The pharmaceutical industry is evolving as we speak. 2020 provided a unique impetus for transformation as the coronavirus pandemic ravaged the drug manufacturing and public health sectors. In addition, legal challenges to the way in which individual companies are able to conduct their business have added extra pressure onto drug manufacturers to provide a net positive footprint to the nation.
All this leads to major changes in 2021 and beyond. Read on to see how the pharmaceutical industry is poised for continued movement as this year of recovery continues.
Legislation is leading the evolution.
Legal changes in the United States are leading the way toward this new landscape of healthcare. Cancer treatments, clinical trials, and many other research programs are seeing a new influx of funding and interest as former Vice President and now President Joe Biden and his agenda take full flight in 2021. The Democratic Party has long held healthcare reformation as a central tenet in their platform. Unlike with the Trump team, a different brand of politics is taking shape in the United States these days.
Today, with the White House and House of Representatives firmly pulling in the same direction, there are many discussions percolating behind the scenes about how the United States will recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and begin to build toward a better future of expanded health coverage for the 300 million Americans who simply require high quality services in this realm.
Telemedicine and digital healthcare solutions are transforming the way patients get their information.
Information has always been a commodity in the health services industry. Cancer patients are particularly vulnerable to the expertise gap in medicine. Cancer care is often hard on the body, and there are long waiting periods between treatment rounds and follow up appointments to measure progress.
In the interim, many patients can lose their nerve and sink into a depression or lose faith in the recovery process. With new telemedicine options, searching for digital solutions to “oncology near me” can help you gain a better mid-stream understanding of the treatment process and your overall recovery as it continues to evolve with treatment and therapy.
Similarly, many patients—those battling cancer and others—find that mental health issues tend to creep in while they wait for appointments in person to resume in their home states of New York or Illinois. Digital therapy options are a great way to combat loneliness or depression that results from the strain of this elongated waiting period. The landscape of digital health services and telemedicine has created a totally new environment for treatment and recovery. These options are truly changing lives for the better.
Ultrasound technology is advancing rapidly as well. Doctors are improving their treatment options in significant ways with the introduction of POCUS ultrasound devices (or Point of Care Ultrasound) as a standard inclusion in offices and for rapid response scenarios. This portable ultrasound device is a game changer in the medical industry. With integrated software that connects to a smartphone or other tertiary device, clinicians are able to read the results as quickly as with a full sized unit, with the added benefit of an absolutely tiny footprint and monthly subscription modeling that removes the expensive barriers of past devices structures.
Clinical trials have taken on new vibrancy.
In 2021, clinical trials have come on leaps and bounds. Last year, scientists created a novel vaccine to inoculate the population against a totally new coronavirus strain that has killed more than 3.2 million people worldwide, as of May 2021. The rapidity of these drug trials is a modern miracle of science and those who worked tirelessly to create these life-saving drugs should be lauded as heroes for generations to come.
With that being said, Covid-19 related research isn’t the only spectacle of the modern scientific world. Roivant Sciences is pioneering new techniques and approaches to the research and manufacturing processes that go into the creation and rollout of medications across the spectrum.
Roivant has introduced a new model for acquiring the rights to defunct drug trials that were terminated as a result of funding or other administrative issues. Taking over these clinical trials will help millions of patients suffering from diabetes, cancer, and many other illnesses. These medications promise an affordable alternative to some of the most expensive drugs on the market today and will revolutionize the way people use medication and plan their personal finances as a result of unexpected medical complications.
People are altering their thought processes.
In addition to the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S. government, ordinary citizens are starting to alter their thinking as it relates to the health services industry. In recent years, patient signups for programs created with the Affordable Care Act (sometimes referred to as “ObamaCare”) are skyrocketing, and more and more Americans are signaling a shift in their thinking surrounding the “right” versus “privilege” of high quality healthcare.
Divorcing great coverage from the job market will help people maintain a great quality of life when it comes to the workplace while also giving them access to health coverage that isn’t dependent on their remaining with a company that they don’t like to work for. The social dynamics surrounding health in the United States are changing, and people are beginning to demand additional support from the White House as a result.
The pharmaceutical industry is poised for big changes as 2021 continues to march on. Watch out for the second half of this year and beyond for opportunities in health service improvements as well as investment opportunities in the stock market.
