European pharma gets connected

The number of connected devices is expected to increase dramatically over the next decade. Big players within the European healthcare industry are taking this on board and embracing the latest IoT technologies, as Industry Europe discovers.

The IoT – the ever-expanding network of objects embedded with sensors, electronics chips, software and connected to the Internet – enables everyday objects to be monitored and controlled remotely. And with patients becoming more and more used to smart phone technologies in their daily lives, the healthcare sector – which currently consumes about 10 per cent of Europe’s GDP – has recognised the need to adopt these technologies more widely to increase efficiency and combat diseases.

Achieving the kind of industry opportunities offered by the IoT in Europe requires the connection of some 25 billion objects in the EU28 alone. This, according to the global management consultancy firm A.T. Kearney in its report, ‘The Internet of Things: A New Path to European Prosperity’ (2016), would represent an annual opportunity worth €80 billion for the entire gamut of IoT solutions providers, including Components and Module Makers (such as Telit and Gemalto); Object Manufacturers (such as Siemens or Philips); Connectivity Providers (such as Google or IBM) and more besides.

Promising areas for development

There are a few key areas in which we can expect to see significant efficiency gains from IoT technologies in the coming years. It has the capacity to improve monitoring of chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, multiple sclerosis and heart disease, and support better patient compliance with medication regimes. This could translate to huge savings: nonmedication compliance, for example, currently costs €66 billion and IMS Health-France has estimated that this could be reduced by up to €53 billion through the use of devices such as ingested sensor connected pillboxes.

But it is not just about monitoring alreadydiagnosed diseases – the continuous monitoring of vital signs, motions and so on should also greatly improve the early detection of diseases and hence, the possibilities for disease

management. Remote hospitalisation through the use of connected medial devices may also become the norm in the future, freeing up space in hospitals for more critical cases and cutting the costs of rehabilitation by enabling patients to manage their care at home.

Finally, there is the power of ‘Big Data’ – an overriding theme in almost every sector today. The opening up of IoT-derived medical data to pharmaceutical research companies could help them to understand disease progression and therefore speed up the development of more individualised therapies.

Ongoing challenges

With Europe home to major players such as Philips and Siemens – both of which have a strong presence in the medical device market – we might have expected IoT to have had a more transformative effect on the market already. This is particularly true considering that price pressures have forced companies to become more innovative in order to survive in an increasingly competitive market.

And yet, so far the industry has been relatively slow to adopt IoT on a larger scale as opposed to, say, the automotive or domestic appliances sectors. There may be several reasons for this: for instance, rather than employing an open market each country uses its own system of diseases and treatments and there is a general embargo on healthcare data.

There is also the danger that some of the established European companies may be under threat from outside players, such as Apple with its well-publicised health kit. Moreover, innovation in the European pharmaceutical industry has slowed to a certain extent thanks to the increasing consolidation of ‘Big Pharma’ multinational companies through mergers and acquisitions, as well as competition from generic and biosimiliar producers. Because of this, it could be argued that in recent years there has been more emphasis on differentiation as opposed to pure innovation. These are all issues that need to be addressed.

Major partnerships

However, change may be on the horizon for 2016 and beyond. One encouraging sign is the increasing number of new partnerships between the big pharmaceutical players and technology companies. UK-based phar-

maceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is one example: in partnership with Alphabet subsidiary Verily Life Sciences (formerly Google Life Sciences) it is forming a bioelectronics research, development and commercialisation firm. To be called Galvani Bioelectronics, it will focus on miniaturised, implantable devices that can modify electrical signals passing along nerves in the body.

Also partnering with Verily is Sanofi: the two companies announced in August 2015 that they would be collaborating on the development of technologies to improve the management of diabetes. The venture combines Sanofi’s expertise in diabetes and Verily’s expertise in data analysis and miniaturised lowenergy electronic chips. The goal is to provide continuous real-time monitoring of a patients’ health status. Another collaboration in the field of diabetes, between Novo Norsdisk and IBM Watson Health, will see the two companies work together to create diabetes solutions built on the Watson Health Cloud.

Elsewhere, earlier this year Switzerlandbased Novartis announced a collaboration with Qualcomm Incorporated, through its subsidiary Qualcomm Life Inc. (a provider of wireless solutions for chronic disease), to introduce a digital update of its Breezhaler inhaler device to treat Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Under this collaboration, Qualcomm Life will provide the technology for the connectivity of the next generation of the Breezhaler. This will give patients access to their own data on the use of their inhaler in near real time.

The future

All the above is promising, but when it comes to IoT and healthcare there is still work to be done to ensure society is ready to embrace the new technologies available. It may well be that some patients are apprehensive about the implications of IoT-enabled data collection for their personal privacy. Therefore, before lifting the abovementioned embargo on data governments across Europe must put in place legislation to ensure this data is not misused. And there are signs this is indeed starting to happen: at the start of February this year, the EC announced it will be developing guidelines for mobile health apps. It will be looking to apps to provide higher-quality health data using current best practices to ensure the information collected is protected.

Another potential catalyst for change has come from the UK: the NHS in England has announced it will be partnering with tech companies, including giants such as IBM and Philips, to carry out seven trials to improve healthcare by using IoT. While this is more of a regional development, it had been argued that a national health provider taking such a step could be groundbreaking for every country within the EU. Now, of course, it remains to be seen how the UK’s decision to leave the EU will impact on cross-border knowledge and information sharing. n