Global life expectancy was only 32 years in 1900; thanks to medical advances, this has more than doubled, and the average life expectancy now stands at 72 years. The most important metric for assessing population health is life expectancy.
Life expectancy captures mortality across the entire life course instead of the narrow metric of infant and child mortality, which focuses solely on mortality at a young age. It provides information on the average age of death in a population.
The pharmaceutical industry has made significant contributions to the global increase in men’s and women’s life expectancy. Pharmaceutical advancements were reported to have accounted for at least 70 percent of the overall improvement in life expectancy ranging from 2000 to 2009. This improvement can be seen across 30 developing and high-income countries.
With the pandemic still raging on, how is technology shaping the pharmaceutical industry today?
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence has been making rounds ever since its invention in 1956. However, artificial intelligence was not formally established until 1956, at a conference at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where the term “artificial intelligence” was coined.
Breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have helped decrease the impact of human error in the pharmaceutical industry. AI and cognitive computers are making a massive impact on healthcare decisions and patients. Humans might no longer be used as pharmaceutical test subjects within the next decade.
Cognitive computers, on the other hand, will be used in biotechnology and genomic research.
The use of cognitive computers is expected to have a massive impact. Analyzing large amounts of data will provide life sciences and pharmaceutical companies with previously unavailable intelligence. For example, when drug companies are bringing new drugs to market, they conduct clinical trials on human subjects to test the efficacy and safety of these products.
These studies are costly and time-consuming, lasting anywhere from a few months to several years.
Around the Pill Digital Offerings
“Around the pill” refers to the practice of surrounding an existing product portfolio with support services rather than starting new businesses or generating new revenue streams. There is a way to find better means to determine which types of patients are likely going to benefit the most through the concept of “around the pill.”
Every company understands that merely offering a product or service is insufficient.
Companies must provide a comprehensive package that is also digitally friendly. These options range from digital health apps to services and devices that can be bundled with the prescription. As this trend gains traction, it will prove to be a game-changer in pharmaceutical marketing and advertising.
To improve human health, digital medicine employs software and algorithmically driven products.
To improve the experience and comfort of patients as well as health outcomes, digital medicine products can be utilized independently or in conjunction with pharmaceuticals, biologics, devices, or other products.
3D Printing in Medicine
Breakthroughs in 3D printing technology, also known as additive manufacturing, are gaining traction in the medical field due to their potential to improve treatment for specific medical conditions.
In both cases, doctors can use 3D printing to create tailored products to a patient’s anatomy.
Bioprinting is only one of the many types of 3D printing used in the medical device industry. Rather than printing with plastic or metal, bioprinters use a pipette that is computer-guided to layer living cells, known as bio-ink, on top of one another in a laboratory to create artificial living tissue.
3D printers can be used to create sterilized medical equipment such as clamps, hemostats, blade handles, and fasteners.
Not only do 3D printers create sterile tools, but some of them are predicated on the traditional Japanese exercise of origami, which means they are accurate and can be formed very small.
These tools can be used to operate on limited sections without causing additional harm to the patient.
Plastic Molding in the Pharmaceutical Industry
Custom Injection molding is a flexible collection of techniques and tools that has been used in the plastics industry for over a century.
It has recently gained traction in the pharmaceutical sector to prepare products ranging from medical devices to sophisticated managed formulations for oral and implantable treatment modalities.
It’s great because it guarantees that production is not only highly efficient but also fast. It even decreases costs for labor and augments production for flexibility and high output. Companies also benefit from a wide selection of materials with the option to incorporate inserts and color.
The pharmaceutical sector stands at the brink of a profound transformation despite being historically slow to adopt an innovation. The industry is now experiencing significant modification due to the growth of many technology solutions. Machine learning (AI), manufacturing technology, blockchain, and other Industry 4.0 technologies are influential pharma industry news. You can only imagine how many more breakthroughs the industry will make in the years to come.
