Q&A: Gerald Martinetz, Mindbreeze

PharmaLive talked to Gerald Martinetz at Mindbreeze regarding how data is transforming R&D in the metaverse.

• What are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to R&D for pharma/healthcare in the Metaverse?

Gerald Martinetz: The biggest challenge when it comes to R&D for pharma and healthcare in the Metaverse comes down to patient data and privacy. Of course, privacy concerns apply to other industries within the Metaverse, but health data is extremely sensitive. To ensure the public trust and carry out ethical R&D in a 3D environment, a wide range of legal frameworks need to guide the experience. For example, while the Metaverse is marketed as a shared experience, digital guardrails need to be used to protect patient data and access to private meetings and information.

• From your perspective, how can pharma/healthcare organizations make the Metaverse a more valuable workspace?

Gerald Martinetz: Pharma/healthcare organizations can turn the Metaverse into an engaging and personalized experience for their workforce. A lot of frustration occurs in the R&D space when employees struggle to find information. Connecting data and allowing teams to have hands-on experience with knowledge in an interactive format will lead them to be more efficient and accurate. R&D teams are not often given the luxury of time and need to gather information from various documents and data sources. Lifelike interaction with drugs, vaccines, therapies, experts in their companies, and patients will provide valuable insights that may have taken companies years or forever to find.

• Can you explain how a holistic view of data would benefit pharma/healthcare professionals?

Gerald Martinetz: As we know, a holistic view is a complete and comprehensive view of every piece of data. Pure access to the full scope of intelligence surrounding a topic saves pharma/healthcare professionals valuable time and resources while ensuring the accuracy of work. For example, an R&D professional can visualize data from internal and external data sources about a specific drug they are modifying. A holistic view can show all relevant details to the user and separate documents based on the queries, giving a complete view of the medication and its history while cutting out non-relevant information. This includes dosage details, potential side effects, symptoms of the target audience, records from regulatory authorities, and access to experts within your organization who have worked on this drug in the past.

• With the ever-evolving technology within the healthcare sector, where do you see the impact of AI-based knowledge management solutions in the next 5 years?

Gerald Martinetz: As so many customers and people have seen the benefits of a 360-degree view of company knowledge, I see more and more companies deciding to deploy these systems. Just as we saw hyper automation over the past five years, especially the last two with the pandemic, people who were once hesitant about AI will not be able to ignore the global impact. AI-based knowledge management solutions have already taken substantial steps in not only eliminating redundant business processes, but impacting the world in a humanitarian way. As data scientists and machine learning systems continue to get smarter and learn from all the data we compile, the medical field will begin seeing industry and life-changing findings over the next 5 years – and a lot of that will come from work done inside the Metaverse.