Recent developments at TraceLink

I have recently been looking at the Life Sciences supply chain competitive landscape and in particular, a vendor called TraceLink. TraceLink labels itself as 'the world's largest track and trace network for connecting the Life Sciences supply chain and eliminating counterfeit drugs from the global marketplace'. It has also seen a few interesting developments as of late so here's a top 5 countdown along with my independent analysis, enjoy:

• Targetting the Brazilian market: TraceLink recently formed an alliance with Brazilian based pharma IT services and automation specialist, SPI. The motivation behind this move was to assist life sciences clients in meeting requirements for track-and-trace due in December 2015. Under these new regulations, life sciences organizations are required to have serialized and tracked three batches of product through the supply chain. This will then become mandatory for all pharmaceuticals one year later. TraceLink will benefit from early entry into the market, focusing on this regulation, but will draw attention from competitors eagerly watching how the market situation develops.
• Onboarding industry expertise: In July, TraceLink announced that it had brought three industry experts into its management team: Michael Ventura (Director, Industry Solutions) from GSK, Elizabeth Waldorf (Director, Global Traceability) from AMGEN and Marcel Zutter (Senior Implementation Program Manager, EMEA) from Abbott. Bringing in senior level management with decades worth of expertise at reputable Life Sciences organizations such as these only further validates TraceLink's commitment to the industry and aligns its strategy with market demand. 
• Partnership with the Yankee Alliance: Very recently, TraceLink launched the Yankee Alliance Preferred Partner Program. This enables more than 12,000 Yankee Alliance member pharmacies, clinics, hospitals, care facilities and physician practices to take advantage of reduced rates of its Product Track software in order to comply with the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA.) It makes sense for an organization to adopt the industry standard solution and although interoperable tracking software may not be a priority right now, it may facilitate some trend analysis in the near future to determine best practices for supply chain optimization. 
• Strong Q2 2015 results: Last month, TraceLink announced its Q2 results for 2015 and one of the highlights was that it had added 50 new customers within the quarter, resulting in a 76% increase in quarterly sales bookings and a 128% increase in year-over-year bookings. TraceLink also recorded a 178% year-over-year staff increase in Q2, exhibiting its growth potential. Growth in sales is primarily down to regulatory compliance pressures and although the full list of clients is not publically available, their expansion into Brazil is a definite contributor to these impressive figures.
• Nexus '15: TraceLink will be holding a track-and-trace event later this month to bring together experts and leaders from various disciplines to discuss track-and-trace strategies. Two major themes emerge from this announcement as TraceLink look to delve into how the Internet of Things (IoT) and Mobility will impact regulatory compliance. It will be interesting to see how TraceLink will prepare and react to the evolving regulatory landscape as new workflow processes become standard.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this blog. As always, if you found it useful and/or interesting, please share this on social media and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

Is "sharing" really "caring"?

The Telegraph recently published an article based on the announcement that high street pharmacies will be given access to NHS medical records in a move that has provoked privacy campaigners. There are arguments both for and against this move, which I have listed below:

Con

• The process: A large part of the argument against this move is the way in which national policy has been implemented. The test sample on which this policy was based came from just 15 patients. This is very difficult to justify and unfortunately adds to the already significant level mistrust in policy makers.
• The hard sell: There is concern that giving access to sensitive data to large commercial high street pharmacies will lead to the targeting of vulnerable patients with hard sell tactics. Despite the likes of Tesco stating that they would never use this data to market to customers, campaigners are not convinced.
• Confusion over guidelines: The results of the small sample found that pharmacy staff were confused about getting consent from patients before accessing sensitive data. This issue needs to be addressed to avoid data breaches and misuse due to human error or lack of training.
• Data security: Another concern from patients is that loyalty cards may be linked to personal medical records. The number of healthcare data breaches in the past leads to concerns that as medical data would now be bundled with other personal data held by the retailer, the combined value of this data would become more attractive to hackers.
• Confidentiality: One of the most fundamental arguments against this move is that there still remains a large portion of the population who simply do not want to share their data. The NHS has tried to calm these concerns with the insistence that pharmacy staff gain permission before viewing this data but undoubtedly a lot will still be unhappy that they have access to it in the first place.

