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Articles

McKesson is a heavy hitter in the category, says Kalorama Information

The Shape of the Electronic Medical Record Market

 interview, Rob Sobie, chief product officer of Intelliguard, a provider of hospital medication management and data intelligence solutions, discusses:

The key challenges that hospitals are currently facing

Why he believes that the drug supply chain is failing

Successes surrounding the implementation of RFID technology

A high-level overview of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, along with his thoughts on the latest exemptions that were recently announced by the FDA

Rob Sobie outlines the importance of supply chain transparency for the benefit of patients.  

The Impact of RFID: Enhancing Medication Management

 interview, Steve Silvestro, president of OptimizeRx, a digital communications platform, details:

The benefits to integrating direct-to-consumer (DTC) and healthcare provider (HCP) marketing strategies with technology, especially for patients and providers

The application of artificial intelligence (AI) toward the pharma marketing stage of commercialization

Ways that pharma marketers can navigate the rapidly changing landscape of state-level consumer privacy legislation

Recommendations for pharma brands as they start to think about 2025 planning

Steve Silvestro explains the value of artificial intelligence in launch plans, benefits to integrating DTC and HCP marketing strategies, and more. 

Incorporating AI into Commercialization Plans

The collaboration is powered by the discovery and development of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease treatments. 

Novo Nordisk, Valo Health Grow Partnership Centered Around Cardiometabolic Disease Therapies

The program intends to address supply chain challenges surrounding product safety, traceability, and counterfeiting. 

Merck KGaA Unveils Cyber-Physical Trust Platform

The move—one that meet’s industry standards—confirms the Cryoport company’s commitment to providing quality and safety in the cold chain solutions space.

MVE Biological Solutions Registers Production Plants with the FDA

This bucket of Pharma Commerce coverage is highly powered by digital solutions. 

Top Data and Technology Pieces of 2024

How will supply chains in the space continue to develop?

Forecasting the 2025 Healthcare Logistics Space

Peer Exchange: The Future of RFID and Supply Chain Management (Episode 6)

 roundtable discussion, Nicholas Saraceno, editor of 

 and the peer exchange’s moderator, alongside a panel of experts, discussed the role of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. RFID is a technology that utilizes radio waves to automatically collect and transfer data, providing efficient tracking and tracing of products. This discussion covers the potential and challenges of RFID in the industry.

The panel consisted of Matt Campasano, Managing Director, Criterion Consulting; Sean O’Hearen; Founder & Principal Consultant, 1

 Line Partners; Tim Marsh, Founder & Head of Strategy, MDB; and Bahar Aliakbarian, PhD, Associate Professor, Sr. Director of R&D, Axia Institute (at Michigan State University).

Each expert brought unique perspectives on RFID’s applications, including brand protection, traceability, and supply chain efficiency.

Campasano highlighted RFID’s value in pharmaceutical traceability, particularly in relation to the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). RFID offers significant operational efficiencies in warehousing, as it eliminates the need for line-of-sight scanning and speeds up product verification, saving both time and resources.

The discussion also explored the fluctuating adoption of RFID over the past two decades. Marsh provided historical context, explaining that while RFID technology showed promise for improving supply chain operations and patient safety, it faced challenges, particularly in the early 2000s. High costs and reliability issues led to disillusionment, with many RFID installations being dismantled. Furthermore, the lack of widespread adoption of RFID by wholesalers, who required the majority of products to be tagged for it to be effective, hampered progress.

Today, RFID is making a gradual comeback in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily driven by regulatory compliance needs and the growing need for improved product traceability. However, its widespread adoption remains limited by cost concerns and the lack of clear, immediate value for all stakeholders.

In the final part of this roundtable discussion, a panel of subject matter experts discuss what the future holds for this technology, why end-to-end visibility is necessary in healthcare, and the opportunities for greater RFID adoption that lie ahead.

