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The Fate of Pharma

The pharmaceutical industry is under pressure to lower drug prices, improve product quality and accelerate time to market. Here’s how Big Data and the Internet of Things will play an important role in the future.

The pharmaceutical industry is under pressure to lower drug prices, improve product quality and accelerate time to market. Here’s how Big Data and the Internet of Things will play an important role in the future.
The pharmaceutical industry is under pressure to lower drug prices, improve product quality and accelerate time to market. Here’s how Big Data and the Internet of Things will play an important role in the future.

If the pharmaceutical industry had a theme song it would be “Under Pressure” by Freddie Mercury and David Bowie.

From the high cost of drugs, which is blamed on research and development costs—and remains a hot debate topic among presidential candidates—to market consolidation and regulatory scrutiny, drug makers are under a microscope. This is especially true when it comes to the way they move from R&D to manufacturing. Specifically, drug makers need to find ways to decrease the time it takes to get a drug from a clinical trial to approval and production.

The latest nudge comes from Food and Drug Administration (FDA),which is asking pharma companies to work with its new Emerging Technology Team (ETT) to adopt innovative approaches to manufacturing. The FDA has issued a draft guidance for the industry outlining where emerging technology should be placed in the plant, such as in design, commercial scale and testing. However, there is still no guidance on the actual types of technologies these companies should use.

While all eyes are focused on the tools and techniques needed to move from batch to continuous processing in drug production—with terms like Quality by Design and Process Analytical Technology being bandied about—there’s rarely a mention of how the biggest industry buzzwords (Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), or predictive analytics), could transform these modern-day Luddites into manufacturing machines.

According to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the Internet of Things for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (IoT-PM), which includes a network of sensors on the manufacturing floor, has the potential to radically change operations. Drug production supervision, remote diagnostics and effective drug flow management are just some of the use case scenarios outlined in the TCS whitepaper “Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Driven by the Internet of Things.”

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast
The exciting new PACK EXPO Southeast 2025 unites all vertical markets in one dynamic hub, generating more innovative answers to packaging challenges for life sciences products. Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity for your business!
REGISTER ASAP FOR $30!
LAST CHANCE TO SAVE! New Tech for Life Sciences at PACK EXPO Southeast