Pro

• A necessary step: The ultimate goal is for a fully integrated healthcare ecosystem whereby insurers, providers, pharmaceutical companies and indeed the patients work together to improve the health of individuals and the nation. There are a lot of benefits that come from sharing, accessing and utilizing data (especially in mass) but with data kept in silos, this is simply not possible.
• Results of the sample: Although the sample used was incredibly small, the results “proved extremely beneficial”. These benefits have come from individual sites and so if used on a national level (a la population health), economies of scale would be achieved as well as leveraging analytical capabilities to improve healthcare delivery.
• Personalized service: Enabling access to medical data will promote a personal and customized service for the individual patient. A personalized service which aims to improve the health of the population will ultimately also lead to cost savings for the healthcare ecosystem. The bargaining power (although often criticized) of large retailers such as Tesco could also lead to lower pharmaceutical costs.
• Less pressure on family doctors: NHS England claim that sharing medical data with high street pharmacies will ease pressure on family doctors. Doctors will benefit from better processes as well as having a clear view of what pharmaceutical products have been purchased. It's also important to consider that the flow of data should not be one way and can benefit providers as well as pharmacies.
• Reduction in improper medication: A comment on the article also pointed out that some patients may struggle to remember the types of medication they are taking as well as the dosages. With high street pharmacies able to access your file (with your consent), this will reduce the number of instances of patients purchasing and taking the wrong medication or under/overdosing.

Regardless of the criticisms of this rollout, with the right regulations, safeguards and guidelines in place, many commentators believe the personal and social benefits will be become apparent very quickly.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. The Telegraph, Boots, Tesco and Superdrug to get access to NHS medical records, 09 Aug 2015, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/11790711/Boots-Tesco-and-Superdrug-to-get-access-to-NHS-medical-records.html

Track & Trace / Serialization: Beyond Compliance Benefits

Welcome once again to The Health Care Bear blog! This month I've been looking at the Track & Trace / Serialization market in Life Sciences. The most common and potent driver for adoption of T&T / Serialization is undoubtedly for regulatory compliance purposes. However, this is by no means the only benefit of this solution so today I'd like to take you through the various potential benefits of T&T / Serialization. If there are any I've missed then please feel free to comment below...

• Comply with regulations: OK, let's get this one out of the way! Regulations are constantly evolving all around the world and in Life Sciences, T&T can help comply with those such as the FDA mandate applicable to Manufacturers, Repackagers, Wholesale Distributors and Dispensers stating that product ownership cannot be accepted without transaction history and statements (either paper or electronic.) Unfortunately, as is this case with this one, they are frequently delayed or changed. Despite the compliance benefits of a T&T solution, the volatile nature of these regulations is pushing customers away from deploying this type of solution globally on an enterprise-wide basis. Regional vendors are making the most of this by concentrating on local regulations only whilst larger, global players face the stigma of being considered out of touch.
• Improve visibility: Serialization gives a client the ability for logistics transparency across the supply chain. Not only will this make reporting more accurate and efficient but it will also eliminate potential unseen issues such as theft. This will also enable the client to detect returns that were not originally sold to the customer to avoid fraudulent claims.
• Protect your brand: Once a client is able to identify and highlight illegal activities such as theft, counterfeiting and diversion; they can then take measures to combat this. In Life Sciences, drug quality is extremely important and so assuring that the intended product makes it all the way to the market without tampering will help protect the brand.
• Provide an integration platform: Deploying a solution which knits together other applications into an overall solution will have long term benefits. Especially given the current reluctance to deploy enterprise wide, global solutions; a serialization solution able to bring in outside components will be valuable when/if the regulatory landscapes in other regions settle down a bit.
• Control your inventory: This solution will enable the client to gain better insight into raw materials ordering. Using analytics in conjunction with T&T/Serialization will maximize storage space and streamline process scheduling.
• Improve workflow processes: The less physical handling is involved, the more productive the supply chain will be and so errors will decrease as the human element is minimized. As well as reducing errors, automation will also speed up the supply chain process considerably.
• Speed up the order-to-cash life cycle: Being able to definitively state where the goods have traveled and exactly when it was delivered and to whom will speed up the time it takes to authorize payment.
• Perfect order fulfillment: Serialization will help perfect order fulfillment by identifying incorrect orders and resolving them before delivery to the customer. This will directly impact a vendor's reputation and improve levels of customer satisfaction.
• Aid the returns process: Through reverse logistics, serialization will also help the recall, return and withdrawal processes as well as shrink/loss recovery. During the same process, the vendor will also be able to pinpoint the location and time where the issue occurred.
• Increase mobility: So your products are making their way through their life cycle, what's stopping you from moving with them? Mobile access to a track and trace solution will enable key members of your workforce to follow the product's journey whilst also on the move and if there is an issue, they are able to keep track of what's going on in real time and correct it on the go.