Learning from Other Industries 

In the fourth part of this roundtable discussion, key opinion leaders discuss how successful RFID use cases in the food sector can translate well to pharma, including what needs to be implemented in order to see success. 

Peer Exchange: Learning from Other Industries (Episode 4)

Peer Exchange: RFID Testing and Experimentation (Episode 3)

Information on the pilot can be accessed 

In the third part of this roundtable discussion, experts discuss the value of Michigan State University’s Axia Institute—including its RFID testing efforts—and dive into the Institute’s end-to-end RFID pilot that it has been conducting. 

Shaping the Future of Commercialization

, Chase Feiger, MD, co-founder of Ostro emphasizes the value of AI technology in addressing challenges in digital commercialization within the life sciences industry. The main gap being addressed is the lack of personalized, intuitive, and engaging user experiences for healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients, especially on digital platforms like brand websites. Feiger compares traditional digital experiences in life sciences to consumer-driven platforms like Netflix, where content is personalized based on past behavior and preferences. In the life sciences sector, however, regulatory constraints—such as the need for compliance with medical, legal, and promotional review processes—complicate this kind of personalization. Despite these challenges, AI and other consumer technology solutions can be adapted for this sector, prioritizing regulatory compliance while enhancing the user experience.

The solution, Ostro, was developed with this mindset: to create a digital experience for life sciences that balances personalization with strict regulatory standards. Feiger’s team includes experts from consumer tech, privacy law, and compliance fields to ensure that the platform is both effective and compliant. Ostro aims to transform the way HCPs and patients interact with medical content.

Feiger also shares the up-and-coming trends that he anticipates in relation AI and life sciences, and how the industry can position itself to capitalize on these trends.

A transcript of Feiger’s conversation with

What emerging trends do you foresee in the intersection of AI and life sciences, and how can we as an industry position ourselves to capitalize on these trends over the next 10-15 years?

First and foremost, I think that every single brand experience 10-15 years from now is going to be vastly different in that there will be no one-size-fits-all brand.com or brand experience—it's going to be one that's really driven by personalized engagement, i.e., one that's going to understand where I am from a health literacy perspective, where I am from an HCP specialty perspective. It's one that's going to be entirely focused on things like personalization. If we look more holistically in the industry, we've seen the introduction of new technologies being able to support things like digital twins and virtual clinical trials, i.e., being able to create virtual control group solutions—with companies like Flatiron Health. I still think that there is a tremendous amount of innovation to occur, specifically on that side of the sector as well, when it comes to clinical trial research and how clinical trials are run.

I also think we're still in the very early stages for things like AI for market access and value communication, i.e., being able to leverage market access strategies to and conjoining that with a lot of what's happening in artificial intelligence. You'll be able to forecast things like payer trends, being able to optimize formulary positioning for new therapies. I think there that we're in the very nascent stages of that as well. But really where I'm going to go, and everything I'm going to hit on is all going to come back down to largely the commercial side, this idea for patient and HCP as AI to drive true personalization.

If you think about it, that is the thing that we keep hearing across the board. We've been hearing about personalized medicine for a very long time. We continue to hear about personalized medicine, but we're not actually practicing personalized medicine right now. We're practicing evidence-based medicine, which is good because we have the evidence, we have the real-world data to support the clinical decisions that we're making as providers. Imagine an era where we're doing genomic sequencing, we're looking at things like proteomics. Imagine what we're going to be able to do on the personalized level, and having all of that data from a personalization perspective to be able to support very important clinical decisions that we make. I think we are in the very early stages of that, and it'll be very interesting to see what comes in the future. A lot of that is going to tie to commercialization methodologies in some very exciting ways.

In the final part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Chase Feiger, MD, co-founder, Ostro, outlines the trends he expects to see over the next 10-15 years when it comes to the intersection of AI and life sciences.

AI’s Role in Personalizing Life Sciences Digital Experiences

How valuable can AI technology be when it comes to tackling digital commercialization challenges—especially within the life sciences industry—and what gaps were you trying to bridge when creating Ostro?

