Cloud Computing And Pharma: A Prescription For Success. How and why this critical technology will change the industry. kellyservices.

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1 Cloud Computing And Pharma: A Prescription For Success How and why this critical technology will change the industry kellyservices.us

2 Contents Introduction Introduction / 3 01 Streamlining Operations and Saving Money / 4 02 Providing Proven Advantages for Pharma Giants / 5 03 Leading Pharma Companies into the Future / 6 References / 7 Pharmaceutical companies have long been considered late adopters of new technology, preferring not to stray too far from familiar territory. Maybe it s the nature of the work the development of new clinical products only continues to grow more complex, as well as governmental compliance regulations. To ensure patient safety, meeting these mandates has naturally taken precedence over integrating new technologies. But as a result, big drug firms are now playing catch-up. Other industries have already implemented enterprise software systems that allow them to do business better. One of the most critical new aspects of business IT infrastructure is cloud computing, and just as it has helped transform other industries, this technology can help researchers in laboratories easily collaborate with colleagues all over the world. In a fast-paced global marketplace and amid drastically different business models traditionally conservative pharma companies can no longer afford to drag their heels in embracing cloud computing

3 01 02 Streamlining Operations and Saving Money Providing Proven Advantages for Pharma Giants The cloud eliminates dependence on older IT infrastructure The cloud delivers dramatic results 4 Because the pharmaceutical industry is focused on research, discovery, and development, it lends itself naturally to the collaboration and agility that cloud computing offers. Location and device independence allow companies to share resources across large pools of users, enabling the scalability of services on a self-serve, real-time basis. The burgeoning amounts of next generation sequencing data, the growing necessity for public-private partnerships (PPPs), and the need for integrating data sharing are just a few of the technology trends driving an increased interest in cloud computing by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Industry analysts estimate that the data generated by the pharmaceutical industry doubles every six months. In addition, clinical trials have become more adaptive by the incorporation of signal detection technologies, and the efficiency of forecasting and global supply chains has become increasingly streamlined. Digital technology has made it easier for sales and marketing teams to use social networking tools in order to develop stronger relationships with physicians and patients. Cloud computing, however, provides a primary and immediate business advantage for companies in that it reduces dependency on legacy IT infrastructures. Moving research and development to the use of public and private clouds enables standardization of operations, better integration, higher reusability, and stronger collaboration with business and research partners as well as the entire health care community. Pharmaceutical companies can scale project teams up and down quickly and efficiently based on the number of trials they are running, regardless of locations of team members. Although questions about security and privacy still linger in the minds of decision makers in drug companies, they are gradually warming to the idea of cloud computing because of palpable benefits such as enhanced collaboration, speed of deployment, and cost savings. The most obvious cost benefit of cloud computing for any organization is a reduction in capital expenditures because infrastructure is provided by a third party. This savings is particularly important for small biotech start-up companies, who can ramp up their business more quickly with less cost. In addition, savings on capital expenditures allows companies to invest more heavily in their research and discovery efforts. Hardware and software need not be purchased for single or infrequent computing tasks, and physical space requirements are lower. But savings extend beyond the cost of equipment to include costs associated with maintenance, upgrades, and even utilities. Pharmaceutical companies have traditionally housed and maintained large numbers of CPUs that must be run continuously during the discovery process of R & D, and it can take dozens of hours to complete a single analysis. But with a cloud-based business model, scientists can work with data whenever they need to, wherever they are located, and servers don t have to run when they are not needed. Eli Lilly and Company, Pfizer Inc., Genentech Inc., and Johnson & Johnson are among the first drug companies to explore the benefits of saving time and money with cloud computing. Lilly has a massive installed base of computers that are operating at full capacity. According to Andrew Kaczorek, senior systems analyst, utilization of the systems is spiky because there are hundreds of different users. The result is that for days at a time our clusters are at 100 percent of capacity, Kaczorek says. This means there are actually scientists who have work to be done that is literally sitting in a queue. Lilly is discovering that cloud computing can eliminate those wait times while also dramatically lowering utility costs. The company recently launched a 64-machine cluster computer to work on bioinformatics sequence information. Using a third-party cloud computing service, the firm executed the project in 20 minutes for a cost of $6.40. To do the same project internally would have required installing and qualifying a 64-machine cluster and then running it for 12 weeks. Although the distributed storage and processing advantages of cloud computing for pharma are clearly evident, many companies are wary of making the change due to security issues, such as a lack of communication standards for research using the Internet. Drug companies are also figuring out what types of data are most appropriate for cloud storage and online processing. Information sharing is essential for high-quality research, but companies must secure intellectual property in order to avoid civil or criminal penalties, negative publicity, and potential business interruption due to non-compliance with HIPAA regulations. Some analysts speculate that vast amounts of sensitive data managed behind firewalls may affect the usefulness of cloud computing for the pharmaceutical industry. Yet the explosion of life sciences data, particularly in the area of genomics research, seems ideally suited to the use of cloud computing. Because of advanced nanoscale and microfluidic technologies, DNA can be monitored by photographic sensors that generate TIFF images up to 800 gigabytes in size. This creates a massive data-capture and handling problem, says Chris Dagdigian, a consultant for BioTeam. We are now in an era where instruments that are showing up in very small wet laboratories are capable of producing a terabyte or more of data in a day. Data technologies for DNA sequencing and gene profiling can generate overwhelming amounts of data very rapidly, and next-generation technologies are expected to increase the magnitude of the challenge presented by storing and managing that data. 5

4 03 Leading Pharma Companies into the Future Adoption challenges remain, but the cloud will ultimately prevail Pharmaceutical companies and service providers alike agree that although cloud computing is still in its infancy, the technology holds great promise. Beyond storing and processing data, the cloud also provides a virtual environment for collaborative work and an efficient resource for archiving and managing clinical trial data. Scientists can work in a more iterative way and keep the momentum of research projects moving forward. And as Lilly s use of the cloud demonstrates, there are proven cost savings and dramatically shortened research times, both of which are extremely attractive benefits to drug companies. From a patient s perspective, cloud computing enables them to have a higher stake in managing their own health decisions and treatment through telemedicine and remote health monitoring for problems such as diabetes, cardiac issues, and sleep disorders. The past decade has seen dramatic changes in the way pharmaceutical companies do business in an increasingly complex global community. Continuing to use traditional in-house IT processes may threaten to increase burdens on infrastructures. For the pharmaceutical industry to move forward and keep pace with the changing technology landscape, companies can either continue maintaining and upgrading internal infrastructures, or embrace the proven benefits of cloud computing and its potential for changing the way they do their work. References 1. Koroneos, George. Pharma and Cloud Computing: Are We There Yet? PharmExec.com. June 16, Mullin, Rick. The New Computing Pioneers. Chemical & Engineering News, Volume 87, Number 21. May 25, Subramanian, Krishnan. Biotech Companies and Cloud Computing. CloudAve. May 29, Upton, Julian. How Cloud Computing is Aiding Pharma. Applied Clinical Trials Online. January 14,

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