The Future of Medical Devices and Pharmaceuticals – Part 1 – Transcript
The first series of podcasts on the Industry Forward Podcast featured Jim Thompson, Sr. Director of Digital Strategy for Medical Devices and the Pharmaceutical Industries with Siemens Digital Industries Software. Dale, Jim, and I talked about the major trends in the medical device and pharmaceutical industry, and dove into how software and electronics are driving changes in how care gets delivered.
You can listen to the podcast here, or read a transcript of the conversation below!
Conor Peick
Hi there and welcome into the Industry Forward Podcast with Dale Tutt. My name is Conor Peick. Your host and a writer for the thought leadership team here at Siemens digital industry software.
Dale Tutt
And I’m Dale Tutt, vice president of industry strategy at Siemens digital industry software.
Conor Peick
We’re kicking off a series of discussions today in which we will dive into a variety of different industries to learn about the specific challenges they face and how they are transforming their businesses for the future. The experts we’re going to talk to are going to tell us about everything from medical devices to heavy equipment and. And we’re going to be diving into how each of these industries is approaching digitalization and the digital twin to address their most pressing challenges. So, we’re really excited today to start off with an in-depth conversation about medical devices and the pharmaceutical. To talk about this, joining us is Jim Thompson, senior director of digital strategy for medical devices and the pharmaceutical industries with Siemens digital industry software. So welcome. Thanks so much for joining Dale and I today as it’s your first time chatting with us, I was hoping you could just tell us about how you got involved in the world of medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
Jim Thompson
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks for inviting me to the discussion. Yeah, I guess I have. I have to go way back to describe the beginnings with medical device. Actually, got a master’s degree in bioengineering. Many decades ago but focused on delivering cancer therapies. Some early research in in that area using a radiative heating as a as a cancer therapy and then I kind of stepped away from it. Worked for General Electric for a while as an Edison engineer. A lot with. Then I went back to school, got a PhD in mechanical engineering, focused on AI, which is kind of interesting topic for today. But then went to work for IBM eventually left there went to a small startup that eventually got acquired by the company that became Siemens digital industry software. So. Part of my career was just. I’ll. I’ll call it more. More cross industry work. But then then I kind of went back to my roots and had an opportunity to focus on particularly the medical device and pharmaceutical. Industries about 20 years ago. And so, I’ve been focusing as part of, let’s just say generally Siemens, the medical device and pharmaceutical industries for about. 20 years. And been involved in. Both sales and services delivery as well as strategy. Associated with our medical device and pharmaceutical customers.
Dale Tutt
So, Jim, thank you for being here. It’s great having you here with us and you’ve had a great career, long history in medical devices is kind of fun to see how you’ve come full circle. Started in medical devices and then after going, you know, through some other. Other jobs? Other. Now you’re back in medical devices and taking care of taking care of our medical device and pharmaceutical industry here. Siemens. So, let’s talk a little bit about what’s been going on in the industry and I think we all know what’s been, you know, happened over the last four years with the pandemic, how it affected all of our industries are electronics or automotive. All these supply chain dis. Workforce issues where you know people have left, left the workforce and are coming back, you know and maybe not coming back in and. And then you know, we saw. We all learned a lot more about medical devices and actually maybe more about pharmaceuticals during the pandemic. So, so. So, what happened? What’s been happening with the medical devices and pharmaceuticals and how have those effects lingered? So just kind of walk through a little bit what’s going on with your industry.
Jim Thompson
Yeah, they, they. I think there’s a couple of big changes that that are still happening as a result of the pandemic. You know, some aspects of it are you know as we all saw that the, uh manufacturing networks and the supply chains that were involved in the production of both medical devices and pharmaceuticals were, let’s say, global, highly global in nature and so, the disruption that the pandemic introduced kind of highlighted the fact that there were a lot of built in risks to the system that you know, depended on, for example, medical devices manufactured in China being readily available around the world and that we really didn’t have. Uh, let’s say continental or manufacturing capacity and supply chains built up? In individual countries, but rather we were highly dependent on this global manufacturing network. So that continues to introduce changes as. Uh, life science, medical device and pharmaceutical companies. Umm. Rethink the way that they’re supplying the healthcare system with their products. So. So that’s one big change. And then the second change I think is another important one. One really has to do with the Covic vaccine itself, and I think you know it’s kind of common knowledge that takes a long time, takes a lot of money to bring a new pharmaceutical to market typically. And the COVID vaccines broke all those. It still maybe was fairly expensive to do, but the speed with which the COVID vaccine. Um, you know, went from R&D through the clinical trial phases and ultimately into mass production really kind of broke the mold. And I think what it did was help everybody recognize that. It actually wasn’t the regulatory framework and system that was slowing things. It was just really the complexity that it takes to bring a new drug to market, and if you really had to, you could, you could go pretty fast. I think I think there’s still. A lot. Repercussions associated with that, that says, hey, uh. Um, you know pharmaceutical or medical device manufacturers, you know, it’s kind of up to you to push and try to accelerate things as fast as you’re able and the regulators are really going to not step in the way but actually would. A supporter of that to bring new products to market. Faster because in the end. Save lives or increase the quality of lives, which is, which is really what. Regulators are there for.
Dale Tutt
Yeah. Well, that’s very transformational on their business models, especially as they adopt digital and so look forward to talking a little bit more about that today. I want to go back to one thing. You were talking about the supply chain issues and. Have you seen the same amount of resource? Boring, if you will, is, as you’ve seen with the visibility on semiconductor devices with the chipsets. Are you seeing similar kinds of movements for that companies are looking to bring those supply chains closer to their shores and if so, how’s that changing the investments of those?