If I were to ask you, what are the things that you take away when you compare a legacy experience to a consumerized experience, you would tell me primarily three things. You would say, Chase, I'm getting convenience, I'm getting personalization. You go, you log into your Netflix, you log into my Netflix, you're going to see very different sets of content based on other things that we've looked at in the past. You're going to see a very intuitive user experience, one that didn't require you to learn and to train on how to use it. It was just very naturally intuitive when you started using it. I like to say that when we think about things like artificial intelligence, when we think about things like what's happening within commercialization and life sciences, it's very similar, except the one constraint being, of course, that every piece of content in life sciences has to go through regulatory compliance review. It has to go through PRC [Promotional Review Committee], MLR [Medical, Legal and Regulatory].

But there are ways that a lot of these different technologies that we've seen utilized in the consumer space can be rebuilt and re-crafted with a regulatory compliance-first mindset, and that's what we did. We ranked regulatory compliance as number one when we looked at recreating a lot of these different novel software solutions and bringing them to this industry; [we’ve added] a former prosecutor to our team. The individual who ran data privacy over at McKinsey is on our team. We took this very, very seriously, and we partnered up with best-in-class consumer technology experts to rebuild these products. That's how we did it. When you ask, what is it that we actually did, and how valuable is it—if I'm an HCP and if I go to a brand.com, that HCP is a one-size-fits-all experience. If I receive a rep-triggered email as an HCP, a lot of that content is not really engaging and interactable. It doesn't enable me to ask the questions I want to ask. Maybe I'm looking for information on clinical trial information, looking for more efficacy, or MLA based information. I have to click around and try to go and find it. It doesn't personalize for me. 

If I'm a patient and I land on a brand.com, the content doesn't personalize based on my health literacy level, i.e., do I have the health literacy level of a sixth grader? Do I have the health literacy level of an HCP that's trying to learn more about this new cancer immunotherapeutic? It's different for all groups. This is where artificial intelligence is having the most impact in terms of being able to provide that personalization for both the patient, as well as the HCP, making it easier for them to find that information they're looking for in a way that they can digest it, in a way that they can comprehend it, in a way that they can actually understand it and take better action on their care—if you're a patient or if you're an HCP—to learn more about that therapeutic treatment option with less clicking, less thinking, less scrolling.

In the first part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Chase Feiger, MD, co-founder, Ostro, discusses the value of AI technology when it comes to tackling digital commercialization challenges.

Peer Exchange: RFID Technological Obstacles (Episode 2)

The panel consisted of Matt Campasano, Managing Director, Criterion Consulting; Sean O’Hearen; Founder & Principal Consultant, 1st Line Partners; Tim Marsh, Founder & Head of Strategy, MDB; and Bahar Aliakbarian, PhD, Associate Professor, Sr. Director of R&D, Axia Institute (at Michigan State University).

In the second part of this roundtable discussion, key opinion leaders discuss the potential technological challenges surrounding RFID, and the likelihood of not only utilizing this tech at the item level but for product security purposes as well. 

Why Blockchain is Key to Enhancing Supply Chain Integrity

managing director, global operations & supply chain practice at UST, discussed how the East and Gulf Coast port strikes highlighted the contrasting dynamics between branded and generic pharmaceuticals. Branded drugs, which offer higher profit margins, are produced at limited manufacturing sites, creating potential vulnerabilities. In contrast, generics have multiple supply sources but operate with tighter margins, leading to less robust business controls and raising concerns about safety. This disparity underscores the complex challenges faced by both sectors in the pharmaceutical industry. Colehower also spoke on the valuable in pharma supply chain transparency and visibility.

A transcript of Colehower’s conversation with

Why is building a chain of custody within the life sciences industry so valuable?

