Wafaa Hassan, MSc, is a senior healthcare analyst in the digital team at GlobalData. Her responsibilities involve writing reports and providing insights on digital strategy across disease areas and channels. Before joining the digital team, Wafaa worked in the thematic research team at GlobalData, where she contributed to quantitative and qualitative analysis reports on disruptive themes and technologies, with a focus on pharma, healthcare and medical devices sectors. Prior to joining GlobalData, Wafaa studied for an MSc in healthcare management at City, University of London.

Wafaa Hassan: As the field evolves rapidly, IoT tools play a crucial role in supply chain management and are widely used in the pharma industry, from manufacturing processes to remote patient monitoring applications.

For example, industrial monitoring devices are used to control operations within facilities and access real-time status information. Such monitoring devices can alert staff in any case of urgent maintenance requirements.  

Machines such as compressors and conveyor belts can be connected and can ‘talk’ to one another to reduce waste and energy usage and increase yield and efficiency.  

Suppliers of the machines used in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals are also trying to make their equipment more user-friendly and easier to debug by using apps and screens at every stage of the process.  

Tools such as virtual reality (VR) are slowly gaining traction in the drug discovery space allowing R&D teams to improve the efficiency and quality of research. VR technology helps researchers and scientists to observe molecules and better understand how proteins work.

Wafaa Hassan: Post Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the pharma industry has undergone increased levels of digital transformation. The availability of ultra-large datasets and technological advances has led to more interest in the use of IoT tools and big data analytics across the pharma value chain, from drug discovery and clinical trial design, right through to sales and marketing.  

Organisations across various sectors are investing in digital transformation initiatives, and IoT is a key component of these strategies. The integration of IoT into existing business processes can lead to increased efficiency and competitiveness.  

Wafaa Hassan: Yes, there are a few that were barriers over the last several years when implementing IoT tools, and some are ongoing.   

For instance, regulatory compliance is an important one to consider. The pharmaceutical industry operates within a highly regulated environment. Meeting regulatory requirements, such as those set by health authorities like the FDA, EMA, and other relevant agencies, can be a significant challenge. Ensuring that IoT systems adhere to data privacy, security, and quality standards is crucial.  

The sensitive nature of pharmaceutical data, including patient information and intellectual property, raises concerns about data security and privacy. Implementing robust security measures to protect against cyber threats and unauthorized access is essential, especially when dealing with patient health data.  

Wafaa Hassan: Companies like Bayer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, and Roche are active in the IoT space and have collaborated with IoT vendors for various and different applications in the pharma industry. 

GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.   

GlobalData’s Thematic Intelligence uses proprietary data, research, and analysis to provide a forward-looking perspective on the key themes that will shape the future of the world’s largest industries and the organisations within them.   

The pharmaceutical industry continues to be a hotbed of innovation, with activity driven by the evolution of new treatment paradigms, the gravity of unmet need, as well as the growing importance of technologies such as pharmacogenomics, digital therapeutics, and artificial intelligence.

In the last three years alone, there have been over 633,000 patents filed and granted in the pharmaceutical industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Internet of Things in Pharmaceuticals: Microneedles for transdermal drug delivery. Buy the report here.

However, not all innovations are equal, nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption before finally stabilising and reaching maturity. 

Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.

According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the pharmaceutical industry using innovation intensity models built on over 756,000 patents, there are 110 innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry. 

Within the emerging innovation stage, automated lab analysers, tissue culturing automation, and clean room robots are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Nanoparticles for drug delivery, microneedles for transdermal drug delivery, and programmable sterilisation are some of the accelerating innovation areas where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas are controlled drug release devices, and DNA nanoprobes, which are now well established in the industry.

Microneedles are sterilised micron-sized, minimally invasive novel drug delivery needles used to administer therapeutic agents. Apart from transdermal drug delivery applications, its usage has extended to intraocular, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, intracochlear, lymphatic, and vaginal delivery of drugs. 

GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 110+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established pharmaceutical companies, and up-and-coming start-ups, engaged in the development and application of microneedles for transdermal drug delivery.

‘Application diversity’ measures the number of different applications identified for each relevant patent and broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators. 

‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of different countries each relevant patent is registered in and reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local.’

Sorrento Therapeutics is the leading patent filer in microneedles for transdermal drug delivery, followed by Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical and Kimberly-Clark. Sorrento Therapeutics recently acquired Sofusa, a lymphatic microneedles delivery platform, from Kimberly-Clark. The company has also recently entered a licensing agreement with the Mayo Clinic for a Phase 1b pilot study on using Sofusa lymphatic microneedle to deliver Ipilimumab in patients with melanoma.

In terms of application diversity, Sigilon Therapeutics is the top company, followed by Albemarle and Seino. By means of geographic reach, Ocuphire Pharma holds the top position. SciPharm and Lanxess are in the second and third positions, respectively.

To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the pharmaceutical industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Internet of Things (IoT) in Healthcare – Thematic Research.