Life sciences industry should collaborate more to build the LoTF, says the Pistoia Alliance
The Pistoia Alliance, a not for profit alliance, has called on the life sciences industry to support the ‘Lab of the Future’ (LoTF) through greater collaboration during its annual EU member conference held in London.
Dr Steve Arlington, president of the Pistoia Alliance, urged stakeholders to come together to help technology continue to drive change in the industry and to amplify R&D budgets. Other speakers, including from Merck, GlaxoSmithKline and SAP, also discussed how future technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and the use of real world data (RWD) will contribute to the development of the lab. Throughout the conference, the goal was to identify key areas where the Pistoia Alliance can set up collaborative projects that will make a real difference to research and ultimately to patients.
“For the past 20 years, the lab has looked largely the same. But in that time, how scientists and researchers work and live has changed dramatically. If pharmaceutical companies want to support R&D outcomes that truly benefit patients, then building the Lab of the Future is paramount,” commented Arlington, president, the Pistoia Alliance. “R&D budgets in the life sciences are under greater strain than ever before. Couple this with increasingly stringent regulatory issues and the shifting political situation around Brexit — and pharmaceutical companies are under pressure to deliver. They must now seek ways to amplify their budgets through greater collaboration, cooperation, and data sharing, and by exploring future technologies that will change the lives of patients.”
A second, guest keynote, given by William Burns (former CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals and now a member of the Pistoia Alliance’s advisory board), presented the current models of pharma R&D and the commercial challenges facing the industry. Discussing how there has been growth in society’s desire for new medicines and healthcare intervention but also how there is a funding gap in how innovations are delivered. Additionally, Burns highlighted the need for pharmaceutical companies to accurately measure the medical benefit of a therapy for a patient, so that society and payers reward a drug with a price that enables a return on the investment and risk taken by the shareholders. For this to be possible, he noted that as innovation happens at the interfaces rather than in silos greater collaboration is required.
A key item on the agenda for the conference was an update on the Pistoia Alliance’s President’s Series Hackathon, which was held on 12 and 13 March. The theme was ‘Hack the Lab’ and the event brought together stakeholders from life sciences, healthcare, academia and technology. The hackathon entailed a series of challenges, focused on AI insight, the ‘Future Corner’ and health and safety for the LoTF. Participants were set with the task of building prototypes that show how to use AI to interpret instrument logs, explore how new tools can transform the lab, and to find novel uses for datasets and associated lab data. Among the winners were a team from The University of Southampton, who created a ‘friendly’ lab safety assistant based on Alexa, using data from The Pistoia Alliance’s Chemical Safety Library.