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From Pfizer’s own reports, artificial intelligence (AI) could assist pharmaceutical companies in getting medicines to market faster and more efficiently.
Two critical areas—machine learning (the application of trained pattern-matching and statistical analysis to trend spot and/or predict outcomes) and natural language processing (the “understanding” of the written human words to deduce meaning)—are each poised to greatly impact the future of getting new drugs to patients.
During the pandemic, Pfizer’s oral treatment for COVID-19, PAXLOVID, was sped up by 50 percent thanks to AI and machine learning. AI was also used for the manufacturing of the drug, analyzing supply chain data to identify, address, and monitor issues in production. In one case, cycle time of one critical part of the supply chain process was reduced by 67 percent.
The creation and testing of new drugs create terabytes of data through every level of development. Machine learning can perform this math on huge volumes of data much faster than any army of human professionals ever could.
Naturally, that data is checked by experts, and decision-making will ultimately be left up to human beings. But Pfizer claims that even the quality of regulatory submissions will improve thanks to AI utilization by identifying what requests government regulators are likely to raise.
In February 2024, Pfizer announced the development of a new AI platform named Charlie after company founder, Charles Pfizer. This AI platform isn’t focused on the development of new drugs, however; it’s more of a marketing whizz.
According to Digiday, the platform was created to improve Pfizer’s content supply chain. The generative AI is able to fact-check and do legal reviews as well as create and edit content. Its risk system color codes items red, yellow, or green to alert staff what items may need to be addressed by a human.
“The whole idea there is how do we triple [or] 5x content creation to actually create messaging that resonates both for the healthcare providers as well as our patients,” Will Worple, Pfizer’s vice president of customer engagement, told Digiday.
Charlie is also capable of integrating media analytics for Pfizer’s brands, like competitor insights. The platform will be able to act across Adobe platforms and other software to help users respond to insights across multiple channels.
Charlie is already creating digital media, emails, and digital presentations that sales teams utilize with physicians. It may move into researching and writing drafts for medical articles.
The evolving world of AI is constantly raising new and complicated compliance issues for professionals like Pfizer’s VP of compliance for AI, digital health, medicines, and M&A business, Lucy Muzzy. She leads a cross-functional team tasked with ensuring responsible use of AI and generative AI across the organization. Muzzy personally drafted and implemented Pfizer’s first policy governing the use and creation of AI, from Charlie on up.
There’s no doubt that Muzzy had a significant hand in the publishing of Pfizer’s “Three Principles of Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Healthcare.”
Those principles emphasize Pfizer’s commitment to design AI systems that empower humans and promote equity, the respect of individuals’ privacy, and the need for transparency in the utilization of data and AI. Pfizer is taking ownership of its AI systems.
The company makes it very clear that AI is not meant to substitute the work of people, it’s meant to enhance it. AI insights can help scientists much more rapidly identify drug candidates or help physicians make more informed decisions on behalf of their patients. The future is not dictated by AI, but it will certainly aid its evolution.
“AI has truly transformative potential,” Dennis Hancock, Pfizer’s head of digital health, medicines, and AI says in the company’s published principles. “AI is changing how drugs are developed and deployed. It can change how patients are diagnosed. And it can change the delivery of healthcare. The power and potential of AI to impact human health is why it’s so important to implement AI ethically and responsibly.”
DLA Piper is one of the largest and most active of any law firms across the globe, solving complex problems for the world’s most innovative healthcare companies. Our award-winning lawyers—many of whom have PhDs and medical backgrounds—assist in compliance and investigations, IP strategy and enforcement, data privacy, M&A, and licensing and distribution. From advising on evolving regulatory environments to navigating complex litigation, our flexible and forward-thinking approach can help you mitigate risk and achieve your goals.
