What’s next for healthcare: Opportunities at the intersection of biology and technology

I recently returned from California where I attended the Laguna Biotech CEO Forum. The event gathered leaders from a number of pharma and biotech companies, research institutions, and academia, as well as government organizations involved in biopharmaceutical research and development. With the event being in California, there was of course a lot of buzz about the opportunity for our industry at the intersection of biology and technology.

I participated in a discussion with Ron Cohen, President & CEO of Acorda Therapeutics, on this opportunity, among other topics. By collaborating closely with the tech and medical communities, our industry can bring forward advances that could transform the human experience with disease, from prevention, to faster clinical trials, and better monitoring of progression.

At the Forum, I also talked with several executives from GRAIL, including the company’s president Ken Drazan. GRAIL is aiming to develop a simple blood test to detect cancer early, when it can be cured. We discussed how the company looks at small fragments of tumor DNA, known as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), and is combining high-intensity sequencing with data analytics to detect cancer before symptoms appear. Examples like this illustrate the amazing applications technology can have on a patient’s treatment and chances for survival.

We can also leverage technology to transform how a patient experiences disease, and possibly even prevent it all together. Just consider the remarkable potential technologies like CRISPR hold. For the first time, researchers in the U.S. used CRISPR to repair a genetic mutation in human embryos, successfully removing a defect that can lead to heart failure.[1] Scientists have also used CRISPR to completely extract HIV from a living organism. And one day, we may be able to use this technology to slow the growth of cancer cells, shrink tumors, and even make mosquito-borne diseases extinct.[2] Game-changing advances like these could prevent devastating illnesses that run in families.

There is also huge opportunity to use technology to run clinical trials faster and more efficiently, so we can ultimately bring targeted therapies to market quicker for patients in need. As an example, at Novartis we have electronic data from more than 3,000 clinical trials and paper-based data dating back to the 1950’s, given our vast clinical trial operations around the world. We’re now trying to collect, organize and analyze that data, and we’re piloting advanced analytics programs to do just that.

There are some exciting new companies also operating in this area. One example is Trialspark, which runs a next generation clinical trial recruiting tool that uses advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to help researchers complete studies faster. I met leaders from this company, and was inspired by the way they’re using tech to enable remote trials and reimagine the patient experience in clinical trials.

The reality is that healthcare is one of the few industries that technology has yet to totally transform. But this transformation is just beginning, and I believe what will be most impactful is what is yet to come. I look forward to seeing how the technology and healthcare industries can work together to change the practice of medicines and help bring new therapies to patients in the future.

[1] Source: TIME, “U.S. Scientists Use CRISPR to Fix Genetic Disease in Human Embryos For the First Time,” 2017

[2] Source: Nature, “Current application of CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technique to eradication of HIV/AIDS,” 2017