Science fiction has emerged from the margins of credulity to play a central role in everyday life. Make-believe machines that framed big movie dramas have now leapt off the screenplay pages to become commonplace.
Robots and algorithms that challenge humanity are now a Hollywood staple, but scriptwriters could impart a lesson or two that could inform healthcare’s relationship with technology – the human condition is still the hero and emotions always triumph over encryptions and exabytes.
It is a mantra that could serve industry well as it becomes more enthralled with the onslaught of machine learning, social media targeting, AI-driven research, smart algorithms and advanced graphics across multiple channels in the drive to connect with healthcare professionals (HCPs).
The accelerants of hyper-coded software and lightning-fast microprocessors offer bewildering engagement potential, but their ability to understand and respond to the human condition remains an inflexion point that scriptwriters would recognise and exploit.
The floodgates have already opened and SciLife research forecasts that AI applications could generate between $350bn and $410bn in annual value for pharmaceutical companies by 2025.1
It’s a seemingly irresistible prospect and AI’s influence is growing across drug discovery, clinical trials and supply chains. While it is a compound factor of marketing campaigns, there is a growing call for a pause to allow the human condition to come up for air.
“It sounds obvious, but it is worth stressing that human intuition is important in everything we do,” says Ffyona Dawber, CEO and Founder of Synergy Vision, the full- service medical communications agency that majors in commercial and HCP engagement. “And it is particularly important when we are engaging with HCPs.
“AI is brilliant in many respects, such as data mining, referencing and statistics,, but what it doesn’t give you is debate, that peer- to-peer discussion and sharing of opinions that HCPs both want and need. We all think we’ve got our own opinions on matters, but all of our opinions are formed by talking to and understanding like-minded people.”
Identify your audience
In-person conferences, congresses and seminars have made a strong comeback since COVID-19, but the leap to online connections forged during the pandemic will not be reversed. The sweet spot of engagement is to be found in a mix of human and digital influences that has enough malleability to form and shift around the high-pressure, time-pressed lives of HCPs.
“There has been a bounce-back in face- to-face opportunities, but you do need to vary your media across care settings. There are big differences between primary and secondary, and specialties – where some are more switched on to digital advances, whereas others are more traditional,” adds Ffyona, who held key roles in clinical pharmacology, product launch and post- marketing research at GSK before founding Synergy Vision. “The key to success is to identify your audience and then how they want to be communicated with, but you also have to be flexible to start with and to assess and readjust, if necessary, throughout each campaign.”
This is a hot area for development in pharma – a furnace where AI and digital components can be crafted into effective tools shaped to the needs of a particular user or project.
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