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According to a 2014 study by the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (TCSDD), the cost of developing a new drug, from research and development (R&D) to marketing approval, is approximately $2.9 billion. This includes actual out-of-pocket costs averaging $1.4 billion, opportunity costs of nearly $1.2 billion, and the cost of post-approval studies amounting to $312 million. Because drug development return on investment (ROI) is declining, pharmaceutical companies are under pressure to either improve their success rates or reduce their cost of failure. On one hand, more and more pharmaceutical companies are forming public and private consortia to share in the research …

Most labs are vigilant to avoid errors that occur during testing, taking pains to ensure that the right tests are performed in the right way on the right samples. But what about errors that occur before the order is received? Studies show that the majority of errors (over 70%) occur not in the lab but in the pre-analytic phase (in the clinic) of the ordering process. EHRs being used in the clinics are part of the problem. Ambulatory clinics and EHR vendors alike have been slow to adopt CPOE (computerized physician order entry). Even when the EHRs used in ambulatory …

With winter finally over (for most of us, anyway), millions are flinging windows open to let in the fresh air. They’re dusting furniture, vacuuming rugs, mopping floors and laundering curtains. They are removing items from cabinets and closets to thoroughly clean those seldom-seen spaces. In other words, it’s spring cleaning time. Spring cleaning is a tradition throughout the world that has religious, cultural and possibly even biological origins. As the days get longer, we instinctively know it’s time to stop “hibernating” and get our homes back in order. But does a similar instinct signal when it’s time to give our …

The landscape for rapid decision-making capabilities is accelerating across healthcare and life sciences, but the ability to do so is not keeping up with the pace of need.  Historical data is available but not often accessible given it’s trapped in legacy applications, while new data sources, such as those generated from devices like FitBit, are becoming available but far from being integrated with existing patient records.  The challenge organizations are facing is one that requires a strategic vision with an eye on digital transformation as the engine to make change. Over the next few months, I’ll cover several concepts that …

There seems to be a de facto consensus that iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) is the next big thing. So much so that the MuleSoft, one of the leading iPaaS vendors, achieved unicorn status last year after a successful round of venture capital financing and, then, this past March, went on to have a very successful IPO. And while there’s little doubt for CIOs that legacy middleware integration technologies such as ESB are on the verge of obsolescence, there should be plenty of doubt as to whether iPaaS (and the vendors such as MuleSoft, Jitterbit, SnapLogic, etc. that offer …

Recently, SnapLogic announced the launch of its new Iris platform, claiming to be the first of its kind to leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence in metadata analysis to automate integration. While we applaud their efforts to help enterprises solve their biggest integration challenges—namely reducing the time and cost involved in hand-coding development tasks—we think it’s important to point out that this approach is not new. In fact, we’ve been automating integration to enable data transformation here at Liaison for more than 14 years. Our Contivo data mapping solution is a proven, design-time semantic integration technology that accelerates integration and …

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.  And while it was enacted primarily to ensure portability and continuity of health insurance coverage and improving the exchange of health information electronically, it also was intended to protect a patient’s protected health information (PHI) which includes health status or condition, medical history, insurance coverage, payment for health care, and other data that a healthcare provider or other covered entities collect in order to provide the proper care. Signed into law in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, the act contains five key …

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines pharmacovigilance as “the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other drug-related problem.” Although pharmacovigilance is an important concept throughout the drug development process, the term is most frequently used within the context of monitoring the effects of medical drugs after they have been released to the market. Some may wonder why we need post-market pharmacovigilance when drugs are heavily studied before ever becoming generally available. To understand the need for ongoing monitoring of adverse effects long past a drug is officially approved, it is …

If you follow the high-tech space and/or Wall Street, you probably know that MuleSoft went public last month, and we want to congratulate the MuleSoft team on its successful IPO. In fact, we think this is an important milestone for the integration market, one that highlights the critical role integration plays in connecting the growing numbers of cloud apps, connected devices, and data types businesses must contend with today. While the buzz around the MuleSoft IPO is bringing some much-needed attention to the pressing need for businesses to replace aging integration software and legacy tooling/solutions from companies like Informatica, TIBCO, …

While pharmaceutical research and development spending is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8% through 2022, experts and stakeholders are seeing a downward trend in its return on investment (ROI). Pharmaceutical companies are under increasing pressure to either improve the success rates of their R&D or reduce their cost of failure, which a breakthrough typically would cover. The pharma R&D process yields an average success rate of 4.9% from first toxicity dose to market approval. However, experts are questioning whether drug approvals had already reached its peak in 2015 and will continue to decline following the lower number …