Leading a Digital Transformation in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Reimagining the Way We Work in Global Drug Development

Abstract

We are experiencing seminal times in computing that seem to define a fourth industrial revolution. This may fundamentally change the way we live, work, and relate to one another. Embracing data and digital information is a top priority for most industries these days, and Life Sciences is no exception. The pharmaceutical industry in particular is fundamentally a data-driven business. Inspired by a desire to "Go Big on Data," we developed a strategic roadmap defining a digital transformation to reimagine the way we work in Novartis Global Drug Development, leveraging data science to generate and inject actionable insights into our best practices. We launched a program called Nerve Live, and built a state-of-the-art data and analytics platform to harness past and present operational data, providing access to decades of drug development "experience" buried across multiple sources. The platform enabled the systematic application of machine learning and predictive analytics to generate "intelligence": new insights across multiple functional areas. To action the insights and create "value," we crafted skillfully designed end-user applications for domain experts to plan, track, predict, compare and monitor domain activities, optimize costs, and maximize quality. Today, the Nerve Live program enables insights-driven decision making at scale, unlocking productivity, and providing transparency across the Novartis Global Drug Development organization and beyond. We identified three main drivers making the Nerve Live program successful and enabling the associated digital transformation to flourish. We discuss the challenges, highlight the benefits, and see the importance of leading the way to become future proof.

Figure 1

Left panel: High‐level schematic representing sample data sources and the Nerve Live platform through its main logical components: data lake, analytics layer, data access application programming interface (API) and end‐user interfaces (modules or solutions). The current eight Nerve Live modules are indicated by colored round icons with an acronym (see Table 1 for a complete description). Right panel: Illustration of the Nerve Live program through example screenshot from four Nerve Live modules (solutions).

Figure 2

The SENSE Insights Center on the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland, inaugurated on December 10, 2018.