Is Big Health Data the New Pill?

Imagine the following scenario:

You wake up to an alert from your smartphone that your genetically coded digital pill keeping your high blood pressure at normalized levels will be completing its circuit through your blood stream later that afternoon, and you need to consult with your doctor to get your next dosage.

Within the same app, you see that your doctor has already scheduled a virtual check-up for later in the morning via a face-time like function. You will of course need to proceed to the wellness clinic for your monthly health screening where all the data from your smart watch, smart ring, and digital pills are analyzed by your physician; and you receive your personalized recommendations and prescriptions for the next six months to achieve your physical and mental wellness goals.

Sounds like science-fiction, doesn’t it?

Well, the future is NOW as illustrated by three recent innovations in the healthcare industry.

1. In 2016, Forward, a new type of wellness clinic was founded in San Francisco with the mission of “combining the best aspects of physicians – judgment, empathy, and experience - with the best aspects of technology – scalability, cost and convenience – to bring higher quality, lower cost healthcare to as many people as possible.” For $149 a month, Forward members have unlimited access to genetic screening, blood testing, physician consultation, and generic medications no matter where they are in the world. The company (which has raised $100 million in capital to date) was recognized as one of the 25 best inventions of 2017 by Time Magazine.
2. On November 13, 2017 the FDA approved the first digital pill - a medication embedded with a sensor that can tell doctors whether, and when, patients take their medicine. For chronic diseases, patient compliance to their medicine regime is essential to preventing negative health consequences and it is with this goal in mind that the digital pill (in its current incarnation) exists. As Forbes recently reported, “around half of patients fail to take their medications as prescribed, and there are many reasons why they don't. Some may not understand the directions, others don't like the side effects or just forget and lose track. Remembering to take medications has become more and more challenging as more Americans are taking more pills.”
3. On November 30th, 2017 – Finnish startup Oura announced a second generation “smart ring” that tracks sleep, recovery, and daily activities. During the night, the new Oura ring claims to not only track sleep quality, sleep stages (deep, REM, light, and wakefulness) but also ECG level resting heart rate, heart rate variability, and body temperature. With Oura, you learn your optimal times to move, eat and take a break to get that restorative sleep.

At the heart of each of these innovations is the collection of Big Health Data – which will be used more and more frequently to match patients’ predictive genetic markers with their daily activity (sleep patterns, stress, diet, and fitness levels) to create a new type of prescription that goes far beyond the pill in terms of preventing diseases and improving quality of life.

Naturally, any potentially positive benefits offered by such innovation run up against the twin barriers of patient privacy and cost which are fundamentally important issues to be recognized and thoughtfully addressed. Despite these challenges, companies such as GSK (where I’ve worked for the past 5 years) are making significant investments to make a step change in our digital, data, and analytics strategy – with the most apparent application in our R&D space. Very recently, Karenann Terrell, our Chief Digital & Technology Officer, opened the #AISummit in New York with a speech about the ways GSK plans to use AI and new technologies to transform healthcare. By tapping decades’ worth of clinical trial data, we aim to deliver disruptive healthcare solutions to market more quickly.

The potential applications for Big Health Data to transform healthcare solutions, research, and discovery make it an extremely exciting time to be working in this space; especially for a company as patient-focused as GSK. However, just as pharma companies need to look beyond the pill to add incremental value to our customers, we also need to look beyond our traditional notion of “patients” when we define whom we serve. The future of healthcare not only involves applying machine learning algorithms and analytical capabilities to find quicker solutions to the maladies of today but we also must use digital, data, and analytical capabilities to anticipate and solve the healthcare challenges of tomorrow.

Leveraging and mining Big Health Data will surely be at the center of manifesting a better future where everyone can do more, feel better, and live longer!