Merck’s heads of oncology and head of digital health16 Aug 2024 18:52
Four Reasons Oncology Needs Digital Health Innovation
Together, Merck’s heads of oncology and head of digital health outline their cross-functional strategy to enhance care for cancer patients through digital tools.
Digital health has evolved significantly, transitioning from “marketing gimmicks” to essential tools that improve patient care. While there have been successes in managing chronic conditions, digital innovation in diseases like cancer is still maturing.
In an exclusive interview, Yariv Hefez, head of oncology, and Emre Ozcan, head of digital health, both from Merck KGaA’s health care business, discussed efforts in developing digital tools for oncology patients and explained why now is the optimal time to invest more in digital health R&D.
Ozcan defines digital health as “tools, technologies and digital enablement to be able to increase the impact of pharmaceutical drugs.” This can take various forms, from better adherence to medication, or to greater patient engagement in their disease therapy. Today, Ozcan said the reach of digital health had expanded to include better identification of patients, greater personalization of treatment and enhanced delivery of health care.
“It’s about maximizing treatment outcomes,” Hefez added. “Our mission is to turn cancer patients into cancer survivors.” Merck is taking a fresh approach to digital development and cross-functionality to better integrate digital tools into its oncology pipeline.
“Historically, oncology has been a bit slow and conservative in embracing technologies,” Ozcan noted. There were three reasons for this, he said. 1) The outdated idea that digital health was all about wellbeing; 2) The assumption that digital health is a young person’s hobby; and 3) Aversion to risk in cancer care.
“There was a bit of a ‘don’t touch, don’t change’ attitude in oncology. But that picture has flipped,” Ozcan said.
The pair discussed four key themes highlighting why Merck is upping its focus on digital for oncology.
1. Evolving Patient Populations
It is predicted that one in two people will experience cancer in their lifetime and younger people are now increasingly being diagnosed with the disease. This opens the door for technological solutions alongside pharmacological treatment.
Hefez highlighted one of Merck’s recent additions to its portfolio, pimicotinib that was licensed from Abbisko Therapeutics, as an example of the ideal patient population to engage with new digital health tools. Pimicotinib, an orally administered, small-molecule antagonist of colony stimulating factor-1 receptor (CSF-1R), is in a global Phase III study in tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT).
TGCT is a benign tumor of the joints that can cause swelling, pain, stiffness and limited mobility of the affected joints. Treatment options for this disease, which can seriously affect patients’ quality of life, are very limited. The disease mostly affect
Sign In
Follow the stocks
