We highlight the most dynamic collaborations in pharma that have emerged in recent months, particularly involving non-traditional healthcare players, which is becoming an increasingly key feature of the industry. There is an emphasis on those partnerships that use creative ideas and marketing techniques to develop new solutions or help raise awareness of the biggest issues in health
Alphabet’s Verily with Big Pharma
Google’s umbrella company Alphabet, and their life science division, Verily, are collaborating with big pharma companies and health systems, including Novartis, Sanofi, and Pfizer. The initiative ‘Baseline Health System Consortium’ is helping these pharma companies to develop digitally innovative clinical research programmes that improve patient centricity. The platform speeds up study times, allows higher quality data to be collected, and engages both patients and clinicians.
Celgene, Bedrock, and Turtle Canyon Films
Before creating their award-winning movie ‘This is Axoim’, Celgene worked with Turtle Canyon Films and Bedrock on the marketing campaign, Millefeuille (A Thousand Leaves). This movie campaign depicts the story of a patient living with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The aim is to highlight the deep psychological problems many patients with these conditions face on a day-to-day basis.
Pfizer and Akili
Pfizer continue to work with Akili Interactive Labs on their mobile game that can detect differences in cognitive function in elderly people who may be at risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The game quantifies users’ ability to handle cognitive interference when paying attention, planning, and making decisions, an occurrence that is commonly symptomatic of degenerative diseases and psychiatric conditions, including ADHD, depression, and autism.
Bayer’s Food Chain Partnership
Bayer are using innovation to partner with retailers, processors, farmers, and food importers and exporters to optimise crop solutions that can benefit all involved stakeholders. They currently have projects across 30 countries and are constantly creating new solutions to enhance production and technology techniques. Bayer are sharing expertise on growing high-quality crops with partners from across the world.