If there's one industry where a company can be an investment away from disaster, it's pharmaceutics. That's because pharmaceutical drugs are notoriously expensive to develop and bring to market. One study, by Wikibon analyst Jeff Kelly, put the cost of a successful drug at $4 billion and 12 years of research. But what if the time and cost involved in bringing a successful drug to market could be cut in half?
Enter tech's newest favorite toy: big data.
The move to big data makes sense: a lot of industries are looking towards such analytics to deliver on profitable insights and trends, and few industries stand to gain more from big data than big pharma. To that effect, pharmaceutical leader GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited has extended its contract with WNS, a business process outsourcing firm, to deliver on research and analytics. And other pharmaceutical companies are doing the same.
The question, then, is what sort of data will be available, and to who?
Big data is relatively new in the pharmaceutical research world. The release of such data by private firms isn't common, but new polices in Europe will soon change that.
The major push for more drug data came when a pair of researchers won access to data on weight loss drugs produced by two companies in Europe. The researchers, according to The Financial Times, fought for a half-decade to gain access to the data, fearing the companies downplayed the side effects of the drugs. When the researchers won their right to look, and test, the data on the drugs the European Medicines Agency also ruled it'll release all clinical studies submitted for approval.
But there are concerns when applying big data, at least publicly, to medical practices. Concerns, as The Financial Times reports, center on the confidentiality of patients involved in trials, sidestepping regulators and giving competitors insight into valuable research.
That last point is particularly salient to the pharmaceutical industry. Companies stand to lose a lot of money by easily spooked investors flying away at the slightest suggestion that will put out a similar, cheaper, drug. After all, why invest in research when you can simply send a freedom of information request and analyze the data for your own version of the drug? Such data dumps could harm investor confidence, and, in turn, developments for new drugs.
Finally, there's the issue of patient privacy. Open data could directly harm those trying new treatments on rare diseases by exposing them to insurance hikes, employer discrimination and marketers.
Big data has the potential to accelerate a great deal of industries, but the whether or not those industries, and the laws guiding them, are ready is unknown.
Edited by
Ashley Caputo