I'm sure I've only scratched the surface with these benefits so if you have any other suggestions of the potential benefits of a Track-and-Trace / Serialization solution, let me know down in the comment section below.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell
Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy
ResearchNetwork, CSC

Is Salesforce.com a believer in Veeva?

Veeva is a Business Software and Solutions vendor that has grown rapidly in just 7 years to dominate the CRM space in Life Sciences. The rapid rise of this vendor in such a short period of time is inspirational to any budding entrepreneur as it follows some of the foundational rules of business and economics. As I immersed myself in Veeva's story, I started to contemplate how the company would evolve over time and then started to question whether Veeva's relationship with Salesforce.com (SFDC) would stand the test of time.

Given Veeva's roots within SFDC, it was a natural progression for its CRM product to be hosted on the Salesforce1 platform and needless to say, it has been a great success as it expects to top $300m by the end of this year [1]. To this day, Veeva remains SFDC's preferred worldwide partner for the Life Sciences industry. In fact, in March 2014, Veeva announced that it would be extending its global partnership with SFDC through to 2025 [2]. Their partnership agreement includes minimum payment commitments from Veeva, which has been a successful financial model thus far as it benefits both parties although it does not restrict them from competing against each other should an opportunity arise [3].

Not only has Veeva proven its worth but it is also being touted as potentially bringing in a new wave of cloud due to its industry focus:

“Marc Benioff [Salesforce's chief executive] led the first wave of cloud computing, and there have been a series of leaders like him spending plenty of money to grow their businesses. Peter [Gassner, Veeva's CEO] is leading the next wave, which is focused on industries and real customer successes.” - Gordon Ritter, Founder and General Partner of Emergence Capital Partners [4].

Ritter's company, Emergence Capital Partners invested $4m in Veeva in 2007; an investment which is now worth $1.2b, a 300-fold return. Its prediction that the next wave of cloud is going to be focused on industries seems to be ringing true and so global multinationals must adapt to exhibit that they are in touch with industry requirements. This is exemplified by Veeva surpassing a goliath by the name of Oracle in Life Sciences CRM. This trend needs to be given attention across all verticals as this is also a common criticism of other global multinationals across various industries and service areas.

In April 2014, SFDC announced a new industries strategy aimed at 'accelerating the company's growth and transforming the way companies across key industries connect with their customers.' [5] With a similar solution focus to Veeva and a rejuvenated industry specific strategy, it'll likely to be competing with Veeva in the future whether they are still bound by the partnership agreement or not. Although SFDC is receiving payments from Veeva as a part of its partnership agreement, it is likely to see the impressive growth rates and want a bigger piece of the pie, especially if its business starts to expand.

Naturally, the question arises of whether or not SFDC could try to acquire Veeva. SFDC's $4b acquisition spree over the past four years was topped off with its July 2014 acquisition of analytics-based CRM platform provider, RelateIQ. Organizations such as SFDC are looking to invest in digital marketing and other customer experience initiatives and grow inorganically through acquisitions. Previous acquisitions by SFDC have primarily been horizontally focused and so taking on Veeva would potentially start a chain of acquisitions based more on serving specific industries. The question is whether SFDC believes it now has enough clout to compete with an industry-based vendor like Veeva [6] [7].

What are your thoughts on the future of both vendors? Do you think SFDC could potentially acquire Veeva? Do you think Veeva will continue to concentrate on Life Sciences or expand out into other big industries? Leave your comments below.

Best Regards,

Jonathan Cordwell

Research Analyst, Healthcare Strategy

ResearchNetwork, CSC

1. JPMorgan, North America Equity Research
2. Yahoo Finance, Veeva Systems Extends salesforce.com Partnership Into 2025, March 4, 2014: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/veeva-systems-extends-salesforce-com-210600001.html
3. Veeva, Form 8-K: http://veeva.q4cdn.com/32d16ba7-6a25-47d4-a188-a4576fc7ed87.pdf
4. VentureBeat, Gordon Ritter: Veeva Systems is the next Salesforce, October 16, 2013: http://venturebeat.com/2013/10/16/gordon-ritter-veeva-systems-is-the-next-salesforce/
5. Salesforce.com, Salesforce.com Announces New Industries Strategy, April 2, 2014: http://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2014/04/140402.jsp
6. Market Realist, Must-know: Salesforce.com’s 2Q15 earnings, September 10, 2014: http://marketrealist.com/2014/09/must-know-salesforce-coms-2q15-earnings/
7. Cloud Socius, 4 Billion Dollars Well Spent? Salesforce Top 5 Acquisitions, July 15, 2014: http://www.cloudsocius.com/top-5-salesforce-acquisitions/