Relevance of Artificial Intelligence in Creative Pharma Marketing

Relevance of Artificial Intelligence in Creative Pharma Marketing

Keeping pace with the challenge of change globally, the macro environment in the pharma business is also undergoing a metamorphosis. This includes areas, such as, strong product pricing pressure, dwindling new product pipelines, increasing operating expenses, stringent regulatory requirements, rising stakeholder expectations, and several others. All these developments collectively, are making the drug companies, both global and local, feel the tailwind of various intensities, in their efforts to achieve the corporate financial goals, more than ever before.

Despite this continuous change, most pharma players’ overall strategic business models to meet with the increasing economic expectations of the shareholders, other investors and the stock markets, have hardly undergone any path breaking, radical, or disruptive advancement, just yet. This includes even the most critical interface between an organization and the consumers – pharma sales and marketing.

That said, it is not uncommon, either, to witness some sporadic initiatives of major business process reengineering with sophisticated digital applications. Interestingly, all these measures are mostly replacements or for realignment of the same age old, and traditional strategic pharma sales and marketing models. Most of these are aimed at adding more speed and accuracy to the same business core process, along with ensuring greater management information and control to support the decision making process.

Despite this palpable environmental shift, general inertia within the pharma industry to respond to all these, with commensurate strategic game plans of surgical accuracy, is glaring. Currently, the general response to this transformation is mostly reactive and traditionally defensive in nature, rather than proactive, as the overall business environment around the industry keep becoming increasingly demanding. Most pharma players may not, but the time keeps galloping ahead, offering a mind boggling rapid advances in disruptive technological innovations – the potential game changers for its several business domains.

In the midst of such all-embracing changes, yet another disruptive technology – ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’, is prompting many business leaders to step on to a brand new paradigm, making use of AI to the extent required, especially, while preparing a detail strategic roadmap for the business with high precision.

A clear intent to seize this moment is now visible in many industries, though in varying degrees and scale, but surely it is happening. This is vindicated by the gradual increase in demand for AI, across a wide variety of its application areas.

Marketing to turn upside down?

On October 26, 2016 an article published in ‘The Huffington Post’ on how AI could ‘Turn the Marketing World Upside Down’ indicated its disruptive impact on the way innovative marketing strategies are conceived, created and implemented on the ground.

The article gave an interesting example of how paradigm shift follows a predictable pattern of development that starts with substitution, followed by augmentation, modification, and finally redefinition.

For example, the evolution of today’s smartphones also followed the same pattern, as follows:

• First replaced simpler landline phones
• Then adapted with the addition of a camera
• And finally redefined “phone” altogether, not just by replacing cameras, pagers, and many functions of personal computers, but by being able to perform with great precision an incredible number of various other serious requirements, well supported by related digital apps.

With the application of AI in marketing, the conventional ball game right from conception, to charting out and execution of marketing strategies, will be catapulted to a new and fascinating orbit altogether. I have no intent to romanticizing it. This is going to happen sooner than later, as we move on.

Artificial Intelligence (AI):

In a simple and commonly understandable way ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’ can be explained as the theory and development of computer systems, which are able to perform tasks normally requiring human intelligence, such as, machine learning, visual perception, image processing, speech recognition, decision-making, and language processing, besides many others.

In the Hollywood film industry, several sci-fi movies have already been made, based on AI as the core theme. Some of these international blockbuster films are ‘The Terminator’, ‘Transcendence’, ‘The Matrix’, ‘Ex Machina’, ‘Ex Machina’ or even ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, among many others.

Some concern, but…:

Alongside, a serious concern has also been expressed by some global icons, that the evolution of AI could reach a dangerous threshold, where mankind will no longer remain in control of the creation of its own progeny, besides other living beings. This could, as they believe, jeopardize the continuity of an entire civilization, at least, in its present form.

In 2014, globally acclaimed Professor Stephen Hawking commented in an  interview with the BBC: “Humans, limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete and would be superseded by A.I.”

