Pharmaceutical Bio Association: "Pharmaceutical and Bio Industries Accelerating Digital Transformation"

Cover of the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association Policy Report 'Digital Transformation and Response of the Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Industry' (Photo by Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association)

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association announced on the 26th that it has published the 24th policy report (KPBMA Brief) titled "Digital Transformation and Response of the Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Industry."

Lee Haesung, Executive Director of KT Digital & Bio Health Business Unit, who contributed the cover story on "Digital Transformation and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Industry," stated, "Due to the spread of COVID-19 and the prolonged pandemic, digital transformation is accelerating across all industrial sectors," adding, "This is occurring particularly rapidly in the pharmaceutical and bio-pharma industry."

Specifically, he anticipated that the digital transformation of pharmaceutical and bio-pharma would materialize in the areas of 'production, sales & marketing' and 'research and development (R&D).' In production, he noted that artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and cloud-based infrastructure could optimize the production processes of various raw materials and complex pharmaceutical and bio-pharma products. He observed that innovation in production processes could maximize product yield and provide economic benefits to business operations.

In sales and marketing, digital transformation could enhance customer relationship management (CRM) systems that predict appropriate 'demand-supply' within an ecosystem composed of 'patients-medical staff (hospitals)-pharmaceutical and bio-pharma companies-pharmacies-insurance companies.' Executive Director Lee said, "This can bring innovation in data-driven market insights for improving company management efficiency and in the non-face-to-face medical market."

In the research domain, it is expected to aid early diagnosis and prediction of diseases and achieve efficient outcomes in selecting appropriate treatments and managing prognoses. In development, including clinical trials and regulatory approval, it is anticipated that cloud platforms will bring innovation to patient-centered, data-driven clinical research.

Besides these, the policy report introduced policy trends and technologies related to the digital transformation of pharmaceutical and bio-pharma through contributions such as ▲Policy directions for digital transformation and activation of digital therapeutics (DTx) (Kim Hyekyung, Officer, Digital Content Division, Ministry of Science and ICT) ▲Challenges for institutional entry of the digital healthcare industry (Yoon Guhyun, Manager, Policy and Public Relations Team, LifeSemantics) ▲AI new drug development open innovation and future (Hong Seunghwan, Principal Researcher, AI New Drug Development Support Center) ▲Current status and digital transformation tasks of chronic disease healthcare services (Song Jeyoon, CEO, Dr. Diary) ▲The future of pharmaceutical and bio-pharma created by DTx (Kang Sungji, CEO, Welt) ▲Pharmaceutical and bio-pharma innovation through smart factories and QbD (Heo Hoonseok, PL, Strategic Planning Team, Korea Innovative Pharmaceutical Consortium).

The policy report also presented the results of an ESG (environment, social, governance) survey conducted by the association in September targeting 71 pharmaceutical and bio-pharma companies. According to the survey, the most critical environmental issue to address was 'disposal of waste pharmaceuticals and other waste,' while the most important social issue was 'management of supply chains including partner companies.' In governance, 'advancement of board composition and operation' was identified as the most important matter. Regarding activities closely related to realizing social value among pharmaceutical and bio-pharma companies' operations, 'production and supply of excellent pharmaceuticals' was the most frequent response at 60.6%.

Additionally, the policy report included content diagnosing industry issues and trends such as ▲Policy proposals for appropriate value recognition of Korean-customized new drugs (Kang Heeseong, Head of MA Team, Development Headquarters, Daewoong Pharmaceutical) ▲The value of K-Generics (Lee Yongbok, Professor, College of Pharmacy, Chonnam National University) ▲Pharmaceutical and bio-pharma industry’s continuous job creation efforts (Jung Chanwoong, Head of Public Relations Team, Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association) ▲Pharmaceutical and bio-pharma, global expansion is the answer (Lee Hyunwoo, Head of Global Headquarters, Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association) ▲Key inquiries from the 2022 National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee audit (Kim Dohyung, PL, External Cooperation Office, Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association) ▲Research on implementation plans for pharmaceutical labeling in preparation for the digital healthcare era (Research Team, Education and Research Center, Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.