PHILADELPHIA, March 15, 2005 — Today at the Pharmaceutical Technology Congress Microsoft Corp. announced its Digital Pharma initiative, a vision and solutions framework designed to enable pharmaceutical and life sciences companies to realize their full potential in a rapidly changing environment by addressing two distinct industry imperatives: speed-to-insight and value-for-cost. With mounting industry challenges including pipeline and pricing pressure, industry restructuring, and government regulations, the Microsoft®
Digital Pharma solutions framework delivers a platform, based on open standards, that will address these imperatives by helping improve productivity, integrate disparate data sources and enable better collaboration across the pharmaceutical value chain.
“The pharmaceutical industry is facing multiple challenges, from pricing pressure to complex regulatory compliance requirements, all of which are converging,” said Tim Smokoff, managing director for Microsoft Healthcare and Life Sciences. “Microsoft is committed to enabling drug manufacturers to realize their potential of developing safer and more efficacious innovations that can improve people’s health, by delivering a solutions framework that will provide guidance and catalyze operational efficiency.”
The solutions framework is launched with the support of more than 18 life sciences solutions companies, all of which have committed to delivering solutions and services that align with the Digital Pharma vision and use Microsoft’s .NET Framework, the programming model for building Extensible Markup Language (XML) Web services and applications. The companies include Accenture, Covansys Corp., DataLabs Inc., HP, Immedient Corp., Manhattan Associates Inc., Meridio, Merit Solutions Software, Motion Computing Inc., OnSphere Corp., OSIsoft Inc., OutlookSoft Corp., ProClarity Corp., Project Assistants Inc., Proscape Technologies Inc., QUMAS, Siebel Systems Inc. and Tectura Corp. (See related release.)
Microsoft Digital Pharma addresses two fundamental capabilities critical for future business success in the pharmaceutical industry: speed-to-insight and value-for-cost. By addressing these business imperatives, Microsoft can help pharmaceutical companies address the convergence of pipeline issues, price pressures and the challenges of industry restructuring:
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Speed-to-insight defines the ability to connect disparate resources and data so quicker and more novel insights can be achieved across the value chain, from drug development and data collection to business intelligence and marketing effectiveness, thereby enabling effective and timely critical decision-making.
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Value-for-cost recognizes the imperative for pharmaceutical companies to realize a disproportionately greater return on new and existing investments in a demanding marketplace. By getting the most out of proven technology and extending existing IT investments, Microsoft and its partners help create business efficiencies that can increase return on investment while speeding innovation.
Microsoft and its industry partners help address these imperatives by offering leading-edge solutions that reduce complexity and help build insight across the pharmaceutical value chain by enhancing productivity, connecting disparate information sources and streamlining information flow. Pharmaceutical companies are benefiting from the use of Web-based services, mobile devices and other collaborative tools and applications such as InfoPath® , Live Meeting and SharePoint®
Portal Server that are part of the new Microsoft Office System.
One example is Closed Loop Promotion (CLP), a successful offering conceptualized by Accenture. CLP redefines the interaction between sales representatives and physicians, using the Microsoft platform for collaboration and rapid exchange of information, and using a Web-based interface to deliver customer data and product information to representatives in the field. The solution utilizes pen-based, touch-screen Tablet PCs built on the Microsoft Windows®
XP Tablet PC Edition operating system to interactively share information. Accenture combines its knowledge of the relevant business issues with software from Proscape and Siebel to deliver the benefits of Closed Loop Promotion.
“The pharmaceutical industry is currently managing through a period of unprecedented challenges and entering a new era of opportunities for innovation,” said David Blumberg, a partner in Accenture’s Health & Life Sciences practice. “Microsoft’s Digital Pharma solutions framework has the potential to help streamline pharmaceutical business processes to achieve greater insights in shorter time frames”.
Microsoft’s Digital Pharma initiative is based on open industry standards such as Web services and XML, and life-sciences-industry-specific standards such as the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC). In addition, Microsoft Windows Server System (TM) meets the demanding requirements of the Digital Pharma framework by reducing complexity; enabling flexible, cost-effective solutions; and bringing a new level of reliability, dependability and operational efficiency.
Microsoft has invested more than $6 billion in research and development this year on technologies that fulfill its evolving vision for the future of computing. The company also has created an internal group focused on the long-term vision of its companywide R & D efforts and how these efforts apply to industry verticals such as healthcare and life sciences. The group is playing a key role in demonstrating how innovations based on Microsoft’s current and future technologies can come together to meet evolving business needs. Some of these innovations will be demonstrated on the floor at the Pharmaceutical Technology Congress.
“Microsoft’s Digital Pharma initiative is a result of our belief that there is opportunity to enhance business capabilities through technology and to provide much-needed tools to the market to achieve this,” said Steve Shihadeh, general manager of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Microsoft. “We are excited that many industry-leading solution providers and pharmaceutical companies share our vision and want to make it a reality.”
About Microsoft Digital Pharma
Microsoft’s Digital Pharma provides a practical vision and framework that enables pharmaceutical companies to drive innovation across the enterprise and address strategic value-chain capability requirements. Using proven Microsoft technology, Digital Pharma illustrates how drug manufacturers can achieve speed-to-insight and value-for-cost: two distinct industry imperatives that lead the way for business transformation. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/lifesciences .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Microsoft, InfoPath, SharePoint, Windows and Windows Server System are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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