Digital Disruption in Pharmacology

Imagine you could take your prescription pill with a microchip attached. And when ingested, the chip sends wireless signals through your body and transmits not only ingestion information but also your real-time heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature, even body angle and sleep status. You can send this information wherever you'd like it to go: your own computer, your doctor's office, your childrens' cell phones. Sounds like a piece of science fiction, right?

....Andrew Thompson, president and CEO of Proteus Biomedical, a Redwood City, California-based company, explains that this platform “can be used as a way to expand the definition of what a pharmaceutical product actually is. What we’re doing is medicine combined with information, education, and motivation, making use of the mobile Internet.”

This is only one example of how the pharmaceutical industry landscape is rapidly changing. A recent report from Ernst & Young suggests that big pharma must shift from a product-centric business model to a customer-centric one to remain relevant. The report highlights how recent trends such as health reform, health IT, and rising consumer power are driving nontraditional companies into the pharma sector.