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How can Pharma & smart technology help fight the pandemic

We are in the middle of a global humanitarian crisis. Global issues like the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates a strong and collaborative fight worldwide. As the pandemic poses one of the greatest challenges to the humankind, while weakening the healthcare systems, it is becoming increasingly important to address and resolve the issue quickly and responsibly.

Pharmaceutical companies are rapidly trying to develop a vaccine against the virus, while investing heavily in the R&D activities after the genetic sequence of the virus was published earlier this year. As the world’s population has its hope tied to the abilities of pharma companies to develop a cure quickly, it is life-critical that the sector reciprocates with the similar levels of efficacy in the result they produce.

There are over 100 vaccine candidates in the landscape of COVID-19 vaccine R&D and more than three dozen vaccines are under development. It is expected that a vaccine will be available by early 2021. However, with the continuous daily increase in the number of cases, the vaccine is needed much earlier. In the current circumstances, the drug regulatory authorities are also offering relaxations in their otherwise tight protocols. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine drugs, which are used in Malaria and may be used as a potential therapy against the COVID-19 disease.

McKinsey suggests, “One of the top priorities of a pharma company’s commercial organization must be ensuring that the delivery of high-quality patient care is ongoing and the supply of critical drugs is shored up to avert potential drug shortages in the future.” Speed is of essence in the anti-COVID-19 drug development. While typically it would take about 10 to 15 years for developing a new drug, technology is proving to be a helpful in shortening the time-to-market significantly. The pharma companies will need to forget about the competition among them and forge alliances such that all can benefit from the collective R&D and an effective drug is produced early and at scale. Collaboration with one another and smart technology solutions are the two strongest pillars that can help the pharma industry to quickly fulfill the global demand for a vaccine.

Artificial Intelligence redefining the Pharma industry

AI-driven solutions, by taking over the time-consuming & labor-intensive processes in a drug development journey, can help the pharmaceuticals companies to shorten the time required to bring a drug to the market. With the help of machine learning and deep learning algorithms, Artificial Intelligence can perform thorough analysis of huge datasets and extensive review of the available scientific literature.

It can enhance the R&D activities such as design and identification of new molecules, discovery & validation of target –based drugs. By doing so, AI-based pharmaceutical software can reduce the timeline for trials, approvals, and release. Further, AI can also help improve the production processes by facilitating quality control, design, predictive maintenance, waste reduction, and reusability. This results in faster production and efficient outcomes, while minimizing the possibilities of errors.

In COVID-19 vaccine development process, AI & ML can sift through, analyze, and offer insights gained through the vast data available on the SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and the coronavirus group to help pharma companies identify the best potential treatment for the disease.

Smart automation enabling remote R&D

Over the past three months, majority of pharma companies have mobilized their employees to remote working conditions. In such a scenario, automation helps them continue the essential processes unobstructed. Automation in drug discovery not only improves the reliability of the entire process by minimizing manual errors, but also augments the throughput and enhances the ability to reproduce. Automation, integrated with AI, can be significantly helpful in conducting end-to-end multi-step chemical synthesis of drugs even in the absence of a manual resource.

Although AI and automation together can bring a range of benefits to the table, they cannot eliminate the need for the analytical skills and expertise of the trained scientists. As the pharma industry is looking to accelerate the COVID-19 vaccine development, and scale the production once the viable drug is found, they need to employ the three-way solution involving AI, automation, and expert scientists.

To sum up

Combining the technical skills of scientists with smart automation and AI & ML algorithms is helping pharma companies to level up their battle against the COVID-19 pandemic while making the drug discovery process nimble & efficient. Smart automation solutions are allowing them to continue with the vaccine development without risking the health of their employees.

Author Details
Independent Author
Author Details

Amarnath Gupta is a visionary digital transformation leader with over two decades of experience guiding Fortune 500 organizations through enterprise-wide innovation. He has built and scaled Microsoft Dynamics 365 practices into $7.5 million revenue engines, rescued high-risk global implementations, and delivered 35 percent operational efficiency gains, 40 percent faster go-lives, and 30 percent cost optimizations across industries from manufacturing to healthcare and construction.

His passion for marrying deep technical command in Dynamics 365, Azure AI/ML, and Power Platform with strategic P&L governance has spawned proprietary IP solutions like JewelPro™ and OmniClaim Sentinel™. A catalyst for modern AMS frameworks, he leverages predictive KQL analytics and intelligent support automation to slash incident resolution times by 30 percent and cut costs by up to 30 percent.

Amarnath writes about practical strategies for data-driven decision making, end-to-end ERP/CRM implementation best practices, and the future of cloud-native architectures. His work empowers readers to transform underperforming units into high-growth engines while embedding Agile/DevOps and Zero Trust security into every layer.

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O, CE, Commerce, Field Services
  • Azure AI/ML integration and predictive analytics
  • Enterprise Application Maintenance & Support (AMS)
  • Agile/DevOps delivery and operational excellence
  • Data modernization and cloud transformation

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Independent Author

Amarnath Gupta is a visionary digital transformation leader with over two decades of experience guiding Fortune 500 organizations through enterprise-wide innovation. He has built and scaled Microsoft Dynamics 365 practices into $7.5 million revenue engines, rescued high-risk global implementations, and delivered 35 percent operational efficiency gains, 40 percent faster go-lives, and 30 percent cost optimizations across industries from manufacturing to healthcare and construction.

His passion for marrying deep technical command in Dynamics 365, Azure AI/ML, and Power Platform with strategic P&L governance has spawned proprietary IP solutions like JewelPro™ and OmniClaim Sentinel™. A catalyst for modern AMS frameworks, he leverages predictive KQL analytics and intelligent support automation to slash incident resolution times by 30 percent and cut costs by up to 30 percent.

Amarnath writes about practical strategies for data-driven decision making, end-to-end ERP/CRM implementation best practices, and the future of cloud-native architectures. His work empowers readers to transform underperforming units into high-growth engines while embedding Agile/DevOps and Zero Trust security into every layer.

  • Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O, CE, Commerce, Field Services
  • Azure AI/ML integration and predictive analytics
  • Enterprise Application Maintenance & Support (AMS)
  • Agile/DevOps delivery and operational excellence
  • Data modernization and cloud transformation

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