A new report has suggested that growing regulatory pressure, and competition will drive the adoption of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services in the pharmaceutical industry.
Product lifecycle management software would track a drug from the initial research right through to its production, hopefully streamlining the process and increasing communication between the different stages.
The research, conducted by independent market analyst Datamonitor, predicts that the pharmaceutical companies in Europe, North America, China and Japan will spend $460.2m on PLM by the end of 2007, and expects this to double my 2012.
It also highlights the danger that most PLM solutions do not contain all the necessary features, including the ability for customisation, that pharmaceutical companies require, which could be causing their relatively slow uptake.
Pharmaceutical companies too need to adapt to the new software. Markella Kordoyanni, pharmaceutical technology analyst at Datamonitor and author of the study, said: ‘Unless pharmaceutical companies adopt a strategic mindset about PLM, with all the process management changes and cultural adaptations it requires, PLM will remain a tactical solution whose potential is not maximised.’
To solve these problems, the report predicts that collaborating with PLM vendors may be important for successful implementation. The report is titled 'Streamlining information in the pharmaceutical industry with PLM'.