 I guess the one thing that I've been advocating for in the pharma supply chain and life sciences altogether is about building that immutable chain of custody using blockchain. I think it's just a matter of time before we see that in more and more supply chains within the life sciences. It goes back to that brand versus generic [scenario]—who's got the money, who's going to pay for this—but it's going to become either a matter of product supply or product safety that's going to mandate that ability to have an immutable chain of custody.

In the final part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Jonathan Colehower, managing director, global operations & supply chain practice at UST, explains how the use of blockchain technology will become more prominent moving forward.

Building Supply Chain Visibility

What have you noticed when it comes to supply chain stakeholders making efforts to build greater visibility?

 We're seeing a lot of efforts to build visibility. The more I can see into my supply chain, the more I should be able to correct and control. We're seeing a lot of efforts for supply chain actors. Whether they're a wholesaler, a distributor, a provider—they want to have that level of visibility, and they're building networks to get that and to see that.

In the second part of his video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Jonathan Colehower, managing director, global operations & supply chain practice at UST, offers his observations as to how stakeholders are building out their networks.  

Ensuring Safety and Efficacy in the Cold Chain Space

, Delphine Perridy, chief commercial officer, Envirotainer, noted that the pharmaceutical industry is undergoing significant evolution driven by unmet patient needs, rapid scientific advancements, and the emergence of new technologies. Innovations such as gene therapies, precision medicines, and advancements in obesity treatment with GLP-1s exemplify this shift. Additionally, the integration of artificial intelligence in drug discovery is streamlining research and development processes, lowering costs, and accelerating time to market. As a result, pharmaceutical companies must adapt their business models to ensure that newly approved drugs reach patients worldwide more efficiently. Perridy also shared why ultra-precise temperature control and customized logistics solutions are so critical when it comes to biologics and personalized medicine; why has the demand for sustainable practices has risen exponentially; Where she believes the pharma cold chain is heading in the next few years in terms of technological breakthroughs and market dynamic shifts.

A transcript of Perridy’s conversation with

Why are ultra-precise temperature control and customized logistics solutions so critical when it comes to biologics and personalized medicine?

With new, emerging treatments that are more and more complex, the transportation requirements are increasing as well, so we need to ensure that the drugs remain safe [during] the shipments; more complex therapies often imply stricter requirements. The cold chain is getting colder (temperature-wise); smaller, because with the personalized medicine, we need smaller packaging; and more global as well—we need to be able to ship drugs to the more remote locations. I think that's why technology is also coming into play, and real-time monitoring is becoming very important as well.

Our customers really want to be able to follow their drug, ensuring efficacy and safety toward the entire journey. That's why it's critical for us to try to come up with new technologies where we can share real-time data with our customers and they can be entitled to act—if something is happening—by setting alerts, and trying to really follow the risk of their shipments, so risk management I would say.

In the second part of her video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Delphine Perridy, chief commercial officer, Envirotainer, explains why ultra-precise temperature control and customized logistics solutions are critical when it comes to biologics and personalized medicine.

The Evolution of Pharma Industry Demands

Could you elaborate on the evolution of pharma industry demands and expectations, specifically pertaining to new drug development and faster market release cycles?

Change is a constant in the pharmaceutical industry. There are always unmet patient needs, emerging technologies, and new treatments coming along; that really requires companies to change and evolve their business model. I think science is advancing very fast. We've seen huge leaps forward. Gene therapies and precision medicines are good examples, and seeing that, we can also talk about the revolution in obesity treatment with GLP-1s. There are a lot of changes happening. Another good example of changes or disruption would be the use of artificial intelligence in drug discovery or in [determining] patient outcomes. It's lowering the cost of pharma R&D, it's optimizing the workflows, and it's reducing the time to market. Once new drugs are approved faster, it's essential for us to bring those drugs to patients worldwide.

In the first part of her video interview with Pharma Commerce Editor Nicholas Saraceno, Delphine Perridy, chief commercial officer, Envirotainer, describes the progression of expectations when it comes to the sector, specifically as it relates to new drug development. 

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