Most of those in our industry are only viewing the tip of the iceberg when it comes to looking at how to use Big Data — ignoring the massive amounts residing below the water’s surface. When I think of the potential Big Data presents for the field of life sciences, it reminds me of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner — “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”

In the pharmaceutical industry, gaps often exist between companies and internal working groups. Consider one of the industry’s largest players, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), which has more than 127,000 employees and operates more than 250 companies organized into several business segments in 60 countries.

One of the most productive conferences for me in terms of getting innovative ideas, as well as meeting people of a disruptive nature, is The Conference Forum’s Disruptive Innovations To Advance Clinical Trials event.

For the most part, the 2014 Drug Information Association’s (DIA) annual meeting did not disappoint. However, I do want to provide the DIA planners some constructive criticism toward making a great meeting even better next year. 

I sat down with Andrew Skibo, regional VP of supply biologics, global engineering, and real estate at AstraZeneca (AZ), I had the rare opportunity to experience, first-hand, the subtle differences between knowledge, wisdom, and insight. 

DIA’s (Drug Information Association) 50th annual meeting takes place in San Diego next week – June 15 – 19. Though DIA released the FINAL program, you would be wise to expect the unexpected because life happens.

In the April 2014 issue of Life Science Leader magazine, I wrote A Game-Changing Approach To CRO Collaboration. It was based on an in-person interview conducted with Annalisa Jenkins, former EVP and global head of R&D at Merck-Serono, while attending the BIO CEO & Investor conference this past February in New York City. In May I received feedback from a reader of the article disputing the collaboration as being game changing. With their permission, I have reproduced their comments below.

Allowing the application of a “one-size- fits-all” intellectual property policy that affords the same protection for Frisbees as lifesaving and sustaining medicines would be, quite frankly, moronic and short-sighted. It would also be a disincentive for companies to develop R&D-intensive drugs because the longer it takes to develop, the shorter patent life you have. The converse is also true — less costly drugs brought to market more quickly get longer patents.

This year’s BIO International Convention will take place in San Diego from June 23 to 26. Going to BIO is like going to the Louvre in Paris or the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., because even with extensive planning, you can’t possibly see everything.