Thoughts from the Centre
A personal take on topical issues impacting the Healthcare and Life Sciences sector powered by Deloitte’s UK Centre for Health Solutions.
FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference: Driving equitable and sustainable life sciences innovation
By Karen Taylor, Director the Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
In last week’s blog, I gave you an overview on many of the topics discussed at the Financial Times Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Summit in London earlier in November, particularly on how pharma is having to adapt quickly and respond to major economic and regulatory changes. The recent technological and scientific advancements, particularly in Generative AI, genomics, mRNA vaccines and cell therapies have great potential to transform healthcare and substantially improve patient outcomes. The advancements highlight the need for stronger environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies that not only enable access to all patients who need these innovative medicines, but also contribute to a healthy planet. In this week’s blog, I summarise the discussions on how companies are designing their ESG strategies and engaging with patients to better meet their needs.
FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference: Driving life sciences innovation in a disrupted world
By Karen Taylor, Director the Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
Earlier this month, we were once again the strategic sponsor of the Financial Times Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Summit in London. This much anticipated event in the life sciences and healthcare calendar attracts senior people from across the global health ecosystem, including several of my Deloitte colleagues who appeared on the conference stage as either a moderator or speaker.
Dyslexia awareness week - Celebrating being Uniquely You
By Shreya Nagpal, Research Analyst, Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
The first week of October 2023, marked Dyslexia Awareness Week. This year's theme, ‘Uniquely You,’ is a reminder that, just as no two people have the same fingerprints, no two individuals with dyslexia will share identical sets of strengths and challenges, each shaped by a kaleidoscope of experiences and perspectives. The theme encourages everyone to appreciate the complexity and uniqueness that each individual with dyslexia possesses and discard any stigma or biases associated with dyslexia. Dyslexia is a genetic difference in an individual’s ability to learn and process information. Approximately 1 in 10 people have dyslexia; with one person in 25 severely dyslexic.1 The differing abilities of dyslexic individuals, however, mean they really do think differently, with strengths in creative, problem-solving and communication skills. In this week’s blog, I explore what it means to be a ‘dyslexic thinker’ and how society can make the necessary adjustments to help these individuals harness their strengths and flourish.
From fragmented to consolidated: Implications for the over-the-counter (OTC) medicines’ market
By Vanessa Ferreira, Senior Manager, Deloitte Consulting
An over the counter (OTC) medicines’ market enables patients to access much-needed treatments without prescriptions in a safe, effective, and convenient way. OTC medicines include cough and cold remedies, pain medication, digestive health medicines and much more. The global market size is around US$ 190 billion per year and is expected to grow by five per cent per year.1 This exciting and fast growing industry attracts a large number of companies with the top five companies collectively holding only 16 per cent of the global (OTC) market, while the top ten have 27 per cent market share.2,3 This market fragmentation means that these statistics often lead to a discussion on the prospect of industry consolidation. As a M&A expert on OTC deal execution, I am beginning to see the early signs of consolidation. In this blog, I explore the rational for consolidation, the underlying assumptions that drive the consolidation hypothesis, the factors motivating companies to consider consolidation, and the strategic implications for companies operating within the OTC market.
The Future of Health in Europe: digital, equitable, sustainable
By Karen Taylor and Dr Márcia Costa, Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
Healthcare systems in Europe face substantial challenges, such as ageing populations, changing public expectations, scarcity of healthcare professionals, rising health inequalities, rigid and complex financing models, and an increasing cost of innovation. Since 2017, Deloitte have run a global Future of Health campaign that believes that, by 2040, digital disruption enabled by interoperable data, AI, open and secure platforms, behaviour change, and technological and scientific breakthroughs, will shift the ubiquitous, reactive treatment model to a proactive, preventative one built around empowered citizens. This shift has the potential to realise better health outcomes and improve the cost-effectiveness of service delivery and is relevant to health systems everywhere. Our blog this week highlights the findings in our report, The Future of Health in Europe, and how Deloitte’s global vision could be used to chart Europe’s healthcare future.
