The scheme aims to address two industry imperatives, speed-to-insight and value-for-cost, by offering services that help to improve productivity, integrate disparate data sources and enable better collaboration across the pharmaceutical value chain.
The pharmaceutical industry is facing multiple challenges, from pricing pressure to complex regulatory compliance requirements, all of which are converging, said Tim Smokoff, managing director for Microsoft Healthcare and Life Sciences. He added that the new framework program will tackle this issue by providing guidance and increasing operational efficiency.
18 life sciences software companies have signed on to support the technology framework, including Accenture, Covansys, DataLabs, Hewlett-Packard, Immedient, Manhattan Associates, Meridio, Merit Solutions Software, Motion Computing, OnSphere, OSIsoft, OutlookSoft, ProClarity, Project Assistants, Proscape Technologies, QUMAS, Siebel Systems and Tectura.
Microsoft’s Digital Pharma initiative is based on open industry standards such as web services and XML, and life-sciences-industry-specific standards such as the Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC).
This latest announcement comes after Microsoft invested over $6bn in R&D this year on technologies that it says fulfill its evolving vision for the future of computing. The company has also created an internal group focused on its companywide R&D efforts and how these efforts apply to industry verticals such as healthcare and life sciences.
