IT drives lifesciences part 3

Trends and Future

If the trends of the last five years to be believed, most of the dollars has gone into: 1. Better Front-end developments, 2. Scalable Systems, 3. Interoperable Systems, 4. Electronic Medical Record Database, 5. Centrally (hospitals) integrated system architecture with local interface, 6. Data sharing leading to faster analysis, 7. Advanced biosignal-processing algorithms for better diagnosis such as HRV (Heart Rate Variability) analysis.

According to a latest Frost & Sullivan study, life sciences companies also spent on Bioinformatic algorithms for data mining, correlation and mapping, advanced software image visualization tools, software for advanced microscopy systems, tools for biosignal-processing and tools for image modifications and post processing and others.

Carlson says more money will flow into clinical trials, clinical discovery, life science manufacturing, pre-clinical, research & development technology. In clinical practice, EHR and wireless handhelds for nurse and physician input will be a norm, along with RFID wands requiring no hand input.  In research and development, the high-tech automation tools needed to increase.  Pharmaceutical manufacturing will always have a place for technology but one of the major areas is RFID used in various stages to monitor where the highly valuable product is.  Research and development will witness the greatest investment in lab automation and high throughput screening technologies, all of which require dedicated computer systems.  Medical devices aren’t just catheters anymore.  They have sensors and semiconductors in them now and sometimes video cameras.  Kalorama Information estimates a $5.92 billion market for the electronic and advanced components of medical devices.

Clustered server networks will play an important role in the life sciences industry, as the volume of clinical information rises and the need arises for a large volume of information to be hereditarily stored in the form of pedigree charts. Information at the back-end needs to be stored, managed, and archived in an efficient manner while providing users with the freedom of secure access to information.

Wi-Fi and 3G communication modes would be of much use in the life sciences domain. Wireless networking or rather wireless Internet will allow users easy accessibility to the online site from which data can be viewed or downloaded at ease. Similarly, 3G and similar types of mobile telephony or communication modes (such as EDGE or Blackberry) will facilitate easy clinical information transfer. This information may be voice based, written records, or even image type in nature. Maintenance of online security while information transfer occurs is a big issue in the life sciences domain.

Although life sciences industry is betting only now on the power of IT, there will be a time when IT will completely drive innovation in the life sciences segment. Nobody could have imagined a decade back that a supercomputer will be used for drug discovery but that’s given today. So life sciences will one day be the backbone of IT industry and vice versa.