In fact, in July 2015, Professor Hawking reportedly joined Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and many others, warning that AI can potentially be more dangerous than nuclear weapons.

In the same year, even Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, reportedly expressed his concerns, saying, “I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence…”

On the other hand, despite such apprehensions, AI based technology keeps evolving at a rapid pace, with the funding in AI research taking giant leaps forward. The technology has already found its cutting edge extensive applications in several warfare. We now hear almost every day about unmanned drones not just doing defense surveillance, but destroying strategic targets with jaw-dropping precision. Or for that matter, use of robots has become rather common to diffusive explosive devices of various kinds, intensity, and planted in important places to kill people. As reported by the media, ‘autonomous and self-aware robots to diminish the need for human soldiers to risk their lives.’

Google’s driverless cars also use similar AI technology offering advanced analytics-based algorithms, machine learning and deep learning processes, which could well be another game changing example in this area.

The benefits far outweigh the risks?

Be that as it may, the benefits of AI seem to far outweigh the risks, in various areas. This includes its strategic applications in the pharma industry.

This gets vindicated by the February 2016 research report of ‘Markets and Markets’ (claimed as the world’s second largest firm in publishing premium market research reports, per year), which estimated that AI market would record a turnover of around US$ 5.05 Billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 53.65 percent between 2015 and 2020. This market is currently dominated by the ‘Machine Learning’ technology, as it provides the computers with the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed, and are capable of updating themselves when exposed to new data.

Some of the key players operating in the artificial intelligence market are IBM Corp. (U.S.), Microsoft Corp. (U.S.), Google Inc. (U.S.), IPsoft (U.S.), FinGenius Corp. (U.K.), Rocket Fuel Inc. (U.S.), Mobileye N.V. (Israel), Kensho Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Sentient Technologies (U.S.), and Zephyr Health (U.S.), the report revealed.

AI in pharma:

Over the last decade, AI is being increasingly used by various industries, as a key support to the strategic decision making process, in various areas of business. Understandably, in pharma its use has been rather limited, as on date. Nevertheless, there are several key domains within the pharma industry, where effective use of AI has the potential to be a critical performance enhancer. These areas include, not just in discovery research, or in clinical trials, or in sales and marketing, but also in setting the right strategic direction for the company.........

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Counterfeit Drugs in India: A Malady Much Deeper

Counterfeit Drugs in India: A Malady Much Deeper

Many debates and discussions continue being lined up in India almost regularly, generally by the pharma trade associations, besides a few others, on the issue of counterfeit drugs. A good number of these events are sponsored by the global and local anti-counterfeit product manufacturers and the related service providers, presumably to get a captive pharma audience. By and large, these gatherings are well publicized, and very rightly so, to focus for a while on this growing menace in the country.

One of the key objectives of such proceedings, I reckon, besides recommending the immediate action steps for the government in saddle, is to encourage the manufacturers of high quality drugs to protect their brands from the onslaught of counterfeiters through anti-counterfeit measures. Several of these involve a state of the art non-cloning technology. The core message that gets filtered-through, in most of these occasions is, if the suggested steps are followed by the drug companies with the related products and services, these won’t just help protect the patients’ health interest, but also provide a boost to the top and bottom lines in the pharma business, significantly.

There are no qualms about this initiative, not at all. Nonetheless, can this be considered a holistic approach to tackle the menace of counterfeit drugs, especially by the pharma players in India, and considering various other different ways the menace keep striking the patients, so surreptitiously?

Thus, in this article, my point of focus will be on a critical question, which is not asked with the same vigor always in many of the above events: Hasn’t the malady of counterfeit drugs in India spread much wider, and taken its root considerably deeper?

Counterfeit drugs and what it includes?

