Pharma Technology Investment Trends - Head of Diagnostics, Top 15 Pharma

The head of diagnostics at a major pharmaceutical company speaks to how their company prioritizes investments today, how they experience ROI, and how broader oncology trends will impact spending in the next 3 – 5 years. This expert is involved in decision making for a variety of funding initiatives, including data purchases or the implementation of biomarkers and clinical trials, though they are not directly playing a role in the R&D budget. They see the most investment today in the research tools setting, which is where they also feel that they experience in the most ROI. In addition to established tools like genomics and liquid biopsy, they see a fair share of investment in imaging as well, and in other areas such as clinical trial operations and real-world data. Though not receiving the dominant share of spending today, bioinformatics and companion diagnostics are two other areas that this expert sees strong ROI in the form of streamlining development of efficacious products. They note that they are still cautious about in vitro disease models. When asked about pain points, this expert noted that they feel that the U.S. healthcare system creates some barriers, including issues to data access for patients and properly promoting testing. Broadly, they expect that trends towards earlier cancer detection, more targeted treatments, and emerging treatment modalities will be important considerations for future investments.

‍