high in Western Countries as compared to the developing nations.
 Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is highly fragmented but has grown rapidly due to the friendly patent regime
and low cost manufacturing structure. Intense competition, high volumes and low prices characterize the Indian
domestic market. Exports have been rising at around 30% CAGR over last five years. There is a shift in export
profile towards value added formulations from low value bulk drugs.
The Drug Pricing Control Order (DPCO) has been the millstone around the neck of Indian industry as it has
severally restricted profitability and hence innovation. However, the government has been relaxing controls in a
slow but progressive manner. The span of control of DPCO has come down as per the latest proposed changes.
In the domestic market, old and mature categories like anti-infectives, vitamins, analgesics are degrowing or
stagnating while new lifestyle categories like cardiovascular, CNS, anti diabetic are growing at double-digit
rates. The growth of a company in the domestic market is thus critically dependent on its therapeutic presence.
 Marketing of Pharmaceutical Industry in India

The Indian Pharmaceutical Industry is a vibrant, high technology based and high growth oriented industry -
attracting attention the world over for its immense potential to produce high quality drugs and pharmaceutical
formulations. The Pharmaceutical Industry is among the most highly R&D intensive industries. In fact, other
than drug discovery, marketing has been the most important function in the pharmaceutical industry.
The pharmaceutical marketing environment is perhaps the most challenging one on the Indian industrial scene
today. As it approaches a new millennium it is faced, on the one hand, with new opportunities and new prospects,
and on the other, with the emergence of a radically ordered pharmaceutical order.
 A history of pharmaceutical industry

The 21st century pharmaceutical and biotech sector has come a long way from its roots in 19th
century pharmacy. pharmaphorum looks at its evolution over the centuries.
The roots of the pharmaceutical industry lie back with the apothecaries and pharmacies that offered
traditional remedies as far back as the middle ages, offering a hit-and-miss range of treatments based on
centuries of folk knowledge.

But the industry as we understand it today really has its origins in the second half of the 19th century.
Whilst the scientific revolution of the 17th century had spread ideas of rationalism and experimentation,
and the industrial revolution had transformed the production of goods in the late 18th century, the
marrying of the two concepts for the benefit of human health was a comparatively late development.

Merck in Germany was possibly the earliest company to move in this direction. Originating as a
pharmacy founded in Darmstadt in 1668, it was in 1827 that Heinrich Emanuel Merck began the
transition towards an industrial and scientific concern, by manufacturing and selling alkaloids.

Similarly, whilst GlaxoSmithKline’s origins can be traced back as far as 1715, it was only in the middle
of the 19th century that Beecham became involved in the industrial production of medicine, producing
patented medicine from 1842, and the world’s first factory for producing only medicines in 1859.
America’s pharmaceutical founding fathers
Meanwhile in the USA, Pfizer was founded in 1849 by two German immigrants, initially as a fine
chemicals business. Their business expanded rapidly during the American civil war as demand for
painkillers and antiseptics rocketed.

Whilst Pfizer was providing the medicines needed for the Union war effort, a young cavalry commander
named Colonel Eli Lilly was serving in their army. A trained pharmaceutical chemist, Lilly was an
archetype of the dynamic and multi-talented 19th century American industrialist, who after his military
career, and trying his hand at farming, set up a pharmaceutical business in 1876. He was a pioneer of
new methods in the industry, being one of the first to focus on R&D as well as manufacturing.

Another military man in the drugs business was Edward Robinson Squibb, who as a naval doctor during
the Mexican-American war of 1846–1848 threw the drugs he was supplied with overboard due to their
low quality. He set up a laboratory in 1858, like Pfizer supplying Union armies in the civil war, and
laying the basis for today’s BMS.

 “Whilst Pfizer was providing the medicines needed for the Union war effort, a young
cavalry commander named Colonel Eli Lilly was serving in their army”
Switzerland also rapidly developed a home-grown pharmaceutical industry in the second half of the 19th
century. Previously a centre of the trade in textiles and dyes, Swiss manufacturers gradually began to
realise their dyestuffs had antiseptic and other properties and began to market them as pharmaceuticals,
in contrast to the origin in pharmacies of other enterprises. Switzerland’s total lack of patent laws led to
it being accused of being a “pirate state” in the German Reichstag. Sandoz, CIBA-Geigy, Roche and the
Basel hub of the pharmaceutical industry all have their roots in this boom.

