Empowering Pharma with Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: Mr. Manish Manakchand on IDBS's Vision

Pharma Now: Welcome to Pharma Now, Mr. Manish Manakchand. You’re currently the Commercial Director at ID Business Solutions (IDBS), and you’ve been running the business for the last five years. Before I ask you about your work and experience, you recently visited the Digital Transformation in R&D with Biopharma 4.0 in Ahmedabad. How did you find the turnout there? How was the event?

Mr. Manakchand: It was fantastic. We've been doing this series in multiple cities in India. We held the event in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. There's much more for us to take back as partners and vendors every time we attend such events. There has always been a buzz around digital transformation. Still, there is one side of digital transformation, where it is discussed from a theoretical perspective. The other side is when vendors and partners discuss practical options about how every customer is adopting digital transformation differently to meet their requirements. 

So you see customers whose digital transformation is very mature, and you see customers who are just starting the journey. They discuss how they plan the journey, share their experiences, and share their failures and learnings. I think that, as a community, it brings us to where we want to get.

The Digital Transformation in R&D with Biopharma 4.0 was an event we looked forward to because it would help us understand what customers want and generate awareness because one of our endeavours has been to continuously improve the digital maturity of our customers. Through these events and sessions, we ask panellists and experts to come and talk about their experiences, which is always good for us. 

Pharma Now: I think IDBS is in a sweet spot right now because after COVID-19, digital transformation has become a priority in many organisations. Pharma is a sector where people are very bullish about digital transformation because the sector is still lagging behind other industries. So, thank you for doing this excellent series in India. So, moving on to IDBS. Can you share IDBS’s core business and how the company has grown? 

Mr. Manakchand: IDBS has offered enterprise data management software solutions for more than 30 years, Most people have heard about Danaher Corporation. IDBS is one of the companies operating within Danaher Corporation as part of the life sciences group. Some other companies include Cytiva, Beckman Coulter Life Sciences, CyEx, Phenomenex and AppCamp. We are part of the same ecosystem. 

We offer enterprise data management software solutions to our customers in areas such as research, development, and manufacturing. Today, a lot of our customers use Paper, Excel, Word, and different kinds of data-siloed software systems. We get all of that into one single source of truth so that the customer can structure and contextualise their data and eventually get insights and start learning from the data.

So, we want to be that single source of truth so that all data within the ecosystem can come together so that scientists and data scientists can eventually learn from it. I would say, I am much into software solutions and enterprise software solutions. 

Pharma Now: That’s simple enough to understand. Currently, you’re the Commercial Director for IDBS in Asia. What is the impact of your product on pharma companies?

Mr. Manakchand: That is a fantastic question. Our vision has always been about how we can bring healthcare products or new therapeutics into the market through software solutions. One of the areas we’ve been very passionate about is the time to market. Because of COVID-19, the time to bring a new vaccine to the market has shrunk significantly. Why can’t we do the same for other drugs and therapeutics new to the market? So, we try to reduce the time to market for our sponsors and customers by at least 30% when we work with them.

We do this through software and products such as IDBS Polar. Let me explain how this works: various elements contribute to productivity and efficiency. For example, regulatory BLA filing, how quickly you can review and approve your experiments, and how soon you can access data–all affect productivity and efficiency. We want to make this process more seamless because if you can shorten the time to market, customers can generate more opportunity revenue. Being the first is also crucial in the pharma industry because the industry focuses a lot on intellectual property (IP). The quicker you launch your product, the more advantages you get. 

In addition, I think scientists should spend a lot of time on science, not administrative work. So, we want them to focus on science and rapidly get products to market at a reduced cost.

The last and the most crucial element is compliance. So, because we impact people’s health, compliance is an essential aspect of how data is generated. We want to be compliant with every aspect of how the data is generated within our software so that all products are safer for patients. So, our platform ensures data integrity as well. 

Pharma Now: Data integrity is a crucial element, and we’ve heard many data breach incidents. Many experts and pharma executives are rightly concerned about data security when integrating new software. How do you handle data security and integrity?

