big data Archives - Medical Design Sourcing

Science unbound: AI and open data accelerate the pace of discovery

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Scientists have long been perceived and portrayed in film as old people in white lab coats perched at a bench full of bubbling fluorescent liquids. The present-day reality of scientific research is quite different from old stereotypes, with AI-driven scientific breakthroughs emerging as a major driving force behind new discoveries. Scientists are increasingly data jockeys in hoodies sitting before monitors analyzing enormous amounts of data. Modern day labs are more likely composed of sterile rows of robots doing the manual handling of materials, and lab notebooks are now electronic, in massive data centers holding vast quantities of information. Today, scientific input comes from data pulled from the cloud, with algorithms fueling scientific discovery the way bunsen burners once did.

Advances in technology and especially instrumentation, enable scientists to collect and process data at an …

Fueling breakthroughs in pharma AI: 3 critical factors

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Big data and AI offer massive opportunities to the pharmaceutical industry — in theory. In reality, many companies are struggling to realize the potential of these tools. Some organizations have been hesitant or resistant to leveraging the technologies. Others may have attempted to embrace them early on but are now beginning their second or third incarnations of “digital transformation,” likely with some layoffs along the way.

Why the difficulty? Digital transformation is, of course, a massive undertaking — requiring enterprise-wide coordination and a clear, focused vision. In the real world, organizations have struggled with defining a focus for their AI efforts and sustaining the investments necessary to reach them. It’s easy to get excited about the prospect of using AI to solve everything under the sun, but more often, successes are coming when teams stay focus…

Key clinical trial considerations for the new normal and the future

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A great many new and varied approaches to clinical trial management have gained ground during the COVID-19 pandemic through the help of virtualization tools, strong partnerships, and regulatory guidance. Despite the upheaval this year and last, there appears to be a silver lining. The systemic changes have enabled remarkably quick development in adapting trials to accommodate different environments. Additionally, the pharma industry has developed COVID-19 vaccines at an incredible speed. Regulatory guidance has accommodated this abrupt shift. This article will cover the critical factors needed before adapting to patient-centric clinical trials.

For starters, there are quite a few differences regarding attaining and disseminating patient-level data in a decentralized or remote trial setting versus the traditional way an in-person study is designed. Telemedicine or remote visits, for …

What’s driving the natural language processing revolution in pharma and life sciences

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Pharmaceutical and life sciences companies are faced with a constant stream of new data flowing into often siloed information systems. About 80% of that information exists in unstructured text that is difficult to extract and use, despite its paramount importance in driving clinical and commercial outcomes.

As a result, these organizations find themselves increasingly overwhelmed with volumes of inaccessible data. At the same time, researchers and data scientists lack effective search tools to find the right information in this “big data” tsunami, causing them to miss opportunities to enhance patient safety, improve clinical trial design, identify previously undetected biomarkers and better understand the voice of the customer.

To overcome the limitations of time-consuming, manual searches through mountains of data, pharma and life sciences companies are looking to artificial…