1900s – Aspirin arrives

It wasn’t just Swiss companies that had their roots in the dye trade. Bayer was founded in 1863 as a dye
maker in Wuppertal, the hometown of Karl Marx’s collaborator Friedrich Engels. It later moved into
medicines, commercialising aspirin around the turn of the 20th century, one of the most successful
pharmaceuticals ever at that point.

The unregulated nature of the trade in medicines during this period ensured there was a far less strict
delineation between ‘pharmaceutical’ and ‘chemical’ industries than we have nowadays. These
companies focused as much on cod liver oil, toothpaste, citric acid for soft drinks, and hair gel as on
prescription medicines, as well as selling products like heroin on the over-the-counter market.

The national rivalries and conflicts that characterised this period also had their impact on the developing
industry.

An advert for Bayer’s Aspirin from the early 20th century

Bayer had the aspirin trademark and its US assets seized during World War One, whilst “American”
Merck (now Merck & Co. in the US or Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) elsewhere) was compulsorily
split off from its Germany parent company (Merck KGaA) at the same time. Bayer also had its Russian
subsidiary seized during the Russian revolution. This disruption to Germany’s position as the leader in
pharmaceuticals in the early 20th century by the war meant that others, particularly in the US, could take
relative advantage. The beginnings of the globalisation of the industry were seen both before and after
the war – in the UK, import duties incentivised many foreign companies such as Wyeth, Sandoz, CIBA,
Eli Lilly and MSD to set up subsidiaries in Britain in the post-war years.
The interwar years
The period between 1918 and 1939 was marked by two breakthroughs that presaged the arrival of the
pharma industry as we know it today. The first was insulin – Frederick Banting and colleagues managed
to isolate insulin that could treat diabetes, up until that point a fatal condition. But it was only in
collaboration with the scientists at Eli Lilly that they were able to sufficiently purify the extract and
industrially produce and distribute it as an effective medicine.

The second was penicillin, a discovery of an impact possibly unparalleled by any other in medicine.
After Alexander Fleming’s initial discovery of the penicillium mould’s antibiotic properties in 1928, and
Howard Florey and Ernst Chain’s further experimentation, a government-supported international
collaboration including Merck, Pfizer and Squibb worked on mass producing the drug during World
War Two, saving thousands of soldiers’ lives. The immense scale and sophistication of the penicillin
development effort marked a new era for the way the pharmaceutical industry developed drugs. The war
had also encouraged research into everything from new analgesics to drugs against typhus, with a great
deal of collaboration between the companies and government.

Post-war period
After the war, the arrival of social healthcare systems such as the UK’s National Health Service (NHS)
in Europe created a much more structured system, both for prescription of drugs and their
reimbursement. In 1957, the NHS brought in what was essentially a price fixing scheme to allow
reasonable return on investment for drug manufacturers, solidifying the incentive to invest in new
medicines.

The US pharmaceutical industry was booming, thanks to being part of the world’s biggest and most
dynamic economy.  Its growth was also helped by generous funding from the government, with the
National Institutes of Health seeing its federal funding rise to nearly $100 million by 1956. This
investment fuelled the development of drugs to come over the coming decades.

Meanwhile, as the industry grew wealthy thanks to its growing portfolio of products, the potential
ethical conflicts of making money from selling healthcare products became increasingly apparent.

George Merck addressed this question directly in 1950, proclaiming that: “We try never to forget that
medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that,
they have never failed to appear. The better we remember it, the larger they have been.”

