Biopharma está apostando muito em digital e dados. As empresas são organizadas para o sucesso?

Biopharma has undergone a digital and data revolution over the last decade, reshaping the entire value chain from drug discovery to clinical trials, from manufacturing to sales and marketing. The pandemic accelerated the adoption of Digital, dados e análises (DD&A) e coloque essas ferramentas para usar de novas maneiras, virtualizando e descentralizando ensaios clínicos, por exemplo, e permitindo o envolvimento remoto com médicos e pacientes.

Ao impulsionar essa transformação para a frente, as empresas de biofarma investiram pesadamente em tecnologia e talento. Hoje, a maioria das grandes organizações emprega centenas e, em alguns casos, milhares, de especialistas em DD&A. Mas muitos deles estão lutando para integrar esse talento em suas organizações e operações médicas, científicas e comerciais. Até agora, muitos não viram o retorno esperado de seu investimento digital.

We have worked with many biopharma companies as they try to establish their DD&A capabilities, including supporting their Transformações digitais . Também conduzimos um exercício de benchmarking externo das equipes de DD&A das principais empresas de biofarma e como elas são organizadas e integradas às equipes e funções existentes. Aqui estão algumas descobertas e lições importantes aprendidas até agora. (Veja o Anexo 1.) Nos últimos anos, a contratação de talentos de análise avançada, especificamente inteligência artificial e habilidades de aprendizado de máquina, aumentou ainda mais rápido. As publicações de empregos saltaram quase 70% ao ano entre 2019 e 2021.

Setting Up DD&A Teams for Success

DD&A hiring by large biopharma companies has skyrocketed in the last decade: US job postings rose by an average of almost 30% a year from 2011 through 2021, despite a slowdown during the early years of the COVID pandemic. (See Exhibit 1.) In recent years, hiring of advanced-analytics talent, specifically artificial intelligence and machine learning skills, has soared even faster. Job postings jumped almost 70% a year between 2019 and 2021.

The rapid increase in demand has led to new strategic challenges for companies in several areas, including attracting and retaining DD&A talent (especially senior leaders and experts in advanced skills, such as AI and machine learning), organizing new roles, and achieving the desired impact and ROI from their investment. Several companies have built up DD&A groups that are organizationally isolated from the business. Others have focused heavily on technology, investing tens or hundreds of millions in IT platforms, without paying sufficient attention to the human skills needed to make the technology work.

There’s no single “right” answer to all the challenges companies encounter, of course. But tested solutions to the most common issues are beginning to take shape. Here are five lessons that will set biopharma companies on a successful DD&A course.

Lição 1: Comece com uma estratégia e um roteiro

While most biopharma companies have strong ambitions for DD&A, they have often failed to link it directly to the business strategy, lay out a prioritized roadmap, or establish KPIs. At the same time, disconnected DD&A initiatives mushroom throughout the organization from the bottom up, fragmenting resources and frustrating teams that cannot deliver. Both factors contribute to DD&A teams struggling to add value in scalable ways.

Successful companies directly link their DD&A efforts to existing business priorities and KPIs. They typically focus on no more than five to seven major areas or initiatives where DD&A will be applied. They articulate exactly what will be done and the business outcomes that DD&A will enable, such as using it to optimize specific steps in clinical trials; refining certain chemistry, manufacturing, and controls processes; and accelerating specific sales and marketing efforts. They focus DD&A talent on these tasks and incentivize business teams to collaborate on the development and scaling up of workable solutions.

Lesson 2: Winning the Talent War Requires New Skill Profiles and Practices

Competition for DD&A skills is an issue in every industry. Because this talent is often scarce and difficult to recruit, employees can be demanding. Biopharma has had a hard time competing with tech companies on compensation and perks, but it can level the playing field in areas such as purpose and career paths. A well-thought-out digital strategy and plan, a clear mandate for the roles being filled, inspiring senior leadership, and a vibrant and dynamic culture take on added importance in a recruiting context.

