Big Pharma and AI

Nothing new they would be interested in the topic.    But the scale on these interactions is advancing.

Big pharma turns to artificial intelligence to speed drug discovery, GSK signs deal  By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - The world's leading drug companies are turning to artificial intelligence to improve the hit-and-miss business of finding new medicines, with GlaxoSmithKline unveiling a new $43 million deal in the field on Sunday.

Other pharmaceutical giants including Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are also exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to help streamline the drug discovery process.

The aim is to harness modern supercomputers and machine learning systems to predict how molecules will behave and how likely they are to make a useful drug, thereby saving time and money on unnecessary tests.

AI systems already play a central role in other high-tech areas such as the development of driverless cars and facial recognition software.

"Many large pharma companies are starting to realise the potential of this approach and how it can help improve efficiencies," said Andrew Hopkins, chief executive of privately owned Exscientia, which announced the new tie-up with GSK.  .... " 

Sleep Apps by J&J

An area we examined as well, long before the era of mobile Apps.  In Adage:  " ... How J&J Research Led From Bath-Time to a Mobile Sleep App -- and More Products in Carts ... Global Campaign Includes Original Lullabies ... " 

Kraft, Procter and J&J Talk Marketing

Great article fronm CGT overviewing the Marketing Summit this week:

" ... Kraft, P&G, J&J Unite to Share Sales & Marketing Insights
June 9, 2010 - More than 200 consumer goods executives convened yesterday for the kickoff of the 2010 Consumer Goods Sales & Marketing Summit at The Roosevelt Hotel in NYC. In its seventh year, the event has one aim in mind: to provide attendees with more insight into hot topics, like effective retail partnerships, marketing investments, promotions and brand penetration, through its thought-provoking agenda and abundant networking opportunities ... " Read the rest through the link above.

Using Social Media to Complain

An instructive example of consumers using social media to complain:
Parents Use Social Media to Sound Off on J&J Recall
Many Take to Blogs, Facebook, Twitter to Complain About Drug Giant's Handling of Concerns ... "

J&J Marketing Unleashed

I was just reminded of J&J Global VP Gary Bembridge's Marketing Unleashed Blog, still very active and interesting. He also has a Twitter presence.

Wonderbranding

A blog about marketing to women, Wonderbrands, by Michele Miller, which I follow, has some interesting comments about the J&J Motrin twitter debacle. She suggests they should have shown it to some real moms. Hard to believe that they did not. Probably did not show it to just those twitter-enabled moms that would make a big case of it. I agree with the two-way conversation point, but I am not sure it was much of a conversation. We can now be offended by most anything, and have the power to show it. The post also links to a video of the ad, which is no longer online otherwise, so you can make your own call. See also Paul Gillin's take on this. And AdAge takes a closer look.

Twittering Moms

Paul Gillin writes about the recent example of the power of social media where moms using Twitter were able to criticize a tongue-in-cheek Johnson & Johnson ad. He outlines what J&J should have done, and asks if what they did was really the best response. Good case study of consumer reaction and response. Also means that certain kinds of satirical humor could disappear because of the leverage of a few, quickly defining what is PC.

Operating Theaters of the Future

Recently attended a local meeting on RFID tagging. One presentation at that meeting was by Jim Milkovitch and Jim Waldron of Johnson & Johnson's Ethicon division. They currently have over 150 people and 35 projects working in the area of RFID tagging. One particular area of interest is their work with hospitals to created what they are calling 'operating theaters' of the future. In such an environment anything that enters the room is tagged. Patients, doctors and nurses will wear active (battery powered) tags which will be read at entrance portals. Instruments will carry passive tags. The inventory, movement and use of every object in the room will be micro tracked to determine its use. The use of objects in the theater will be compared to lists of procedures and processes to check for errors. Costs will be automatically determined. This will allow J&J to give value-added capabilities to their instruments and surgical goods. Whats useful here is the linking of sensors to procedure and location. Areas that require very precise manipulation, risk and cost, certainly like surgery, are where we will see early useful of these capabilities.