This public-spirited industry still required greater oversight, however, and government regulations on
medicines increased on both sides of the Atlantic.
 George Merck on the cover of Time magazine
Thalidomide and the development of drug safety regulation and monitoring
The Thalidomide scandal of 1961 prompted an increase in the regulation and testing of drugs before
licensing, with a new amendment to US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rules demanding proof of
efficacy and accurate disclosure of side-effects for new medications (the Kefauver-Harris Amendment)
being implemented in 1962. Likewise, the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki put greater ethical structures on
clinical research, clearly cementing the difference between production of scientific prescription
medicines and other chemicals.
The FDA’s Frances O Kelsey: by blocking approval of Thalidomide in the US, Kelsey prevented thousands of children being
born with life-changing deformities.
Fordian methods enabled more rational methods of mass production, and increasing understanding of
biology and chemistry enabled drug candidates to be chosen systematically rather than discovered
serendipitously. This ‘golden age’ of drug development took place in the broader landscape of the post-
war boom, a general context of massive improvements in standards of living and technological optimism
that characterised the 40s to the early 70s, as well as the science-boosting competition of the cold war.
As the barriers to entry in drug production were raised, a great deal of consolidation occurred in the
industry. Likewise, the processes of internationalisation begun before the war were continued – in 1951
alone Pfizer opened subsidiaries in nine new countries.

The list of novel drugs from the post-war era speaks for itself. The contraceptive pill, introduced in
1960, had an impact on society almost as massive as that of penicillin, enabling women to effectively
control their fertility and enabling sexual equality for the first time. Valium (diazepam) was brought to
the market by Roche in 1963, followed by the introduction of the monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI)
class of anti-depressants and antipsychotic haloperidol.

These drugs ushered in a new era of psychiatric treatment, adding pill-based treatments to the
psychoanalytic ones that had previously characterised psychiatry in this era. The 1970s provided a wave
of cancer drugs, as part of the US government’s “war on cancer”, a recent report from Cancer Research
UK showed that survival rates have doubled since the early 70s – due in large part to the massive
innovation in oncology medicines that has occurred since then. ACE inhibitors arrived in 1975,
improving cardiac health, and even drugs as ubiquitous as paracetamol and ibuprofen were developed in
1956 and 1969 respectively.
As the 1970s drew to an end, a shift began in the way the pharma industry focused its energies. In 1977,
Tagamet, an ulcer medication, became the first ever “blockbuster” drug, earning its manufacturers more
than $1 billion a year and its creators the Nobel Prize. This marked a new departure as companies
competed to be the developer of the next big blockbuster, and many achieved great success. Eli Lilly
released the first selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), Prozac, in 1987, once again
revolutionising mental health practice. The first statin was also approved in 1987, manufactured by
Merck (MSD).
 New challenges in an age of innovation
 The 2010s have seen the development of innovative new classes of medicines, building on the
greater understanding of the body since the genome was first sequenced at the end of the last
century.
 This knowledge of genetics and the underlying cause of many diseases, including cancer, has
resulted in powerful new drugs.
 In cancer, the pharma industry has begun producing immunotherapies, which do not act directly
against the disease but instead enlist the immune system to fight against malignant tissues.
 The idea of immunotherapy had been around since the late 1900s, but it was companies such as
Bristol-Myers Squibb and its CTLA4 class melanoma drug Yervoy (ipilimumab) that began the
revolution.
 This was followed by Merck & Co’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and a gang of rival PD-L/PD-
L1 checkpoint inhibitors, which have set new standards in cancer care in many different forms of
the disease.
 The importance of cancer immunotherapy was underlined in 2018, when James Allison and
Tasuku Honjo were granted the Nobel Prize for their early work on CTLA4 and PD-1 checkpoint
inhibitors, respectively.
 With CAR-T (chimeric antigen receptor T-cell) drugs, pharma companies have taken the idea
one step further and have been able to genetically modify the patient’s own cells to fight cancer.
 This deep knowledge of genetics has also led to the development of the first ever gene therapies,
and there are now treatments capable of addressing the underlying causes of certain rare diseases
with a single shot.
 This, along with other innovations such as antisense technology, has led to drugs for rare
diseases that were previously considered untreatable.
 Meanwhile, in infectious diseases, the pharma industry has been able to produce effective drugs
that could lead to the eradication of hepatitis C in the next few years.
 And in 2020 the pharma industry produced dozens of potential vaccines for the COVID-19
pandemic in record time, as the world fights the new and deadly coronavirus pandemic.
 But there are challenges: the new generation of drugs are expensive and have pushed the limits
of health care systems’ finances as well as the boundaries of science.
 With its hepatitis C drugs, Gilead faced huge amounts of controversy over the initial costs of its
therapies, although these were reduced drastically over time as more competitors came to
market.
 And firms such as Vertex have added to the controversy with tough pricing demands for new
therapies for cystic fibrosis, leading to stand-offs lasting several years with payers in countries
such as the UK.
 While the industry has made huge achievements in some areas, research into new antibiotics has
stagnated as they do not create the revenues big pharma companies are looking for – and this
comes at a time when the world is still coming to grips with the scale of the threat from
antimicrobial resistance.
 The future is bright for the pharma industry, but maintaining public trust and preventing millions
of deaths from antibiotic resistant bacterial strains are two major challenges it must overcome as
the century progresses.
ISSUES CHALLENGE OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