According to the World Health Organization (W.H.O), there is currently no universally agreed definition among its member states in what is widely known as ‘Counterfeit medicines’. Nevertheless, W.H.O does indicate that the term ‘counterfeit’ is widely used to include falsified, unlicensed, falsely packaged, stolen and substandard medical products. Jurisdictions across the world define counterfeit medicines in many different ways.

It’s worth noting here, according to W.H.O, substandard medical products also belong to this category. In 2009, W.H.O defined ‘substandard’ drugs as “genuine medicines produced by the manufacturers authorized by the NMRA (national medicines regulatory authority) which do not meet quality specifications set for them by national standards”.

Hence, notwithstanding whatever will be accepted as the general consensus of the W.H.O members on the definition of counterfeit drugs, from the patients’ perspective, any drug failing to meet with the claimed efficacy, safety and quality standards, should come under the same ‘category definition’, including substandard drugs.

Controversy over the term ‘Counterfeit’:

Many W.H.O member countries believe that the term counterfeit is closely associated and legally defined within the Intellectual Property (IP) legislation, and concentrates on trademark protection. Consequently, usage of this terminology has been perceived to have reduced the focus from what is first and foremost a public health issue. Thus, it has become quite important for W.H.O to separate the different categories of what is widely used as ‘counterfeit drug’, for the purpose of analysis and identifying strategies, to effectively address the issue of the public health menace that such activities give rise to.

Types of counterfeit drugs:

A Review Article titled “Anti-counterfeit Packaging in Pharma Industry” dated February 17, 2011, published in the “International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences”, divided the types of counterfeit mechanisms into five categories, in which drugs are manufactured or distributed without proper regulatory clearance, and do not meet the determined standards of safety, quality, and efficacy:

• No active ingredient (43 percent)
• Low levels of active ingredient (21 percent)
• Poor quality drugs (24 percent)
• Wrong ingredients (2 percent)
• Wrong packaging or source (7 percent)

This particular article will dwell mainly on a very important segment in this category – the substandard or poor quality drugs.

The magnitude of the problem:

On May 17, 2016, a Research Article titled, “Public Awareness and Identification of Counterfeit Drugs in Tanzania: A View on Antimalarial Drugs”, published in ‘Advances in Public Health’ – a peer-reviewed, open access journal that publishes original research articles, highlighted something that should cause a great concern not just for the Indian drug regulators, but also the Indian pharma manufacturers, in general.

The research paper, besides other points, underscored the following:

“Currently, it is estimated that 10–15 percent of the global drugs supplied are counterfeit. The prevalence is higher in developing countries in Africa and in parts of Asia and Latin America where up to 30–60 percent of drugs on the market are counterfeit. India is a major supplier of poor quality drugs whereby 35–75 percent of fake/counterfeit drugs globally originate from India.”

Another report of ‘Pharmexcil’ dated October 04, 2010 also states: “According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 75 percent of fake drugs supplied world over have origins in India, followed by 7 percent from Egypt and 6 percent from China. India is also a leading source of high quality generic and patent drugs in the legitimate commerce worldwide. Since drugs made in India are sold around the world, the country’s substandard drug trade represents a grave public health threat that extends far beyond the subcontinent.”

Substandard drugs: a potential crisis in public health:

An article with the above title, published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology on November 29, 2013 cautioned on the potential crisis in public health with substandard drugs, as follows:

“Poor-quality medicines present a serious public health problem, particularly in emerging economies and developing countries, and may have a significant impact on the national clinical and economic burden. Attention has largely focused on the increasing availability of deliberately falsified drugs, but substandard medicines are also reaching patients because of poor manufacturing and quality-control practices in the production of genuine drugs (either branded or generic). Substandard medicines are widespread and represent a threat to health because they can inadvertently lead to health care failures, such as antibiotic resistance and the spread of disease within a community, as well as death or additional illness in individuals.”

Hence, the potential of health crisis with various substandard drugs is quite similar to other types of counterfeit drugs.

Substandard drugs and small pharma players:

As I said before, the malady of counterfeit, fake and substandard drugs are spreading .........

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