The Indian pharmaceutical industry is taking on the future prioritizing tech-empowered candidates in AI (artificial intelligence), ML (machine learning) and robotics at senior level as there is a growing demand for AI and ML talent in the industry.
By investing in talent and developing innovative applications for these technologies, pharma companies can improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace, said Prakash HS, Vice president – Pharma & Life Sciences, WalkWater Talent Advisors.
AI, ML and robotics are becoming increasingly important in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. The companies now are well positioned to benefit from these latest technology interventions which have the potential to transform crucial functions related to drug discovery, drug development, and drug delivery. AI and ML technologies are being used to mine insights from multiple data sets and make it interoperable across R&D, clinical research, and the supply chain and distribution, he added.
The Covid-19 pandemic turned out to be a catalyst for the rise of AI investments in the Indian pharma industry. A survey by Precedence Research shows that the AI investments in the pharma market is predicted to grow from USD 905.91 million in 2021 to USD 9.24 billion by 2030.
The pharma sector is increasingly embracing AI/ML enabled tools to improve sales and marketing effectiveness and enhance customer engagement. With these tools providing real time insights & recommendations, the sales team can prioritize leads, optimize territories, and improve their sales forecasting accuracy. For instance, Dr Reddy’s Lab, Lupin & Cipla are some of the early adapters in using such tools to enable their commercial teams, said Prakash.
We are seeing pharma majors harnessing the power of AI/ML to process the data which can help improve the efficiency of research and clinical trials, foster innovation, and enhance decision-making skills. In India, Syngene International, a leading contract research organization has developed proprietary solutions for AI based drug discovery programs. Globally pharma majors like Pfizer, Roche, J&J and Novartis have made significant adaptation of this technology, he said.
The automation of clinical trials helps bring down the cycle times and costs while improving efficiency. AI and ML are being used to improve the design and conduct of clinical trials. For example, they can help to identify suitable trial participants, predict patient responses to treatments, and monitor patient safety. Here Lupin in India has recently launched a digital platform which uses AI & ML to provide personalised patient experiences and offers physicians better and continuous care for their patients, noted Prakash.
Through the intervention of latest AI / ML tools in supply chain, organization are optimizing their inventory, minimize excesses and shortages, and enable real-time decision-making to react to last-minute changes in demands.
While AI, ML and Robotics can bring a huge advantage and opportunity to the sector, some of the barriers to its adoption in industry include blind spots in areas such as data access & collection, privacy issues, data misuse, and regulatory ambiguity. Going into the future, attracting top talent with AI and ML skills will become crucial for Indian pharma organizations to keep them competitive in this rapidly evolving industry, said Prakash.
Source: PHARMABIZ