 Developing new medicines

With the industry already having extensively found cures, it is becoming more challenging to
combat diseases. Incurable diseases like Alzheimer’s and cancer still find ways to beat top
researchers and scientists. 

 Rising Customer Expectations

The more successes come the way of pharmaceutical companies, problems start to pile up.
Customers now want more offers, better medicines and lower-priced drugs. The pharma
industry is facing competitive commercial strife, with consumers becoming more and more
aware and ruthless. Patients want better treatments, therapies and medicines, at more
affordable prices. 

 Dropping Scientific Productivity

The last ten years have seen consistency with regards to drug research, which is quite
disheartening. Most of the Big Pharma players are not being able to come out with
productive research that leads to blockbuster drugs. For medicine production to rise out of
such a slump, we will need significant gains in terms of scientific productivity.

 Management and Marketing

The vicious and competitive circle of marketing and management is another great worry for
the industry. Such a culture which focuses on profit maximisation does not complement
research and scientific discovery. 

 Educated Payers
More than ever before, consumers now have the option to make informed decisions. While in
the past, it was difficult to compare and collect data, the internet has made that easy, resulting
in consumers who know what they want. These people also go through pharma company
stats and demand better pricing, resulting in further issues for the industry.

 Tricky IP Rights
Developing countries still struggle to enforce intellectual property rights and patent
protection. Several markets also give preferential treatment to generic drug manufacturers,
making things more difficult for companies who focus on research.
 Risk of Self-Medication
More and more people now seem to think they know more than doctors. Studies show that
self-medication through Google is at an all-time high, leading to an insurgence of OTC
drugs.
Why are pharmaceuticals down?
Within the first six months of this year, pharmaceutical companies’ stocks and market shares
have fallen by over 8%. The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the
world’s dependency on the pharma companies. Therefore, while stock prices might be down, for
now, there is a high expectation that it will soar shortly. Soon, it will be these same companies
who deliver us medicines that will rid us of this pandemic. Diseases do not care much about the
economy, and hence, we will see a revival shortly. Also, though AbbVie, Novartis and Pfizer
have also seen a 20 – 30% decline in value, they are still worth between $100 billion and $200
billion. Hence, though the COVID-19 might have impacted their results, the shutdown on their
R&D will help them cut costs. Therefore, in the long run, through sales, they will recoup, leading
to better performance. 

How is Indian pharma doing?

