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.