Their recent report was prompted by the slowdown in new pharmaceutical products coming to market, despite the fact that the industry is spending record amounts on Research and Development. PriceWaterhouseCooper (PWC) identified that the biggest single threat to the pharmaceutical industry is the impending expiry of many drug patents taken out during the 1990s, which will seriously compromise the industry.
The predicted virtual man modelling will allow linking of technologies and therefore a quicker, more predictive way of testing molecules before they are tested on live humans. The benefits to the pharmaceutical industry from the development of the virtual man are many, including the drastic reduction of R & D costs by almost two-thirds and a reduction in the costs of clinical trials.
Although billions are being ploughed into pharmaceutical R & D each year, the amount of new products coming to market has dramatically slowed in recent years and PWC predict that only four of the top ten companies have enough new products in the pipeline to fill the profit gap created by expired patents. They believe that soaring R & D costs are causing the other companies to fall behind, along with increasingly stringent legislation on research and trials, and government cost-cutting exercises.
PWC predict that the virtual man will allow those companies to stay in contention by drastically cutting their R & D costs, and possibly preventing the loss of thousands of pharmaceutical jobs in the process. By harnessing the smart technology pharmaceutical companies can significantly improve their returns on investment and some of that improved technology is already in evidence. Computer generated models of various organs and cell systems are already providing impressive results. The modelling can predict the physiological effects of drugs being introduced to the organ or cell systems and so far, many are impressed by the accuracy of their output. It is this technology that will be harnessed and adapted to produce the virtual man by 2020.
Although virtual man will not eliminate the need for clinical trials altogether, the sophisticated modelling and the accuracy of predictions produced should enable the trialling team to be able to save time and money, which in turn will help pharmaceutical companies reduce their costs.
Daniel Collins writes on a number of topics on behalf of a digital marketing agency and a variety of clients. As such, this article is to be considered a professional piece with business interests in mind.