India is rapidly growing to become a significant player in global pharmaceuticals. It is the
world’s largest generic drug manufacturer, producing 20% of the worldwide requirement.
Furthermore, India also supplies almost 62% of the world’s vaccines and is the third-largest drug
manufacturer in terms of volume. Though it comes in at number ten, with regards to capacity, it
produces almost 10% of the world’s total medicine production volume. In many ways, Indian
pharma can be seen as doing quite well for itself, as it is the source of over 60,000 generic drugs.
With over 3000 pharma companies and 10,500 medicine production facilities, India seems well
on her way to becoming a Pharma Giant.
How can the pharmaceutical industry in India be
improved?
 Set up better research facilities and focus on encouraging more scientific research
within the country.
 Break the dependency that Indian Pharma has on Chinese products and biomolecules.
Set up medicine production and bulk manufacturing plants within the country to
fasten this process.
 Draft more research-friendly and pharma-friendly guidelines and encourage States to
set up incubators and plants. 
 Establish more testing centres to enable the faster completion of clinical trials. 
 Create a better-skilled workforce from institutions through high-quality education
programmes.
 APPLICATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES IN
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

 Artificial intelligence and machine learning are undoubtedly the next big thing for the
pharmaceutical industry. AI is already being used in the healthcare industry for
conducting repetitive tasks such as data entry, lab test analyses, data management,
analysis of healthcare systems to identify errors or inefficiencies, medical consultations
by AI-based apps, medication management that monitored by an AI-based system, etc.
ML is also being used in disease identification and diagnosis, radiology and radiotherapy
planning, clinical trial research, personalized medicine, rare disease identification, and
new drug invention, etc. 
 Now, the question is how AI and ML will help to reshape the future of the
pharmaceutical industry. Actually, these technologies have the highest scope to
contribute in the future as pharmaceutical industry holds a ton of silos of patient data. For
example, rather than taking months to see the effect of a particular drug on thousands of
people, it will take seconds to see the effect of a drugs on billions of simulations of the
human body’s physiology from the past records of patients. 
 AI and ML are expected to be integrated into most, if not all, pharmaceutical R&D
operations. In turn, this should theoretically improve the drug development success rate
and streamline R&D efforts. Furthermore, AI may, in theory, help accurately identify the
subset of patients who will benefit from a particular drug. This could reduce the failure
rate substantially and ensure a successful and quick launch.
 Nevertheless, to get to this point, there needs to be a change in the current R&D
approaches. Rather than trying to understand exactly how AI computers derive a solution,
the focus should be on validating the results.
Digitization of Medicine through Healthcare Mobile Apps

 Pharma companies around the world are lately realizing that it is not enough anymore if
they are only producing and developing drugs. Recent trend shows that they have to go
beyond the physical appearance of medicines itself and offer a complete package. These
are called already the “around the pill” digital offerings: digital health mobile apps,
devices or services that could be prescribed by a doctor or bundled with a drug.
 Some packages come with a wearable monitoring device and an app, through which
patients can receive positive feedback from their doctors and from the automated,
personalized feedback generated by the app itself. 
 Fitness apps for chronic diseases, locating free health care clinics and hospitals, ordering
drugs via e-commerce apps, cross-checking clash by multiple medications, social
network connecting patients apps, – these are already popular in the app stores. 
 Besides, mobile apps that will connect patients with health insurance companies can
eliminate the long process of document authentication and other verification activities. In
this process, insurance companies get the prescription and other medical documents of
their clients through the mobile app so that they can decide whether that particular bill
goes under insurance coverage or not. 
 Hence, more digital apps are coming with the rising of new technologies. Undoubtedly,
healthcare apps are the next big thing for pharmaceutical industries
AR and VR

 AR-VR has a lot to contribute to the pharmaceutical industry, as companies struggle to

engage doctors and research timelines spin into a whirlwind of more and more studies.
With their ability to create a captivating virtual world with minute details, AR and VR are
promising technologies that can cater to a wide range of needs of the pharmaceutical
industry. 
 For reference, the Giant pharma organization “GSK” used an AR tool to create the
migraine experience which helped to understand what a migraine patient experiences.
This was an exemplary use of AR and such applications can address serious problems in
today’s healthcare environments like empathy and trust. 
 For drug-target interaction prediction studies, AR-VR technologies can expand so far.
VR can increase the efficiency of the pre-development phases of medicine by enabling
scientists to better visualize the interactions and thus redesign and re-engineer molecules
according to site specifications. 
 Also, AR-VR can also help in the manufacturing sector of the pharmaceutical industry.
Such as remote maintenance and guidance, complex machine handling training, etc.
DAQRI, a California based augmented reality company has come up with the DAQRI
smart helmet which is safety compliant for industrial use. This product just goes to show
how well can AR be used for manufacturing, especially in complex settings like
pharmaceutical manufacturing.
IoT Integration

