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As its focus moves from manufacturing to service, pharma needs to partner with healthcare neophytes as well as established players. James Chase asks six experts to assess the risks and opportunities
James Chase
Editor-at-large, MM&M
Raj Amin
CEO, OysterLabs
David Weingard
Founder and CEO, Fit4D
Sara Holoubek
CEO, Luminary Labs
Jim Curtis
Chief revenue officer, Remedy Health Media
Stan Woodland
CEO, CMI/Compas
Damon Basch
Team leader, pharma partnerships, Practice Fusion
James Chase (editor-at-large, MM&M): What does "going beyond the pill" actually mean to each of you in the jobs that you do and in your day-to-day dealings with healthcare?
Stan Woodland (CEO, CMI/Compas): When you consider the whole quantified-self movement, we're all involved in our health very actively, we're using technologies to monitor everything. We're willing to accept data about our health and have that data interpreted for us to make better, more informed decisions. We're willing to pay for those technologies and pay for services that do that.
Imagine if a pharma company decided to jump into that market. It takes 15 years to bring a pill to the market and $900 million to do so, and that's for a product that's going to generate about $500 to $800 million dollars in annual revenue. What if you took that $900 million and created a wellness company? It's a big market to go beyond the pill. It's a real opportunity for pharma to participate in health.
David Weingard (founder and CEO, Fit4D): The pain point that most pharma companies feel is around people not filling their first script, or filling their first script and then not keeping on filling it. So services beyond the pill are really important-not only for pharma companies and their bottom lines, but for physicians who don't have the time to do all of the emotional work to keep people on pill and for payers who are now measured on quality.
Sara Holoubek (CEO, Luminary Labs): Technology is accelerating and it's pervasive with consumers-and at the same time there's a patent cliff and nobody has a blockbuster drug. I would say that other than Google search ads, there's never been a business as profitable as making a pill. And I'd say, pun intended, it's a hard pill for these...