Report highlights the potential of big data

A recent report from market analyst group GBI Research has revealed the extent to which organisations in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry are planning to invest in big data.

The company’s latest report shows that 73% of organisations in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry are set to begin or increase investment in big data within the next five years.

Analyst for GBI Research Arshad Ahad discussed the range of factors that are promoting the use of big data, saying: “Advances in technology have led to an explosion in healthcare-related data generation. This data represents an invaluable resource, which can bring many commercial benefits to organisations if properly utilised and acted upon, although the fundamental properties of big data – its volume, velocity and variability – make this a challenging prospect”.

The report highlights how the advancement in technologies and the decline in costs of genome sequencing have increased the rate of biological data generation at an exponential rate, evidenced by data from the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Commercial benefits of big data are enticing companies into embracing the technology. Mining data in conjunction with predictive modelling, for example, could be used to identify new drug candidates with a greater likelihood of success, the report states.

GBI Research\s report goes on to say how big data could be used to over clinical trial processes, making them more powerful, shorter and less expensive. Other uses for the data include using the technology to detect waste and inappropriate use of resources, aid in the development of personalised therapies, implement value-based healthcare, and collect real-world evidence.

Ahad concluded: “Big data is no longer an abstract concept that could provide benefits in the future. It exists now and is already providing competitive advantages for a variety of organisations. As such, companies which ignore its potential risk falling behind their peers in our increasingly data-intensive world.”