 IoT has incredible potential to help the pharmaceutical industry. Introducing with a
network of connected devices with monitoring sensors can reduce the risk of machinery
malfunctions and guarantee precision production by detecting issues and making
adjustments before they cause a problem.  
 IoT integration can aid the manufacturing sector of the pharmaceutical industry like
material tracking and management in the manufacturing process of medicines.
Additionally, IoT-enabled data-gathering devices can locate in shipping and receiving
stations can collect information from RFID tags and barcodes and correlate the
information from multiple locations, including production facilities and warehouses, to
verify whether data is consistent. 
 With the amazing advancement of nanotechnology as well as IoT integration in
pharmaceuticals, one possible way we can see in the near future is in drug making- to
produce “digestible IoT Devices”. These tiny pills or gadgets combined with a sensor
could track digestion and the absorption of drugs after swallowing them. 
 By this time, in 2015, the FDA approved the first drug product combined with a
digestible sensor. The Japanese pharmaceutical organizations Otsuka and Proteus Digital
Health combined a digestible sensor with a type of drug against mental illness. With the
patient’s consent, the indigestible sensor communicates with a wearable sensor patch if
the drug is taken, then the information is transmitted to a smartphone or tablet of the
curator or the patient himself. The ultimate aim is to measure drug adherence in the
treatment of adults with schizophrenia, acute treatment of manic and mixed episodes
 associated with bipolar I disorder, and as adjunctive therapy for the treatment of major
depressive disorder in adults. 
 So we can hope to see advanced stimulation of IoT integration in the near future for the
betterment of this industry.
Blockchain


 Blockchain is still now a complicated technology for most of the industries. It’s tough to
realize the benefits that the pharmaceutical industry can get from this technology. There
are so many areas in this industry to facilitate with blockchain like research and
development,  manufacturing and distribution, consumers and patients identity
management. 
 The development and commercialization of a new drug is a long, complex and expensive
process, with high risk. 
 The estimated time and cost is 
 Time Span: 8–12 years (sometimes more)
 Cost Per Drug: $800 million — $2.5 billion 
 Success Rate: 1 in 5 drugs make it to market
 Return: ~3.2%; only 1 in 3 drugs reaching the market recoup investment costs (is
“profitable”)
 Blockchain provides an opportunity to decrease these costs and increase transparency and
trust for all participants in this process by protecting intellectual property information.
Current intellectual property systems have blocked cross-collaboration which makes the
whole process more complex. Blockchain may be able to provide a platform for the
protection and facilitation of intellectual property, including the facilitation of royalties,
payments, and incentivization models that could encourage participants to provide input
into the research and development process. It helps to track the results of cross-
 collaboration which leads to quicker breakthroughs and fast-track the overall process
while saving time and money for all participants.
 Blockchain also provides transparency in the whole clinical trial consent process. A
digital identity through blockchain enables traceability each time a patient’s identity is
verified and would improve data quality as the tracking of patient data, linked to a
specific drug trial maintaining the highest security of information. 
 Another important area that blockchain can contribute is maintaining the manufacturing
and distribution process of drugs by tracking and tracing. Which results in reducing fraud
and counterfeit drugs. It can be used as a single source of truth in tracking drugs,
products, and medical devices across all points in the supply chain. Moreover,  it can
provide financial facilitation like pricing, payments, discounts, rebates, and refund
tracking sectors. 
 In a nutshell,  blockchain technology will completely revolutionize the patient and
consumer experience soon. So pharmaceutical companies should think to grab the
opportunities that blockchain offers.
3D-Printing Drugs