Jim Thompson
Yeah, yeah, there are well and maybe the first thing to mention, you know about that, and the use of electronics is that that the medical device industry was already in a high growth mode with regard to inclusion. Of electronics and if you will smarter devices to begin with and so they. You know, we’re particularly then sensitive to the electronic shortages. And so yeah, there that that is part of this refactoring of the supply chains. To be able to not rely, you know, let’s say exclusively you know, particularly on, on the Far East and the Near East. As the only source. Of electronics and circuit boards, and the chips themselves. So yeah, that they’re definitely part of this. You know, global swing toward a more distributed, less risky. Ability to still produce devices. If we’re faced again with this kind of a pandemic or disruptive event.
Conor Peick
Yeah. So, Jim, you mentioned the increasing amount of software, electronics and sort of intelligence in the world of medical devices. I was just wondering if you could give maybe a few examples of like. Maybe certain devices or products that that you’ve seen that have really changed in the last two years or so with the inclusion of these kind of smarter technologies?
Jim Thompson
Yeah. Yeah, so, so maybe a couple of examples. You know the one particular impactful example I think is in in the area of diabetes. So there there’s an incredible number of people on the planet. Who are affected by diabetes? And so, one of the new innovations you know has to do with delivery of insulin and of course the traditional way of getting insulin was you know, you’d get, you know, a shot, give yourself a shot, maybe even. Once a day. And you know, there’s a well understood. Kind of way in which then the insulin is absorbed and how that affects your body. So, the big change? Is this idea? Of a smart device that actually can be worn even in some cases. Maybe potentially. Implanted that is continuously, you know, monitoring your blood glucose levels that gives the patient, if you will, the individual who’s dealing with diabetes and the need for insulin, real time information. About their blood sugar levels that you know may have to do with their sleep patterns may have to do with what they’ve what they’ve eaten, whether they’re ill and all kinds of things. I think that’s a really good example of where these you know smart devices, the use of electronic. And the medical device that does that is being used to improve the health of a patient in combination with the delivery of a drug. I think that’s a that’s a. That’s a great example. And it’s also kind of a really good example of it happening outside the hospital, is this is this is typically done, you know at home and that’s another thing that electronics and smarter devices are. Powering is the ability to not just, you know, get health care in in the hospital, but also at home.
Dale Tutt
Yeah, I think this is. This has been kind of an interesting transition to watch. You know, Jim, that I love that reference to the you know the devices for diabetes. I think even just the fact that people now have the sensors that they, you know that they are not talking to their smartphone and it’s raising their awareness. Of their own health and Wellness and. And if there’s, you know, anecdotally if they start to recognize when I eat certain foods I. The same this response and. It’s not always the food that they. Because as you said, it’s affected by sleep patterns and other things that are going on in their life, even things like the, you know, the pacemaker devices that that you know for years people have had now. You know, they’re. They’re able to adjust those devices. You know, they can look at the data. So, because you have these devices and your information is now available, I think you know. Medical companies and you know the health care providers are now able to, you know, have greater access to data and actually improve the Wellness of their patients and improve the healthcare of those patients. So, it’s exciting to see. I think this transition that this transformation is happening. Within the medical, within the medical industry just around the availability of smaller electronics. So let me ask a follow up question on. That you. So where do you see the? Where is that line between the Wellness and the medical devices? Are there different requirements now as you start to see these new devices come on? Are they having a, you know, certify? Or I don’t know, certifies the right word, but are they having to meet the same standards for regulatory? Compliance. Clients. So, what’s you know are these requirements unique to commercial medical devices versus, say, consumer wearables like a Fitbit or you know, something that’s monitoring your sports watches, monitoring your heart rate? And other. So, so kind of what’s the interplay between these two worlds of medical reality versus this, you know, these other commercially available consumer devices?
Jim Thompson
Yeah, yeah, that’s a great question. I think maybe the way to think about it, it is a little Gray. But there is a sharp line. So, let’s take um, maybe. A great example would be Apple Watch, which has some sensors on it that today would really be considered a consumer product. And so. What is available on the on an Apple Watch is, you know, monitoring of certain parameters through the sensors that are on it that. The individual can use, and they might give information to the individual. Might even give information. To a physician, a doctor about what is going on. But the key is that that’s just that’s just information. And the difference between, you know, let’s say a medical device and a consumer product would be that a medical device would have gone through. A very rigorous process in which you know the design the manufacturing process. And even then, the end use of it as it relates to delivery of healthcare, whether it’s diagnostic or delivering some kind of a therapy. Would have been very thoroughly tested and proven to work adequately to both be safe and effective for what it’s being used for so it’s so in the end it’s you’d kind of say. That that medical device has been cleared or approved by the Regulatory agency and that it what it’s being cleared for is used by a physician or maybe even you know let’s say you. Know used by the patient. And then the physician is even possible. But you can make a pretty sound medical decision. Based on the fact that that device has been cleared, but by the regulators as opposed to just being, let’s say, background information, that’s good to know. And you wouldn’t necessarily want to anchor a decision to start taking a drug or start some kind of a therapy based on, you know, a consumer device alone.
Conor Peick
This has been the industry for podcast with Dale Tutt once again, I’m your host Conor Peick. We’re really excited to kick this series off with the first of three parts of our discussion with. We hope you’ll join us again to hear more about the challenges the industry is facing and the potential future direction in parts 2 and 3. On behalf of Dale and the whole team at Siemens digital industry software, I’d like to thank you for listening. Hope you’ll join us again in the future.
Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens’ software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today’s ideas into the sustainable products of the future. From chips to entire systems, from product to process, across all industries. Siemens Digital Industries Software – Accelerating transformation.
