As we gear up for the annual ePharma conference, the event for accelerating digital strategy to create meaningful patient experiences, we reflect on several one-on-one interviews we conducted at our 2017 conference.
We had the privilege of sitting down with Janssen’s Director of R&D Operations and Innovations at ePharma 2017, Mohammed Ali.
On the challenges of implementing digital innovation Ali says, “The biggest impediment in implementing digital innovation in clinical trials is really around stakeholder buying and changing the mindset. The second components around that would be the financial aspect of putting together a business case solidified by data that we can actually see being captured in real world and in a clinical trial setting. The problem is, a lot of that data is done anecdotally and is one offs.”
Is Digital Innovation a Science?
“Digital Innovation is really not an analytic science, it’s not an IT science,” says Ali. “Foremost, what most people need to understand is that it is a behavioral science. So how is that innovation going to fit in that person’s daily schedule and daily life? The type that actually gets the largest ROI, in terms of an investment resource are the ones that are not digital by nature but could be used to get that data and then add a digital backbone at the end to mind it and then create a broader structure around it.”
How Can Digital Health Stakeholders be Innovative?
Ali adds, “Innovation is around patient questionnaires, surveys, trial simulations that are done in a human face-to-face setting or hands on setting are probably much more valuable in what you’re getting in terms of a capture event points, through mobile applications or wearables from that perspective.”
“…you’re getting data from the source, at that point from the patient, and you’re seeing the patient, you’re seeing the HCP (health care provider), you’re interacting withal of the stakeholders at once, you can put that data in a database, you can mine it for the future and really create something valuable out of it.”
Who are the Key Stakeholders?
“The key stakeholder here is really the patient, because ultimately without the patient’s input and feedback on any kind of digital innovation, they’re using in clinical trial, that innovation is useless, because you’re not getting the right data out of it.”
“To make as most patient friendly and efficient is your key goal here.”
To watch the full interview please visit our ePharma YouTube channel.
ePharma 2018 will take place at the Marriot Marquis in New York, NY, March 21-23, 2018. For more information about the event, please visit our event website.