 Once 3D printing was just a concept of sci-fi fantasies. But this concept has come to the
light and implemented in 2015, Aprecia Pharmaceuticals developed Zipdose, patented
technology for 3D printing drugs to enable high-dose medications in a rapidly
disintegrating form. Using this technology, they then produced Spritam, which treats
Epilepsy. This was the world’s first 3D printed drug approved by the FDA. As this
manufacturing method gains popularity, it will likely completely transform how the
pharmaceutical industry operates, in terms of its supply chain.
 Hospitals and pharmacies could potentially print the pills that they need in-house in ten
years’ time.
 Additionally, the University College of London is testing ways to print medicines in fun
shapes for kids. Thus, making it easier for them to take and can make it a potential
commercial goldmine.
 For those B2B companies that are involved in the sales, sales operations, and marketing
of pharmaceuticals, these new trends could open many doors in terms of new forms of
revenue and profits.
Organs-On-Chips

 Testing drugs on humans or animals in the framework of costly and lengthy clinical trials
are the past, “Organs on Chips” concept is the new hype. Imagine that the characteristics
of living organisms are so perfectly simulated that the clinical trial can be carried out in
less time, with less money and still amazing outcomes. This method is called the “silico
trial”. It is basically an individualized computer simulation used in the development or
regulatory evaluation of a medication product, device, or intervention. While completely
simulated clinical trials are not feasible with current technology and understanding of
biology, its development would be expected to have major benefits over current in vivo
clinical trials.
 “HumMod” is one of the most advanced simulations in this respect. It provides a top-
down model of human physiology from whole organs to individual molecules. It features
more than 1,500 equations and 6,500 variables such as body fluids, hormones,
circulation, electrolytes, metabolism, and skin temperature. “HumMod” aims to simulate
how human physiology works, and claims to be the most sophisticated mathematical
model of human physiology ever created.
Needs Digitization or Expert advice?
 The pharmaceutical industry is changing at each and every level.
 In order to survive and thrive in this environment, it’s more essential than ever for
companies in the industry to explore and invest in the latest technology and innovations.
 Are you interested in harnessing some of these top-notch technologies to move your
business forward? Get in touch with us for a free consultation on the top technologies that
can impact your business the most.
Blockchain In Pharma: The Current State of the Pharmaceutical
Industry
The pharmaceutical industry is a critical part of healthcare. It is a $482 billion industry. Without
it, there would be no drug development, distribution, or discovery. When we speak of the
pharmaceutical sector, we mean these three things: distribution, development, and discovery
process.

Right now, the pharmaceutical industry is not in good condition. The fact that 9 out of the 10
drugs fail to reach the clinical trial phase speaks volumes on its condition. This also means that
rarely a new drug rarely reaches the FDA approval process. All of these mostly happen because
of a lack of patient data, on which the pharma companies base their research and approval
process.To better understand the pharma industry, let’s take a quick look at the challenges.
  Pharma Data Disparity

At the core of the pharma industry is the data as it allows them to experiment, understand, and
innovate new drugs for different diseases. Pharmaceutical companies always find data disparity a
big problem when trying to solve particular diseases. This data disparity comes from the silos
that store the data. The silos work by connecting to different platforms.

The dependence on different sources and the inability to verify the data uploaded and shared
makes the data disparity a real problem. The data disparity also comes due to the use of different
data structures and models used by the data sources and departments.

 Generic Drugs Increased Competition

There has been increased competition from generic drugs. The reason behind the FDA’s decision
to release low-cost generic drugs to the market in a smoother and faster way.

This makes it hard for new drugs to get approved. New drugs generally have a 180-day period of
exclusivity. But generic applications backlog is huge and hence makes the exclusivity principle
hard to maintain.

 Rising Customer Expectation

With each passing day, customers are getting smarter and more knowledgeable. Their demands
as a customer are getting more and more. With increased scrutinization, it is up to the
pharmaceutical companies to take better steps, both economically and clinically, to provide their
services that meet customer’s expectations in both poor and rich countries.
  Time-Consuming and Resource-Heavy Data Analytics
As the data is accessed from different sources using different models and structures, the data
analytics part becomes very time consuming and resource-heavy. The companies need first to
make sure that the data they gathered is fresh and insightful before they can start doing data
analysis on them.

