Eyeforpharma 2018 Doubles Down on Digital

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By Robert Palmer, Chief Innovation Officer, HCB Health

There are many important pharma conferences throughout the year, but among the several events at the top of my list is the eyeforpharma summit that’s held each spring in Philadelphia. With attendance of around 800 healthcare professionals, this annual event, in its 16th year, is a hub for senior pharma executives as well as a wide spectrum of agencies and vendors. The vast majority of speakers and panelists are top pharma marketers, giving the conference a refreshing gravitas. This year, digital healthcare is not only a key topic, it’s being talked about and promoted as a lynchpin for effective communication, engagement and outcomes.

HCB Health is sponsoring this year’s eyeforpharma External Innovation and Collaboration track, and I’m pleased to be chairperson for the track. Innovation and digital have become almost interchangeable terms in the past few years. One of this year’s keynote speakers, Markus Leyck Dieken, global SVP for CNS at Teva, immediately sets the tone with his talk titled “Digital Is Not Only Here To Stay, it’s the New Lifeblood of Your Organization.” Another keynote speaker, Paul Navarre, CEO of Ferring Holding, strikes a cautionary note in his talk titled “How Your Company Can Bring Humanity Back To Healthcare.” He cautions against putting too much of a premium on systems, data and processes, and neglecting human relationships. These two themes aren’t in conflict; digital innovation “done right” should encourage and promote personal engagement, rather than create distance between human emotions and technology. Those subjects and more are addressed further by the speakers and panelists in the External Innovation and Collaboration track.

One of the most interesting topics explored in the Innovation and Collaboration track is the potential that brands and their agencies can realize when they partner with innovative healthcare tech companies. Dan Gandor, Takeda’s Director of Digital Innovation and Corporate Program Management, takes that subject on in his talk titled “The Power of Digital Health: Transform Opportunity Into Genuine Patient Benefit.” He demonstrates how pharma can take advantage of the vast opportunities in digital health by partnering with digital health companies across the healthcare ecosystem. This sort of thinking has traditionally been called “outside the box”, but in fact it is directly related to one of pharma’s most urgent core missions: finding ways to make healthcare more accessible, understandable and effective. Tech startups, even in the incubator stage, can teach us a lot regarding new ways to engage with patients, caregivers and HCPs. Agencies can play a big part in this effort, and the ROI on this sort of exploration is terrific – the cost of intellectual curiosity is essentially zero. Opportunities abound for pharma and their agencies to explore digital innovation. For example, this year HCB Health will once again partner with Juice Pharma Worldwide and AbelsonTaylor at SXSW, running a 1-1/2 day session that introduces some of the most innovative tech startups and evaluates how pharma can take advantage of their imagination and ingenuity.

There are, of course, other interesting topics explored during the Innovation and Collaboration track at eyeforpharma. A panel of top executives from GSK, Nokia, Novartis, Samsung, and Verify discuss how wearables have not only come into their own, they represent enormous opportunity now and in the future. Titled “Is the Future of Healthcare On Your Wrist?”, the panelists explore not just the devices, but how the data collected can be effectively analyzed, and how brands can ensure they have a robust strategy that moves past the early adoption stage. Terri Young, Worldwide General Manager of Cardiology at BMS, provides insights into how the effective diagnosis of cardio-related disease can be enhanced by partnering with data providers and tech. Andrew Wright, VP for Digital Medicine at Otsuka America teams up with David O’Reilly, Chief Platform Officer at Proteus Digital Health to tell how their two companies pioneered an innovative alliance to develop digital medicines. It’s a fascinating story: their sensor-enabled version of the drug Abilify (Abilify MyCite) sends a signal when it comes into contact with the stomach’s liquids, monitoring and increasing compliance in the difficult schizophrenia category. Detected by a wearable patch and monitored with a smartphone app, the information can be shared with doctors and family members. It’s a great example of forward-thinking collaboration; Proteus had the imagination to invent the technology, and Otsuka had the imagination to see its potential.

It looks like 2018 is shaping up to be a year in which digital healthcare continues to hit its stride through a variety of innovative technologies that range from impactful marketing automation to “smart pills.” Eyeforpharma is an ideal venue for sparking ideas and motivating marketers to stretch their horizons – and to share the knowledge and learnings.