The patient is taking center stage. And life sciences companies need to react. They need to move from being a supplier of a single drug to creating individual patient-specific treatments. This requires them to develop a digital strategy along the entire value chain. This is one of the key findings of the KPMG study "Digitalization in life sciences - Integrating the patient pathway into the technology ecosystem". In collaboration with Kantar EMNID, 75 CEOs, owners, and senior managers from the life sciences industry in the DACH region were surveyed regarding their progress on their digitalization journeys. The study highlights innovative use cases and compelling, real-word examples of digitalization in Life Sciences.

We are already seeing the effects of digitalization - old structures are breaking up and the ecosystem has strong new entrants who are deeply connected with the various stakeholders. Eighty-five percent of respondents see technology companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Amazon or Google as drivers of digitalization in life sciences. Sixty-three percent name these as possible future cooperation partners.

"The challenge is enormous. Conventional methods will not enable life sciences companies to keep up with the pace of change being set by new entrants, predominantly from big tech. They will need to re-skill, re-hire and invest substantially in new technologies or partner, even in a junior role, with tech companies to fully realize the potential digitalization has to offer," said Vir Lakshman, Head of Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals at KPMG in Germany.

Read more on how digitalization can improve the efficiency of core processes and also help to make life sciences companies an integral part of patient care pathways. The study looks at how artificial intelligence, automation, blockchain and other technologies can support companies on this journey.