Mr. Manakchand: We've been a Software as a Service (SaaS) company for some time now, meaning our data is stored in the cloud. If you'd asked me the same question 10-15 years ago, I would have said, “Yes, there are still many questions around data security in the cloud.” But today, almost all data is available on the cloud. As a company, we do multiple testing rounds, penetration testing, and compliance security to continuously protect our customers' data. We have partnered with companies from the best in the world for data security. So, I think if you ask anyone right now about concerns regarding data on the cloud, you’ll see that these concerns are more of a past now, and everyone’s accepted that almost everything we do today using a mobile phone is out there. I think even within the life science industry, this has been a lag. But, I believe that people have started to realise the importance. 

Pharma Now: I agree, I think fewer people are now concerned about the cloud, and everyone’s accepted it. I also think that events like the Digital Transformation in R&D with Biopharma 4.0 certainly ensures people understand more about security.

Mr. Manakchand: Absolutely. When people hear experts and panellists talk about how they have been transforming, and how they think about security and cloud-first, it gives them more confidence. They see that the industry is moving towards the same thing. As industries move, people think the first person will be a guinea pig. But, as many experienced people discuss their journey, the process becomes much easier. We've seen good acceptance of these things, and such events certainly help. 

Pharma Now: Yes, I agree. As the Commercial Director of Asia in IDBS, what are your priorities for growth? 

Mr. Manakchand: I think enterprise data management solutions is one of our key areas. We've been trying to work with many regional customers, including Japan, Korea, Singapore, India, Australia, and New Zealand. So, I think the adoption story is more important. We want to see our customers adopt digital solutions to meet their outcomes. We continue to work with our customers in the digital process. 

We want to work with new customers and ensure that their reasons for buying software from us are fulfilled so that they get value from our software. It’s essential for us because if we don't see a customer is successful, there's no way they're going to add more users for us. So, I think for us, as a region, we want to see new customers adopt software and existing customers increase software adoption according to their outcomes. 

That is our key priority. We've started becoming localised in different regions by hiring teams locally to stay connected and very close to our customers in this region. So, I think these will be our two big growth points for the next two years.

Pharma Now: As the Director of Asia, you have to manage quite a large region, and you’ve probably seen the software and life science industries in many regions. In comparison with these other regions, how is the Indian market doing? 

Mr. Manakchand: Asia has generally experienced significant double-digit growth compared to the West. Europe and North America have much more mature markets. Some industries that have started to grow in Asia, like contract research organisations (CROs) or contract development and manufacturing organisations (CDMOs), have seen a significant uptake in software adoption in companies within the region. 

I think Asia–because of the talent skill pool available in any market and the cost benefits –is also set to have a double-digit compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the next few years. 

India is very well poised because we've seen the large molecule and biologics sectors pick up significant momentum globally. So, it was small molecules in chemistry, and now, it consists of large molecules and biosimilars. India has the perfect position because we've done this for small molecules in chemistry for the last 20-30 years. Now, I think the same success stories can be implied in biosimilars and large molecules. As we see these patents coming up within the next few years, we will also see a great boom in the biosimilar market. 

As much as I would like to see many of our pharma companies invest in core research, I know it's not that much. We are more of a biosimilar thing. But, I think even the growth pace for biosimilars will be fantastic. The popularity of CROs and CDMOs has given us an important avenue for growth. 

Pharma Now: Will software and digital transformation play a major role in such growth?

Mr. Manakchand: Absolutely. It's one of the pillars. We repeatedly use buzzwords like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). As companies start to realise how much more there is in data, there will be more value coming out of it. That’s why I think digital transformation is one of the strongest pillars of growth. It's good that it's gaining momentum in the right state so that within the next 3-10 years, we may see many of our customers realise their goals. 

Pharma Now: Certainly, Mr. Manakchand. I think the adoption of the right software will certainly help pharma companies readily, accurately, and safely utilise their data. And, I also think IDBS is uniquely positioned to help pharma companies considering the company’s experience and expertise. I wish you and IDBS all the best in achieving these goals. Thank you very much for joining me today at Pharma Now. It was our pleasure to have you here.

Mr. Manakchand: Thank you so much for having me.