Thinking smart: How to be successful with IoT in pharma

James Steiner, design director at Method explains how pharma companies can ensure they’re successful when implementing an IoT project.

From smart insulin pens to pills with ingestible sensors, the pharma sector is on the cusp of an internet of things (IoT) revolution that could transform the patient experience and unlock lucrative new business models for the industry.

With IoT in healthcare projected to be worth over $534 billion by 2025, technologies such as remote monitoring, real-time analytics and seamless data flow between devices and people can improve both decision-making and the efficiency of medical ecosystems. However, recent years have seen many IoT projects fail to even get off of the ground.

Method has worked on numerous IoT projects aimed at patients with complex health conditions. Experience tells us that IoT initiatives generally hit the buffers for three reasons: companies lack a coherent strategic direction, they overestimate the ability of emerging technology to solve a patient problem and, worst of all, they lose sight of the end-user. Against this backdrop, our view is that the following considerations will help pharma firms reap the full benefits of IoT.

Get close to the end user

One of the biggest challenges for pharma manufacturers designing patient-centric solutions is that they are often one stage removed from the coal face of the patient experience; engaging with them via hospitals, doctors, reps and pharma retailers. For IoT projects to succeed, pharma brands need to get much closer to patients and develop a deep understanding of their everyday lives and empathy for the challenges of living with their specific health condition. How patients engage with their healthcare system and obtain their medication can depend on their age, where they live and their financial means. Are they rural or urban? Do they live in a market like the US, where health insurers stipulate what drugs people are entitled to? Is the solution likely to be administered by the patient or by their primary carer (their partner for example)? While focus groups and speaking to subject matter experts can provide useful insights, there’s no substitute for design and innovation teams embedding themselves in the real world and online communities of patients to get first-hand knowledge of the patient experience and where potential solutions might fit.

Find a patient problem to solve with real impact

Regardless of sector, successful IoT devices either solve a human problem or meet a human need. From insomnia to asthma, pharma companies that immerse themselves in the patient experience will have a better understanding of the difficulties they face, how the products and services they rely on can be improved, and how service delivery impacts on patient engagement levels. For example, can IoT help patients with cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer’s remember to take their medication or keep a GP appointment? Does it have any relevance to an arthritis sufferer who struggles to open a jar of pills?

IoT design can fundamentally transform the interactions that patients have with their medication and with their healthcare providers – as long as it is based on rigorously-derived insights. For example, one intriguing area being explored in the private sector and the research community is the role that smart contact lenses could play in healthcare, including for glaucoma diagnosis and for helping people with diabetes to monitor glucose levels in their blood.

Verify that tech is really the answer

With hot topics like IoT, it’s important to avoid confirmation bias – the untested belief that IoT is the best/only tool to solve a business problem. By beginning with what the tech can do, rather than focusing on patient needs, pharma companies risk over-complicating the issue at hand. This may then lead to push back, higher than expected costs or a missed opportunity. Part of the process of making IoT work is ensuring that it can uniquely solve or contribute to the solution – and be willing to recognise that there may be better alternatives. For example, is developing a dedicated smart device for diagnosing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) the best approach, or is there a simpler, more accessible solution - such as an app which can access a smartphone’s microphone and detect the disease by listening to cough sounds?

Check the solution stacks up commercially

While patient need should drive IoT pharma innovation, solutions must also deliver the expected return on investment (ROI). In tandem with understanding the patient, understanding the market is key. This includes analysing alternative solutions, assessing future-facing trends and legislation, and researching how purchasing works in different markets. It’s important to hypothesise, visualise and develop business models; but it is also crucial to stress test them against real market conditions. Diabetes is one area where an entire IoT ecosystem has developed that addresses a genuine consumer need, while also representing a commercially viable suite of products and services.

Be prepared to tap into a wider IoT ecosystem

The challenges of IoT means pharma companies are best positioned to unlock value if they collaborate and share data with other organisations in the healthcare system. By seamlessly collecting and sharing patient data with approved third parties, IoT can make patient progress and treatment adherence visible to clinical providers and carers in real time. This provides much greater insight into changes to medication or treatment plans that may be required or to any additional support that may be needed. This openness to collaboration can be extended to adjacent sectors. Just look at the work AstraZeneca is doing with software giant Microsoft in supporting the development of AI-based healthcare. Or Sanofi’s partnership with Google to set up a virtual innovation lab to explore how data can help in developing drugs.

Investing in IoT innovation doesn’t come without risks. But if pharma companies can embrace this technology with a human-centred mindset, the potential value to their businesses is huge and could help to ensure the sector