Teva Pharma CEO Warns Industry Faces "Huge Digital Disruption" - Duh!
The global health-care industry faces a "huge disruption" as technology heavyweights jostle for consumers with traditional providers, the chief executive of a major pharmaceutical company said.
Yitzhak Peterburg, interim president and CEO at Teva Pharmaceutical, told CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum's annual June meeting in Dalian that digital disruption is an enabler for health-care and pharmaceutical companies to serve today's customers.
"I am a very great believer that we are now in a huge disruption within the health-care (industry), and I think it will affect our industry," said Peterburg. "For me, the digital reform, or whatever we see, is a huge enabler."
Teva Pharmaceutical, headquartered in Israel, calls itself he largest producer of generic medicines. In specialty medicines, Teva has treatment for multiple sclerosis as well as late-stage development programs for other disorders of the central nervous system.
Big technology names have begun looking into ways they can disrupt the health-care sector through big data analytics, artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Earlier this month, CNBC reported that a secretive team within Apple's growing health unit has been talking to developers, hospitals and other industry groups about bringing clinical data, such as detailed lab results and allergy lists, to the iPhone. Meanwhile, it was reported in May that Amazon was hiring a business lead to figure out how the company can break into the multibillion-dollar pharmacy market.
Peterburg explained that pharmaceutical companies need to think about ways to navigate this changing landscape, where they face increasing competition from non-pharma players. Being good at manufacturing pills and injections is no longer enough for pharma companies, he said. Consumers, he added, have also changed and they expect very different value from pharmaceutical companies and the health care industry as a whole.
An employee collects newly-manufactured pills at the tablet production plant at Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel
"Part of my competitors are not only the Novartis of the world, and the other pharmas, but really the Amazons and Googles," he said. "Like any company, we need to think about where we invest and how we invest, and what is the right time to jump into the water."
But the answer to the question is not straightforward
