FiercePharma | Eric Sagonowsky
Artificial
intelligence is a big buzzword in R&D right now, but at Novartis, it's hard
at work in the sales department, too.
Amid far
more meetings with digital companies at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference
this year, Novartis’ pharma CEO Paul Hudson said he expects 2019 to be the
“beginning of the tech disruption” for pharma, in everything from marketing to
supply chain.
In past
years at JPM, Hudson mainly checked out early-stage biotech companies for
potential partnerships, he told FiercePharma. This year? It’s about half
health-tech companies, he said.
Obviously,
Novartis is jumping right in, as part of CEO Vas Narasimhan's push to transform
the entire company using digital tech. In the field, the drugmaker has equipped
salespeople with an AI service that suggests doctors to visit and subjects to
talk up during their meetings.
The
program's “virtual assistant” helps salespeople “plan better, move better and
make sure when they show up to see a healthcare professional, they are talking
about the things that the healthcare professional is absolutely interested in,”
Hudson said.
“When you
turn up at the right time with the right things to say, they’re more interested
and put more value in it, and our people like the fact that AI is running in
the background helping them plan their day," he added.
In the long
run, the program will help the company become more efficient, Hudson said, also
citing telemedicine and improved distribution systems as potential digital
shakeups heading for the pharma industry.
Under
Narasimhan, Novartis has placed a big emphasis on digital. The company in 2017
appointed Bertrand Bodson as its first chief digital officer. In March, the
drugmaker teamed with Pear Therapeutics to create software applications to
treat patients with schizophrenia and multiple sclerosis. The partners just
launched an opioid addiction app this week.
Of course,
Novartis isn’t alone in its digital quest. Pfizer, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline
also appointed their first chief digital officers over the past couple years,
signaling how the trend is taking hold at top drug companies.
Merck
appointed former Nike executive Jim Scholefield as its digital lead, while GSK
tapped former Walmart executive Karenann Terrell as its chief digital and
technology officer. For GSK’s consumer unit, the company picked up former
Google and L’Oreal executive Marc Speichert. Pfizer, for its part, named former
Quest Diagnostics executive Lidia Fonseca to serve as chief digital officer
under new CEO Albert Bourla.
