Innovating the Cure

100 years ago, one of the biggest medical breakthroughs happened. During a hot Toronto August, Fred Banting and Charlie Best administered a pancreatic injection into a diabetic dog. Banting and Best were able to observe how the blood sugar levels fell. Their breakthrough was insulin and it was insulin that turned diabetes from a deadly disease into a manageable one.

Demand for the wonder drug insulin, developed by Banting and Best was huge. To scale effectively they partnered with a company called Eli Lily, which demonstrates that co-innovation and networks have been around for years.

Fast forward to 2021, and we are confronted by more than 6000 rare diseases. Innovative therapies give hope to many, and today we can offer innovative technologies to accompany and enable such therapies. In my experience, progress is often accelerated by taking a step back from tradition and making the leap towards innovation.

In a recent article from McKinsey (Roche’s Infinity model: helping to transform the lives of patients with rare diseases), Anne Nijs, transformation lead for rare conditions at Roche Pharmaceuticals explained how Roche’s infinity model is using digital technology to offer new ways for healthcare providers and patients to communicate and achieve the best outcomes for all involved. The key for Roche, is that the patient is front and center along every step of the journey.

Roche implemented a new operating model to transform outcomes for patients with rare diseases. This involved intensive dialogue with patients, solution co-creation and how the patient could be helped in the best way possible. As a next step, the teams at Roche explored where to offer care, effective supply chains and distribution of resources as well as how to bridge the gap in healthcare systems.?

Adapting to constantly evolving conditions and looking at things from a completely different perspective ultimately leads to value creation. At the same time, Roche rewrote how to measure success outside of revenue, again adding the human touch and putting the patient at the center of their universe.

In line with our purpose to make the world run better and improve people’s lives, SAP SE, Roche and Tenthpin partnered to shape the new future of clinical supplies and operations as well as to harmonize clinical and commercial supply chain management systems. Together they have formed an industry consortium to craft a new innovative clinical trial support management (CTSM) solution.

Demand visibility, supply and packaging availability are essential for organizations when conducting clinical trials. The SAP, Roche and Tenthpin consortium aims to better meet the specific requirements of the life sciences clinical supplies practice. Optimally aligned clinic supplies processes and orchestration are of paramount importance to the life sciences industry. Especially in times of a global pandemic.

In true business network style, SAP and its co-innovation customers are designing and building the CTSM solution on SAP S/4HANA and SAP’s industry cloud. You can read more on the benefits in this SAP News article.

Putting people at the core of your strategy, whether that be whilst looking for a medical breakthrough or when creating advanced next generation solutions is never wrong. It reinforces the fact that when we work together, we can build a more resilient and sustainable world that benefits everyone, everywhere.?