Early stage preparation of the pharmaceutical value chain using up-to-date information from clinical trials

According to clinicaltrials.gov, there are more than 900 clinical trials active to investigate potential treatments against Covid19 at the moment. Their status is still unclear. The entire pharmaceutical value chain (incl. producer of chemical basic products, intermediates as well as active pharmaceutical ingredients (APis)) needs to be prepared at an early stage to ensure timely delivered medication. The current situation in the related pharmaceutical value chain, which is highly fragmented and distributed all over the world, is uncertain. A digital ecosystem that involves all stakeholders and connects the research world to the industry is being proposed and developed.

What motivates us?

We are a Team of Researchers, Data Scientists, Chemists, Experts on Digital Ecosystems and Pharma Business from different Companies, involved in the Pharma-Industry. We asked ourselves how we can support and how better prepare the pharma value chain to be able to provide needed products as timely as possible once a treatment is found. In the current Situation early and proactive action is key, especially in the Pharmaceutical Industry, which is currently facing a lot of challenges.

There are more than 900 Clinical Trials against Covid19 running with unclear status
Needed information is not available, shared or accessible in a systematic for important Stakeholders leading to high uncertainties on future Demand for Basic Chemicals, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Intermediates, Precursors in the entire value chain
Furthermore, we observe additional capacity restrictions in a highly fragmented and (partly disrupted) Supply Chains with long lead-times due to significantly increased demand for pharmaceutical products.
Export restrictions and protectionism on country level increase the need to setup or re-configure entire value chains from scratch.

We believe that Data and Collaboration is an essential part to address for these challenges. We are proposing and creating a new data space – in alignment with the EU data strategy: A digital ecosystem that involves all stakeholders and connects the research world to the industry.

What is our Value Proposition?

An Ecosystem to keep all parties on the pharmaceutical value chain informed with updated clinical trial status and the potential Covid19 medication and treatments broken down to needed ingredients to help them to configure, plan and run the corresponding pharmaceutical value chain in an efficient way and needed speed.

What do we offer specially?

Consolidated Clinical Trial Information (incl. status changes) in a structured way, made transparent and accessible for all Partner in a pharmaceutical value chain (by using machine learning and AI technologies) Information on Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Chemical Components, Potential Route of Synthesis by keeping specific routes of synthesis private. This Data is enriched with additional information about chemical prerequisite for production. A heatmap to evaluate the status of different clinical trials and potential outcomes which serves as basis for supply and production decision making processes of all partners on the pharmaceutical value chain- A collaborative platform, allowing setting up of the value chain across various stakeholders and companies, and value-added services, e.g. to balance supply and demand.

What did we achieve so far?

The Data Science Part in a nutshell – A first Proof of Concept.

During the Hackathon we developed methods to combine different semi-structured datasets (e.g. from WHO /clinicaltrials.gov), we extracted the relevant information about relevant active pharmaceutical ingredients, enriched these dataset with additional production relevant information (e.g. from National Library of Medicine to get a first and structured insights on future demands on needed ingredients. Furthermore, a first consolidated view on different chemicals, allow a first estimation on future demands. Simple scores allow us to assess the current status of clinical trials. The combinations of different active ingredients are linked via heatmaps. These could serve as basis for production and decision of prioritization in production-processes in the entire value chain. All information will be provided on a collaborative data platform (digital ecosystem) to involved stakeholders and partners. First features and concepts have been developed during this hackathon as mockup.

What do we need?

Political support from the EU to convince stakeholders from the pharmaceutical industry to onboard and to achieve a “critical mass”
Acceptance and trust through a neutral organization
Improvement data exchange standards (or data formats) to ensure that needs data and information can be processes quick and on time
A Regulatory/ Legal Framework to achieve willing and trust btw. involved partners to exchange “company-internal” information

We are willing to support and bring in our expertise and network.