Drug pricing in the U.S. has become a volatile topic, and the biopharma industry is coming under increasing pressure to address what is viewed as unjustified increases and opaque pricing practices. At the same time, R&D spending in search of differentiated therapies has been ever-increasing. The landscape of payers and providers has been steadily consolidating, yielding more influence in the customer community. Non-traditional market participants such as Amazon, Google and Apple are positioning to potentially become disruptors. Amazon already sells over the counter drugs and medical devices to consumers, and, through a pending acquisition, will enter into direct to consumer sales of prescription drugs.

In search of novel and differentiated healthcare solutions, drug developers are leveraging digital technology in a variety of ways, such as using technology for R&D, or to monitor patient compliance via a sensor, allowing Internet based monitoring. Mark will explore these emerging strategic partnerships and discuss how life science companies can partner with digital health companies to speed innovation, offset costs, and ultimately develop a set of novel solutions to provide better healthcare. He will also address the consequences of these new market entrants, and how the consumer tech industry will affect the biopharma industry.