The changing face of pharma in a post-pandemic world

As the world continues to expand, the emergence of new technologies continues to bring it closer. The evolution of tech-based solutions has brought major changes to lifestyles across the globe, irrespective of geography or demography. However, the Covid-19 pandemic brought another aspect of a well-connected world to light – the acceleration in the spread of diseases, both communicable and non-communicable.

Pharmaceuticals is key to preventing and curing ailments. And just like any other industry, pharma also relies heavily on technology to function effectively. However, ever since the pandemic crisis started, the sector has been dealing with unprecedented scrutiny. The global state of healthcare makes it imperative to reflect on what lies ahead of us, and whether we are making the best use of technology in a post-pandemic world.

The emergence of the many, many variants of a highly communicable virus has been a wakeup call for all stakeholders in healthcare. The course that pharma and healthcare has been set on needs to be changed. Innovation in pharma and healthcare at large is the need of the hour. May it be industrial contemplation or academic research, it all needs to be centred around promoting the concept of healthy living.

The world is constantly evolving, and this evolution needs to be taken into accountat all steps of healthcare, right from research and development to administering new age treatments. One might wonder why it is important at all. We can understand this with the help of one simple example – that of climate change. With this one change comes a change in human lifestyle and attitude, human gastronomy, the behaviour of metabolic diseases – all of which gets extended to life expectancy. This butterfly effect is what needs to be acknowledged and addressed.

The global chain of changes is not only bringing forth new ailments, but it is also leading to the re-emergence of ailments which were deemed to be eradicated. Yes, the technology and methodologies are also evolving at a great pace, but all this progress becomes utterly useless if we cannot identify which tool to use and to which purpose it should be used. As the social, environmental, and psychological scenarios continue to shift swiftly, the onus is on pharma to dedicate its resources towards effectively combating the health challenges hence created.

In a post-pandemic world, the pharma sector needs to not just innovate, but also to ensure that these innovations are therapeutic in nature. The next generation of pharma solutions needs to extend beyond the known horizons of tech and knowledge. The conventional modes and methods need to be left behind in order to move towards a safe and healthy world.