Breast cancer awareness and detection: the role of breast screening
By Dr Márcia Costa, Deloitte Centre for Health Solutions
Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer worldwide with one in seven women in the UK likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Today, symptom awareness and breast self-examination (BSE) are crucial to detect changes that might suggest a problem; and since 1988, low dose X-rays (mammograms), have been advocated to detect early-stage, asymptomatic breast cancers. However, some experts consider screening risks overdiagnosis and overtreatment and question the benefits. There are also disputes about the age range used to invite people for screening, with inclusion criteria varying from country to country.1 October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and, in recognition of the need to improve outcomes, this week’s blog explores the evidence on the advantages and disadvantages of screening women and how to improve engagement and confidence in testing.
Can life sciences companies unlock the full value of GenAI?
By Vicky Levy, Global Life Sciences sector leader, and Pete Lyons, US Life Sciences sector leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP
Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) models use neural networks to identify patterns and structures within existing datasets to generate original, novel content. The identified applications are wide ranging, from assisting with repetitive tasks, to exploring vast unstructured data through humanised interfaces, to composing music and creating digital art. GenAI has the potential to significantly impact every sector, presenting opportunities to augment and streamline industries on a global scale. However, the degree of adoption is expected to vary widely, particularly in the near-term, so this week’s blog, which first appeared as a Center for Health Solutions Health Forward blog, explores how life science companies can adopt GenAI across all parts of their organisation to fundamentally transform end-to-end processes and gain a competitive advantage.
Disconnecting in a digitally connected world
Ryan Hopkins, Future of Wellbeing Leader, Deloitte
With the proliferation of ‘tech’ into every single nook and cranny of our lives, we have seen the complete disappearance of the traditional work-home boundary and organisations are grappling with the implications of this uber-connected new world – with work-life balance becoming an in-vogue topic. The pinging of an email or instant message at all hours of the day can strike fear into the hearts of many employees – and can both increase the length of the working day and feelings of stress. Remote working has intensified this problem with the average global working day lengthening by two hours due in part to the loss of work-life boundaries.1 This week’s blog explores the implications of working in a hyper-interconnected world.
Generating value in consumer health: switching from prescription to over-the-counter products and beyond
By Venetia Aranha, Senior Manager, Monitor Deloitte
The continued rise in the cost burden of prescription medicines (Rx) to both health systems and consumers is one of the factors fuelling the growing consumer demand for more access to over-the-counter (OTC) products; and a commensurate inclination by regulators to increase availability of OTC products. Switching from Rx to OTC requires regulatory approval but once approved, manufacturers have greater freedom over pricing and can market direct to consumers (with some caveats). Switching also helps protect payers from the rising cost of prescription drugs while reducing the demand on healthcare providers. This blog explores actionable principles that consumer health (CH) companies can use to create commercial value through switching Rx products that they either own or may acquire.
World heart day: Know your heart and use it in the best way possible
By Dr Márcia Costa, Manager, Centre for Health Solutions
Did you know that your heart is the size of your fist and the strongest muscle in your body? While strong, several risk factors can compromise the heart leading to cardiovascular disease (CVD; disorders that have the heart at their centre). Today, CVD is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide causing over 18.6 million deaths per year.1 World Heart Day is celebrated every year on 29 September to raise awareness of CVD. The theme for this year is “Use , Know Heart”.2 We do know that most CVD deaths can be prevented by modifying behaviours, therefore this year’s theme is a powerful reminder for everyone to listen to their hearts – literally - and learn to recognise its natural beat and rhythm, as well as to keep their hearts healthy. Our blog this week explores the human and economic impact of CVD in Europe and considers what can be done to reduce heart disease in a more equitable way.
Finding, cultivating cyber talent in health care and life sciences
By Tara Mahoutchian, principal, and Jimmy Joseph, managing director, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Like most industries, healthcare is experiencing the benefits of continuously evolving technologies but also the risk of ever-growing digital threats. As a result, recruiting and retaining cyber talent has become a pressing concern for all stakeholders in the health ecosystem. In the UK, 50 per cent of all businesses have a basic cyber security skills gap with an estimated shortfall of 11,200 people to meet the demand on the cyber workforce.1 Indeed, governments across the world are developing programmes to tackle this talent gap. For example, the UK government have launched a £2.6 billion National Cyber Strategy aiming to increase the number and diversity of skilled people in the profession.2 This week's blog, which first appeared as a Center for Health Solutions Health Forward blog, delves into the various issues of recruiting cyber talent and offers insights into the strategies healthcare and life sciences organisations can use to close this gap and nurture the cybersecurity talent needed to safeguard their digital landscapes. While it focuses predominately on the US, these issues are global, and the learnings are relevant to all countries.