We recently spoke with Nicholas (Nic) Phillips from Ipsen, about artificial intelligence (AI) in brand management and Ipsen’s decision to adopt Prospection AI as its patient-centric intelligence (PCI) platform of choice. Nic leads Business Insights in Strategy and Business Excellence at Ipsen ANZ and has a long and diverse career in life sciences. He has a particular passion for deriving data-driven insights and creating solutions that optimize sales performance, customer relationships, market access, and patient outcomes.
1. What role do you see AI playing in transforming the way pharma approaches commercial strategy and its goals around improving patient outcomes?
Firstly, Pharma has a strong purpose. Ipsen has a clear mission which is to prolong and improve patients’ lives and health outcomes and make a positive impact for society. What I love about Ipsen is that it is focused on creating innovative solutions centred around patients and science to make that impact.
No matter what role you play at Ipsen, all this aspiration takes time to produce quality outcomes that will make that difference. Commercial is no different. Commercial strategy determines how we can best use our resources to fulfil our mission. Great strategy is underpinned by insights derived from vast amounts of data which takes time and significant effort.
Two major areas where I think AI is going to help commercial teams:
- The first is in helping brand teams to bring the data to life so they can use it routinely and efficiently to manage their brands. Data are used to drive the day-to-day monitoring and decision making in their market. Confronting vast amounts of data can be confusing – not everyone can look at a bunch of ingredients and see the potential to create an amazing dish. AI can help us to navigate the complexity and help us to tell the story to inform the strategy. I think the ability of AI tools, can motivate people to ask the right questions of their data and then rapidly better understand the implications to create more scope for and time for better decisions – this seems like a near-term reality, and one that will have a big impact.
- The second area is in prediction, particularly as it relates to forecasting. Not just sales numbers, but also forecasting patient journey patterns – these can, of course, relate to sales as well. The story of brand performance is complex – as sales numbers go up, you want to see measures relating to patient health improve as well.
2. What specific benefits have you observed or foresee in incorporating AI into your commercial planning, especially when working with patient-centric intelligence?
It’s early days for incorporating AI-driven patient and market insights into commercial planning. Now it has a positive role to play in validating work an analyst does. In some ways, we’re exploring AI while vetting our own thinking. What I’ve seen quickly is that a good question is always a good question – whether it’s posed to a human or a machine. I think one of the benefits might be in building a discipline of asking better quality questions.
3. In selecting Prospection AI for your team, what were the key aspects that drove your decision-making process?
At Ipsen we have a large commitment to innovation, and this includes making the most of AI technology. It is being used across the organisation in many applications. So, it made sense that I would recommend we work with Prospection AI.
Prospection AI is a genuinely easy platform to use – it puts the insights right in front of you. Our brand teams need to have access to cutting edge tools that enables them to efficiently view data in an excellent format, derive insights and validate their strategy or come up with new approaches to managing their brands. Prospection AI augments their detailed knowledge of their brand and market. It’s easy for brand teams to get and use sales numbers, but those numbers just tell you basic information (e.g., the number of treatments/prescriptions sold in certain geographies). Sales and in market data can indicate that you are declining or growing, but it’s very hard to see the why. This is where Prospection becomes key – you can start understanding what is going on in the market and what implications that will have on sales. Importantly, we care most about patient outcomes – and you just can’t get a clear picture of the population-level impact on patients, on their journey, and on their care, without using a tool like Prospection AI.
4. Looking forward, what developments or advancements do you anticipate in AI and patient-centric intelligence that could further empower commercial success and patient outcomes in the pharma industry?
AI and patient-centric intelligence is going to evolve quickly. It’s like watching bamboo grow – it’s happening so rapidly. I do see that predictive AI is going to be important- and it’s one I’m particularly interested in. Predictive analytics is set to deliver benefits across the healthcare landscape, from pharma through to patients. It can be easy to talk in commercial terms, but patients ultimately drive our efforts. We want to see lives improve. Better patient outcomes go together with better commercial outcomes. AI in conjunction with that patient-level analysis will be a major factor in achieving these improvements.
5. What advice would you give to other commercial leaders considering the adoption of AI-driven tools in the pharmaceutical landscape?
I have a varied background across pharma, in brand management, marketing, analytics, sales – I know that some marketers still find it challenging to really incorporate patient-centric insights into their work. It can be hard to find the time to focus on that aspect. So, equipping brand teams with data-analysis tools that make it easier to start thinking about their brands in terms of the patient experience – not just via qualitative feedback but seeing the behaviour of clinicians and patients being treated in an objective, qualitative way – this can have more impact than you might expect. Relying on a single data point to make brand decisions – often sales data – is just too limiting. AI coupled with patient-centric intelligence is a way to make this happen. There’s no doubt we’re only at the beginning of that journey, but there’s also no doubt that it’s a journey that we will be taking. My advice is to take that first step as soon as possible.
—————————-
Prospection has been providing solutions and services to pharma analytics and commercial teams for more than 10 years. Its proprietary Patient-centric Intelligence Core transforms RWD into intelligence, and powers a range of solutions including the flagship brand management platform, Prospection AI.
Contact us to learn how patient-centric intelligence can become core to your business.
