Retail and tech giants have been making moves in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry over the past few years, and 2021 was no exception; pharma-aligned acquisitions reached a value of almost $22 billion.Here are seven ways some of the biggest disruptors have affected healthcare in 2021* and how they might continue to influence the industry next year, according to CBInsights.
*Note: Their data for this report stopped in October 2021.
- Big Tech is investing in therapeutics startups and have focused acquisitions on patient data. For instance, Microsoft boosted its presence in subscription as a service by acquiring Nuance for $19.7 billion.
- Amazon is boosting its digital pharmacy capabilities through developing its supply chain capacities. It is also looking to personalize healthcare using its IoT products like Alexa.
- Microsoft is pushing into pharma through using patient data to build technology for clinical trials leveraging its unique advantage with its access to patient data.
- Apple has been concentrating on building hardware that can collect patient health data and then creating digital biomarkers. It is then creating frameworks for EHRs that other companies can use.
- Google has been investing in startups with access to patient data and also acquiring data through EHR partners directly. It also is helping people participate in clinical trials.
- Apple, Amazon and Google all own wearable fitness tracking companies, so it is expected that they will double down on this approach into healthcare. More uses for these devices in a medical context are also being researched.
- Big Tech companies also will push harder to gain access to more patient data, whether that be through their wearable devices or medical adherence. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and Google are all collecting data through digital solutions and may use it to power pharmaceutical tech products.