For DD&A to have an impact, biopharma companies need to bring together multiple distinct, and often new, capabilities with existing scientific, medical, and commercial expertise in cross-functional teams. This is no simple task. Among the newer roles to be filled are data scientists, engineers, and digital experts, as well as DD&A-experienced managers who can speak the language of both the biopharma business and the digital and analytics teams. (See Exhibit 2.) Depending on the specific remit of the DD&A group, technology and IT roles—such as systems engineers and managers—may also be required.

Many of these skills are not found in the usual industry recruiting channels, and many biopharma companies struggle to attract them. Exploring alternative channels, such as universities, tech companies, and tech conferences and events (hackathons, for example) can be helpful. But to be successful, companies must figure out the best way to present themselves and the opportunities they offer in these nonindustry contexts. For example, they might emphasize that biopharma improves lives by finding disease cures, which is a potentially attractive employee value proposition. Companies need to show recruits how DD&A helps achieve this mission and the roles they will play.

Internal processes may need revisiting. Biopharma companies’ recruitment procedures can seem slow and cumbersome to digitally native talent. We have seen companies lose prospective hires because they did not move quickly enough in the recruiting process. Some have used letters of intent, DD&A-specific compensation structures, and dedicated DD&A recruiters to speed things up. Others have adapted their training and development opportunities, putting in place upskilling programs for all staff. Moderna, for example, has launched an AI academy to train employees on the use of AI and machine learning solutions.

Lesson 3: A Hybrid Organizational Model Is Emerging As the Most Effective Setup

Five or more years ago, when many biopharma companies started building DD&A capabilities, most companies housed them in different places throughout the organization, which was often the result of individual departments hiring for specific needs. This decentralized, and sometimes fragmented, approach advanced business-unit-specific capabilities and furthered strong alignment with business needs. But it also led to duplicative roles and siloed teams.

A few biopharma and some larger biotech companies took the opposite approach, building highly centralized DD&A units, sometimes as part of the IT or technology organization. This allowed for strong coordination and faster capability building, but teams often operated too far from the business to deliver real impact.

While both of these models are natural ways to get started, over time neither one achieves the three-way goal of establishing the necessary capabilities, scaling activities, and achieving impact. As a result, successful companies are now converging on a hybrid model. (See Exhibit 3.) This allows capabilities to sit close to the business but also facilitates the coordination needed to drive consistency and scale. Eventually, as DD&A capabilities scale up and become integral to daily business operations, we expect them to decentralize into the business units. This will take time, though, and the hybrid model seems to be the best way to meet immediate needs and effect the transition.

Lesson 4: DD&A Needs a Seat at the Top Table

When biopharma companies try setting up DD&A organizations deep down in the business—within a business unit, region, or subfunction, for example—teams often have a tough time achieving input, buy-in, and visible sponsorship from senior leadership. This reduces impact and leads to difficulties in hiring and talent retention. The DD&A teams often run of out of steam.

Accelerating and scaling the DD&A agenda requires dedicated leadership with the oversight responsibility needed to integrate DD&A into the business strategy. It also requires consensus in the C-suite about the role (or roles) that DD&A will play.

Some companies have established the role of chief digital officer to set the overall strategic direction and ambition and to coordinate efforts across the enterprise. In some cases, individual departments, such as R&D, chemistry, manufacturing and controls, and commercial have established heads of DD&A. These leaders identify, shape, and drive the execution of concrete initiatives and programs, from inception to scaling.

Se as empresas decidem sobre um único líder empresarial ou um líder de supervisão diferente para cada função, é importante que esses indivíduos tenham um assento na mesa superior, como parte da equipe de P&D, fabricação ou liderança comercial, por exemplo. Eles precisam fazer parte do processo de definição de estratégia que molda como a DD&A contribui. Eles também precisam de influência suficiente sobre os recursos da DD&A para canalizar a capacidade para as principais prioridades. Um bom teste para a eficácia da sua configuração é se os líderes empresariais estão apoiando e comunicando visivelmente uma mensagem consistente sobre DD&A em conexão com a estratégia de negócios.