They also need to make sure that they use ground-breaking data analytics tools to find out what
they are looking for.

 Supply Chain
One of the biggest challenges of the pharma industry is to maintain the supply chain. The pharma
supply chain is complex and risky.

Any compromised supply chain means that the pharma company loses tons of money due to
fraud and counterfeit drugs. In the global report of the healthcare market, pharmaceutical
companies are set to lose around $200 billion every year due to counterfeit drugs.

 Poor Scientific Productivity

In the last decade or so, the scientific community at pharma has not done anything extraordinary.
The output rate has remained the same, which leads to the belief that the process of discovering
and development is fundamentally flawed.

If you compare it with other research industries, then the pharma industry scientific research is
nowhere compared to them.
  Stagnation
The last challenge the pharma industry is suffering from is stagnation. It is because of no change
in the strategies, management culture, and mental models. Everything is done in a traditional
manner, which doesn’t improve any of the pharma industry’s current pain points.

Almost every industry out there has changed in terms of management culture and process.
However, health care and pharmaceuticals seem to suffer from cut thought competition, which is
beyond the control of many pharma competitions out there.

 Blockchain Solving Almost Every Pharma Industry Challenges

and Problems
blockchain pharmacy can go to a new kind of infrastructure if the companies start to adopt it.

Now that we have understood the challenges surrounding the pharma industry, let’s explore the
solution.

Blockchain is a new technology that holds the key to all those challenges. Some challenges are
beyond the capacity of blockchain; however, it does impact them indirectly.

Blockchain is a peer-to-peer solution that doesn’t need a centralized entity to function properly.
It utilizes a consensus model to reach consensus for the transactions and other activities that are
carried out in the network. Blockchain networks are also immutable, secure, and transparent.

Blockchain can modernize the pharma industry as it introduces three important elements in the
industry: privacy, transparency, and traceability. It will help with the industry’s laws, practices,
privacy, and global regulations. It can also help pharma to track and trace drugs using
blockchain.

For instance, clinical trials will benefit hugely due to access to more transparency and correct
information. There are other use-cases where blockchain shines, and to get a better
understanding, we need to go through the key use-cases of blockchain in pharma and how it can
track and trace.
Blockchain Use-Cases in Pharma: Blockchain For Pharma
There are many use-cases of blockchain in pharma. Let’s go through them below.

 Returned Drugs Authenticity

Pharmaceutical companies have to deal with the returned drugs periodically. This happens
because of overstocking by the wholesalers. That’s why they have to return the unused stock to
the manufacturers.

At any given time, 2-3% of the drugs are returned. However, when you match it with the volume
of money, it can reach anywhere between 7 to 10$ billion.

But, the biggest issue is that the returns are comprised of counterfeit drugs. The pharma
companies’ challenge is to identify them and then separate them before they can sell the returned
drugs to the market.

To ensure that it happens, each drug needs to be barcoded and serialized.

A centralized authority does it (at least in the EU). But doing so can mean involving another
vendor that controls the authentication of the drugs. In the USA, there is a lack of a centralized
database regulator.

The solution is to utilize a decentralized blockchain. By doing so, the pharmaceutical

manufacturers can easily record the package serial number on blockchain. This means that the
drug can be verified from anywhere. Blockchain pharmacy is the start of a new era.

It gives the customers and wholesalers the ability to check authenticity without the need to
depend on a centralized authority.
 CONCLUSION

Pharmaceutical sector is one of the most developed hi-tech sectors in India

The growth of the country's pharmaceutical industry has dropped from
approximately 16 percent per annum to around eight percent per annum
which is a cause of concern not only for the industry but government as
well. There is a need of publicly funded R&D institution. India has to
create an enabling infrastructure and linkage to facilitate Pharmaceutical
Industry to improve process technique. It is needed to stimulate skill
development of Human Resource in Pharmaceutical R&D and to enhance
nation’s self-reliance in drugs and pharmaceuticals, especially in areas of
national health requirements. Providing technical support to
pharmaceutical companies for export is also necessary.