The fact is that Generative AI- GenAI is revolutionizing the life sciences sector, and one is just at the surface of it.
It is worth noting that, on average, it takes almost seven years to come up with a new drug and also bring it to market. In the case of ambitious life sciences businesses, GenAI’s capacity to generate insights as well as content in a fraction of the time of a human goes on to mean wiping months, or even years, off that particular average. When it comes to clinical development, saving time saves lives, or at least improves them, by way of faster availability of treatments. It also translates into a revenue opportunity, and that too at a significant one at that.
There happen to be certain industry sources who estimate that bringing new treatments to the market ahead of schedule can amount to between £500,000 and £6.5 million every day. But because of uncertain regulatory landscapes, teamed with a rapidly evolving technological nature, some organizations are taking a wait-and-see path so as to adopt GenAI, prolonging investments until the course forward becomes clearer. Although this may as well seem like a prudent approach, it is going to be one organization’s regret in the long run as they are going to miss out on the opportunities GenAI has for them, such as drug discovery as well as speed to market, and as competitors move ahead and take the lead.
When it comes to the sciences, companies that are looking to seize a competitive edge as well as supercharge their speed to market have a certain major area in terms of the clinical development lifecycle, they ought to focus on first.
Simplifying the research pathway
R&D is often looked upon as a time-consuming part when it comes to the drug development process, but AI can go on to speed up this process by almost 50%, as the tech happens to be having a multiplier effect wherever it gets applied.
It is well to be noted that life sciences can go on to execute GenAI at the very onset of the R&D cycle, so as to aid in searching as well as synthesising available literature when it comes to a potential drug. Rather than beginning with a manual keyword search and sifting via hundreds of articles through various sources, teams can go ahead and prompt a generative AI-enabled tool so as to rapidly search, inculcate, as well as distil relevant articles, or, for that matter, even suggest unanticipated information pathways in order to explore.
The fact is that generative AI happens to have the potential to change how researchers find existing literature. Usually, researchers just type keywords in the search box; however, with a GenAI tool, they can go on to state their goal in the prompt, offer context and intent so as to let the technology find reference materials when it comes to supporting that specific ask, save significant time, while at the same time widening the horizons of research.
Automating the clinical trial protocol writing
Interestingly, going ahead and compiling a clinical trial protocol document happens to be a lengthy process that can take anywhere from a few months to more than a year. GenAI technology’s capacities can automate a substantial amount of the protocol writing process, thereby bringing the span down to days or just mere hours.
It is worth noting that Generative AI can be trained when it comes to thousands of existing protocols within industry databases and also each company’s own research data, so as to identify the patterns that are relevant to investigational products, certain sets of conditions, certain patient populations, or, for that matter, varied factors. As the GenAI tool goes on to pinpoint relevant patterns, it can go on to mix all the insights in order to design a baseline study, having a defined narrative that puts forth the eligibility, drafts the exclusionary part, and also offers other necessary details. It can go on to generate a number of draft choices that will later be analysed and refined by humans.
Speeding up the launch processes in the secondary markets
Once a new therapy gets the nod to launch in one market, various companies will look to broaden the launch to others. This process can go on to take a massive amount of time along with resources, right from strategy development as well as market research to the engagement of agencies, the creation of content, as well as material development. Much like what happens in research as well as protocol writing processes, a lot of these steps when it comes to this part of the process can be automated with the help of GenAI.
For example, when the drug is almost on the verge of getting approved, GenAI can as well support commercial teams’ research and, at the same time, compile strategy documents for the secondary markets, thereby taking into account certain regulations the therapy would require to adhere to in another new country. Generative AI can likewise be used so as to adapt existing content, such as website copy, brochures, as well as other promotional materials, to the local language along with the culture of the secondary market. This can very well slash to a year off the go-to-market timeframe within new countries and incredibly decrease marketing and design costs.
Taking those first steps
Significantly, introducing GenAI into any business ought to be done one step at a time, and it begins with nurturing an AI literacy culture in which every employee goes on to comprehend how the technology can be utilized to reshape as well as empower its significance. It is also imperative to create a robust ecosystem of partners that includes relationships with academic institutions, data providers, as well as specialty GenAI vendors who will go on to guide the business’ knowledge progress as well as internal abilities.
Apparently, once GenAI is brought to the fore, it is indeed a good idea to come up with a body within the business in order to supervise how the organization makes use of the technology and also manage the upskilling as well as development of employees who happen to be engaging with the tech. Notably, this body should also make sure to establish the best practices as well as create frameworks that go ahead and guide the GenAI deployment throughout the business.
Indeed, a life-saving revolution
Getting GenAI into a pharmaceutical setup is no mean feat and is very daunting. It is, in all due respects, a very essential investment for companies that are looking to stay ahead of the curve, their competitors, and the market.
At the same time, it is also critical to make sure that the employees are given training on how to ideally optimize the technology and also create a body that goes on to supervise how the tech is being embraced and deployed throughout the business so as to avoid any misuse. As companies go ahead and experiment with GenAI throughout their numerous use cases, they will go on to lay the base that is needed to harness the overall potential of this transformative tech, thereby exploring, testing, and bringing drugs to market sooner. This, in no doubt, enhances patient outcomes because of safer, more effective, and more affordable drug development, and it surges revenue choices in a market that happens to be highly competitive, which is driving value and also elevating patient outcomes, all at the same time.