Lição 5: Construir recursos internamente e através de parcerias externas

Construindo a capacidade interna, seja por contratação ou upskilling, pode levar tempo. As empresas de sucesso buscam uma estratégia dupla, alavancando parcerias com organizações acadêmicas, startups e empresas de tecnologia para acelerar a aquisição dos recursos necessários, além de aumentar o recrutamento e o treinamento. As decisões precisam estar alinhadas com ambição de longo prazo. Por exemplo, a AstraZeneca fez uma parceria com a Huma, uma empresa de assistência médica digital-nativa, para melhorar os resultados clínicos usando soluções de saúde digital em casos de uso selecionados. Quando a colaboração se mostrou bem -sucedida, a Huma adquiriu a plataforma de saúde digital da AstraZeneca e a AstraZeneca se tornou acionista da Huma. A Huma agora está ajudando a AstraZeneca a aumentar suas inovações em saúde digital. Esse acordo permite que a AstraZeneca acesse recursos e talentos externos. Essa abordagem pode funcionar, mas requer planejamento e execução cuidadosos, especialmente em relação à retenção de talentos.

The dual approach does require determining which capabilities to develop in-house (usually those deemed strategic for the longer term) and which to access through partnerships or outsourcing. Decisions need to be aligned with long-term ambition. For example, AstraZeneca initially partnered with Huma, a digital-native health care company, to improve clinical outcomes using digital health solutions in select use cases. When the collaboration proved successful, Huma acquired AstraZeneca’s digital health platform and AstraZeneca became a Huma shareholder. Huma is now helping AstraZeneca scale up its digital health innovations. This arrangement allows AstraZeneca to access external capabilities and talent.

Some companies have accelerated building their DD&A capabilities by “acquihiring,” that is, buying a company primarily to gain access to its staff and their expertise. This approach can work, but it requires careful planning and execution, especially with respect to talent retention.

A maioria das empresas - especialmente aquelas que começam do zero - precisará confiar em uma mistura desses canais. As empresas que já fizeram um bom progresso devem continuar a experimentar à medida que o recrutamento acelera e a competição por talentos se intensifica. Roteiro, estabelecendo KPIs claros e links com os objetivos de negócios. Escolha de cinco a sete casos de uso prioritário que possam ser claramente definidos, articulados e financiados. Decida quais recursos estratégicos devem ser construídos internamente e priorizar o recrutamento e o treinamento (re) de acordo. Assemble uma equipe, incluindo RH, indivíduos familiarizados com o atual mercado de recrutamento de DD&A (como talentos recém-recrutados) e portadores de cultura de apoio à DD&A, para determinar a melhor forma de criar um ambiente atraente. Explore uma estrutura híbrida na qual os recursos da DD&A são incorporados ao negócio, mas coordenados centralmente, a fim de escalar investimentos em TI e estabelecer abordagens consistentes.

Four Steps to Take Now

Here are some steps biopharma companies can take to further develop and organize their DD&A capabilities, as well as achieve value and impact from capabilities they have already built:

• Define, or update, your DD&A strategy and roadmap, establishing clear KPIs and links with business objectives. Pick five to seven priority use cases that can be clearly defined, articulated, and funded.
• Evaluate the workforce gap between your strategy and roadmap and your current teams. Decide which strategic capabilities should be built in-house and prioritize recruiting and (re)training accordingly.
• Assess and enhance your digital employee value proposition. Assemble a team, including HR, individuals familiar with the current DD&A recruiting market (such as newly recruited talent), and DD&A-supportive culture carriers, to determine how best to create an attractive environment.
• (Re)examine how to organize DD&A teams, especially if you have foundational capabilities embedded in the business or IT. Explore a hybrid structure in which DD&A capabilities are built into the business but coordinated centrally in order to scale IT investments and establish consistent approaches.

---

As the Indústria de Biopharma Torna-se mais dd & a-especial e competitivo para talentos, o design organizacional e a configuração inteligentes ajudarão bastante a maximizar o impacto dos investimentos das empresas e a obtenção de valor transformador e sustentável. Margaret Ayers