Talking HealthTech: 303 – Commercialisation and collaboration in digital health. Adam Wardell, Previsior

Podcast Home >

Meet Adam Wardell

Adam has a background as a clinical pharmacist, working in a variety of therapeutic sectors. It was the start of his adventure toward digital health. Adam contributed to the development of an early-stage algorithmic technique for dosage monitoring, dose escalation and dose changing for rare conditions.

He was considering methods to enhance healthcare before heading into the major pharmacies. Then he went to Novartis with a vision and a lot of energy about how to apply strategic innovation and commercial growth to digital health.

Novartis’ entry into digital health was a watershed moment in the Australian environment, rather than simply sitting back and waiting for individuals to act. It was putting together a collaborative effort that was ahead of its time and inspired many more incredible partnerships around the process.

Adam saw ideas slipping through the cracks all around Australia and the Asia Pacific, but he wasn’t in a position to embrace them. So he took a step outside and decided to set up Previsior.

Previsior is about the combination of creating a vision for the future as well as providing consulting services into the future around commercialisation, which is a very important part, including the innovation agenda and how it might be connected. 

At the time of the recording Adam was also covering for Grace Lethiean as the interim General Manager for the ANDHealth+ programme. In this role he assists the team in maintaining contact with overseas partners and ensuring that these businesses advance to the next stage.

He is focused on passing on what he has learnt via experience to the next generation, such as how to develop a productive collaboration with a big pharmaceutical business. Many individuals desire to accomplish it, but they occasionally go about it incorrectly.

Adam has experience across biotech and medtech, as well as systems consulting. Having that broad approach means you get greater context, which is now lacking: the context of how digital health apps may operate inside not only the local but also the national environment. Then, there’s worldwide collaboration.

The Role of Digital Health in the Pharmaceutical Space Innovation

There is a frequent misperception, and this was between the lines of that moderated session at a recent ANDHealth event, which was a big focus on digital therapeutics. 

In the early days of DTx, some might remember a lot of social commentary about how horrible it would be for pharmaceuticals and hospitals when data became the next big thing. The genuine doom and gloom set by leading market analysts were extremely real. And it was intriguing because some segments of the market listened to that.

Thankfully, there were some companies that took the risk and dove head-first into digital therapeutics.

Striving for Diversity

The diversity and inclusion agendas around the globe are being monitored on numerous levels as a philosophy. 

Subconsciously there tends to be a view of collaboration as a close partner or somebody that can enable one to move forward in a sort of partnership- mutual value exchange. Although this is somewhat collaborative, several of these are successful. Some have failed badly due to shared blind spots due to a lack of diversity.

There are a number of other ways to collaborate:

1. For example, major pharma companies have started leaning on startups. They’re trying to use this startup approach to solve problems that they can’t see. Often, it is the expectations about agility and the capacity to focus on limited or deep academic knowledge to unlock value. 

2. Also, companies are approaching startups in totally different sectors to pick their brains about solving particular problems, and this works because of diversity in thought.

3. In one academic institution setting, a different approach to collaboration saw them partnering with a marketing company. 

4. A startup that was seeking collaborators who were specialists in their particular field happened to come into contact with a government official attending a networking event. After telling the startup that they were looking in the wrong place, she suggested how they could better apply their technology. 

Sometimes you need to think outside the box to also receive feedback and assistance from how someone else might approach your challenge. 

That is also the beauty of the ANDHealth+ programme. It assists by utilising the different skill sets of its member group. They are not your workers. They don’t always do what you ask, but they will provide you with new insights.

The ANDHealth+ Programme

ANDHealth+ is a one-of-a-kind initiative. It is not an incubator or an accelerator since it is significantly more hands-on about going inside the business in an advising and collaborative style than the traditional accelerator. There is value in encircling these cohort enterprises with a broad collection of professionals as well as a linked network.

ANDHealth+ is a commercialisation engine comprised of five to seven companies, and this is what makes it so unique. So far, there have been roughly a hundred applications for the cohort, which had to be narrowed down through several screening steps, but they ensured that each company received feedback on their application.

Two cohort companies are in the process’ second phase; their input was provided, and they are currently in the next step. Therefore, if you’ve previously applied, ANDHealth+ wants to know about you again

This market, this industry and the organisations are all quite dynamic. If those three factors are combined, you may be in a different situation twelve months after your original contact. The company does not pay for product development. This isn’t about that. It’s all about commercialisation. When ten to fifteen various points of view enter your business, you must be mature enough to process them. As a result, emphasis is being placed on organisations that are not in their early stages and that have a viable consumer base of some type.

Commercialisation and Digital Health

Previsior was formed to bring Australian innovation to the world stage. Much research is being conducted in Australia, which is typically of high quality. Unfortunately, the research does not usually convert into a commercially sustainable entity. One of the things that the company does in terms of healthcare under the ANDHealth+ programme is to look for other routes that others may not have considered.

They do so by asking pertinent questions, such as:

• What are some of the different ways you can help your community grow? 

• What are the current market trends that you can capitalise on? 

• How do you locate new members and make sales? 

• How can we persuade our members to campaign for us? 

• How can we identify salespeople that want to know what this looks like?

The company is taking some amazing ideas and putting the correct tactics around them. Startups and SMEs are underinvested. However, when it comes to translation and commercialisation, the strategies that Previsior have built around innovation tend to have the best chance of success. 

Final Thoughts

We frequently discuss our challenges, but it is also important to acknowledge and celebrate our successes around content, treatments and even preventions so that we may make a difference in the world.

_{Source talkinghealthtech.com}