Illustration credit: A.E. Kieren


Amy Landucci, Global head of digital medicines, Novartis

Landucci says Novartis believes digital medicines and related technologies have the potential to help it best match the right drug with the right patient at the right time—and it’s putting its money where its mouth is. In early 2015, the company and Qualcomm launched a joint investment company, dRx Capital AG, with a $100 million capital commitment to “catalyze the success of digital medicine products, services and business models.”

Landucci says the focus will be on developing solutions that help patients with disease management to drive positive outcomes. She adds that Novartis believes pharma companies must shift from providing interventions to providing proof that medicines and related technologies benefit patients and that reimbursement will be tied to outcomes.“There are internal challenges of helping people see why we need to change,” Landucci says. “We’re working with business leaders to help educate teams on why we need to change and to give them tools to make the changes.”