DIA: Driving Insights to Action

Califf: Digitization Will Return Humanity to Medicine

“Digitization is something that is happening to everything that we do. It’s being called the fourth industrial revolution,” explains Dr. Robert Califf, former FDA Commissioner and Vice Chancellor for Health Data Science at Duke Health. “And if we do it right, it will actually free up clinicians to spend more time directly with people and, when they become patients, with sick people, which is what we really want.”

New Sources Changing the Meaning of Evidence?

Do changes in clinical research, driven by emerging technology, change what we mean by “evidence”? “It’s not necessarily ‘trials versus real world evidence’–that is not particularly helpful because either type of evidence, either type of data, has its place and is complementary,” explains Mr. Michael Seewald, WorldWide Head of the Center of Excellence for Real World Evidence, Novartis Pharma, and member of DIA’s Future of Evidence Workshop program committee. “The exciting development is in developing data sources over a timeframe of decades that at some point will revolutionize healthcare in a respective therapy area.”

AI Research Can Optimize Clinical/Operational Effectiveness

“One critical area when you look at healthcare systems is the issue of optimizing clinical and operational effectiveness,” suggests Professor John Lim, founding Executive Director of the Duke-National University of Singapore Centre of Regulatory Excellence (CoRE). “This is an area where research in AI is developing to really inform and aid decision making by not only physicians but also then operational decisions by healthcare providers.” Professor Lim is also Chairman of the Singapore Clinical Research Institute and National Health Innovation Center.

Has Joining ICH Accelerated Innovation in China?

“China joining ICH is a magnificent milestone for the pharmaceutical industry in China,” explains Dr. Jingsong Wang, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Harbour Biomed. “We can see clearly more and more local pharmaceutical companies adopting the international standards to have a more innovative portfolio to face the competition from their global partners or counterparts.” Dr. Wang serves on the Steering Committee for our DIA China 2019 Annual Meeting in Beijing.