BIRMINGHAM, Alabama –The median cost of getting a new drug to market is ~$1.3B USD. Out-of-pocket costs for patients are also increasing rapidly at ~10% per year to $491.6B. There is a need for increasing efficiencies in drug development to bring meaningful therapies to market sooner. The gap in the life sciences industry’s priorities and patient needs is evident, and there is an opportunity for physicians to represent the voice of their patients in all strategic decisions. We showcase the journey of Dr. Deepak Patil, a physician making waves in the life sciences industry.
Dr. Deepak Patil is a primary care physician by training, who pivoted his career to life sciences strategy consulting. He identified a unique opportunity to combine his scientific knowledge and business acumen to help several life sciences companies address strategic challenges across the drug development continuum. He is a trusted advisor to senior executives in the life sciences and health technology industry and is called upon to drive critical decisions like clinical trial design and strategy optimization, new asset value evaluation, product launch strategies, and corporate mergers and acquisitions.
Dr. Patil received instruction from Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, and Questrom School of Business at Boston University. Dr. Patil holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration, which he has utilized in his career consulting.
Bringing Clinical Perspectives to Business
After working as a primary care physician in the Mumbai area of India, Dr. Patil was offered an opportunity to join the Medical Affairs team at Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., where he led medical affairs for all products within Sun Pharma’s global infertility and urology portfolio between 2012-2014. He was responsible for engaging key opinion leaders in a scientific dialogue around patient unmet needs, driving scientific narrative around new therapies, and creating and disseminating medical information. He also supported the launch and peri-launch activities for several products within infertility and urology portfolios. His desire to expand his knowledge of the industry beyond the Medical Industry led him to receive an MBA and master’s in information systems at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.
Acquiring new skills
After briefly interning at Boston MedTech Advisors, assisting medical device companies and investors assess the commercial potential of medical devices, Dr. Patil made the move to the IQVIA. Dr. Patil led the design and delivery of strategy consulting engagements with Life Sciences companies at IQVIA. He supported global pharmaceutical companies in addressing strategic challenges across the drug development continuum – including R&D strategy, clinical trial feasibility, portfolio optimization, launch strategies, pricing/market access, & branding / commercial strategy. His medical expertise, understanding of the patient journey, and deep understanding of micro and macro factors affecting patient participation in clinical trials allowed him to design innovative trial optimization frameworks to drive efficiencies in clinical trial design and execution. Skills acquired at IQVIA offered him a holistic perspective on the industry and led to leadership opportunities within the health technology field.
Real-World Data (RWD) and Taking New Approaches at Merative
Dr. Patil is currently a real-world data strategist at Merative (previously IBM Watson Health). Healthcare real-world data is extremely siloed in its current state. Datasets often fall short of adequate breadth or depth to derive meaningful insights. Integrating discrete datasets (claims, clinical, labs, imaging, etc) is extremely burdensome, both financially and operationally. Dr. Patil’s vision is to build and leverage novel real-world data and evidence to shorten the drug development cycle and improve patients’ ability to access novel therapies.
Connect to Deepak Patil on Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/deepakdpatil
