Darwin's Medicine

In this latest Darwin's Medicine podcast, based on my monthly column in PME, I consider the evolutionary science behind turbocharging innovation and what biomedical companies need to consider.

In the latest Darwin's Medicine series, based on my monthly column in PME, I consider what biological evolution tells us about how to incorporate market access conditions into a "fail fast, fail early" stage-gate process.

Thinking like an ecologist about your pharma or medtech market can provide useful insights about how succeed in your market.

In the second episode of the "What makes a biomedical strategy expert?" series, I look at the first of Roger Kneebone's "areas to master": Mastering Onself.  In essence, this means mastering the way one's brain works and allowing slow, deliberate "System 2" thinking to displace fast, instinctual "System 1" thinking. Not everyone can be a strategy expert and there are different ways to get there. Whether, and how you can do this is related to your personality traits. This podcast will interest anyone who thinks they are, or wants to be, a strategy expert in pharma, medtech or other biomedical businesses.

What is a Strategy Expert? And what must you do to be one in the pharma, medtech or other biomedical sectors? In this special podcast, the first of a series of 4, Professor Brian D Smith challenges you to think about what it really means to be a strategy expert in our exceptional business and introduces the three areas that you must master if you want to claim expertise. This podcast isn’t about the tools and techniques of strategy, it’s about what sort of person you need to be. If you would to read the article on which this podcast is based, you can find it at PMLive.com or you can ask for a PDF at [email protected]

You dedicate a very large part of your time and energy to your work. But how much of that effort goes directly into achieving the task and how much into “aligning” and “getting buy in” with other functions? And why is cross-functional working both essential and difficult at the same time? In this edition of the Darwin’s Medicine Podcast, Professor Brian D Smith draws parallels between the compartmentalisation of higher organisms and the departmentalisation of complex organisations. It’s a useful comparison and points to how cross functional working can be more effective and less time consuming. If you would to read the article on which this podcast is based, you can find it at PMLive.com or you can ask for a PDF at [email protected]

The healthcare business is misnamed. Most of what we do is better described as sickcare. And although we’ve known for decades that prevention and early treatment are better and cheaper than late treatment, it is frustrating and perplexing how slow that approach is taking to emerge.

In the fifth Darwin’s Medicine podcast, Professor Brian D Smith looks at how the this shift to foresight is emerging in examples from home digital health solutions, biomarkers and AI.

You can find more about the evolution of  the biomedical industry in my book “Darwin’s Medicine”. You can also find a full archive of my publications at my website www.pragmedic.com. And you can watch more of my work on my YouTube channel.

Biomedical medical companies rarely transform but the best are masters at gradually evolving their competitive edge.

In the fourth Darwin’s Medicine podcast, Professor Brian D Smith considers what strategists in pharma and medtech can learn from biological evolution about how to stay ahead of the game. Spoiler alert: it’s hard work in unexpected places.

My research into the evolution of the biomedical industry, including pharma and medtech, is most comprehensively described in my 5th book:

“Darwin’s Medicine. How life science business models are evolving”

You can also find a full archive of over 300 of my publications in the free library at my website, Pragmedic.com

You can watch more of my work on my YouTube channel. Just search for Professor Brian D Smith.

And you can also find the published editions of all my “Darwin’s Medicine” columns in PME magazine at PMlive.com

Finally, I’m always very happy to talk to other people who are as interested as I am in the pharma, medtech and other biomedical businesses. Please email me at [email protected]

Sometimes, the most superficial of things are signs of something much deeper going on underneath the surface.

In the third Darwin’s Medicine podcast, Professor Brian D Smith looks at what Pfizer’s change of logo and the newly-named Viatris tell us about the law of strategic gravity that guides the evolution of business models in the biomedical sector.

If you would like to read the original PME “Darwin’s Medicine” column on which this podcast episode it based, please use my email address below to ask for the PDF.

My research into the evolution of the biomedical industry, including pharma and medtech, is most comprehensively described in my 5th book:

“Darwin’s Medicine. How life science business models are evolving”

And if you would like a summary of the book, I published a series of 4 articles in the PME. You can request the PDF set by mailing me at the address below.

You can also find a full archive of over 300 of my publications in the free library at my website, Pragmedic.com

And you can also find the published editions of all my “Darwin’s Medicine” columns in PME magazine at PMlive.com

Finally, I’m always very happy to talk to other people who are as interested as I am in the pharma, medtech and other biomedical businesses. Please email me at [email protected]

The names we use for our businesses are becoming relics of the past.

In this podcast, Professor Brian D Smith considers the terms we use to describe our business. Pharma, medtech and other terms are becoming inadequate to describe business that blend technologies and use new ones, such as cell and gene therapy. Why are time-honoured labels becoming obsolescent? It’s do with the search for value.

“For a large proportion of the people I speak to, none of the old labels work very well. There are people who develop drug-delivery systems. There are others that sell companion diagnostics. And lots and lots of people who say they are in “digital health”, although they are a very heterogenous group. When I ask these various people “What business are you in?” I frequently hear them answering with 2 or 3 sentences, just to be clear, because my 1 or 2 word labels no longer do the job adequately.”

Show Notes

If you would like to read the original PME “Darwin’s Medicine” column on which this podcast episode it based, please use my email address below to ask for the PDF.

My research into the evolution of the biomedical industry, including pharma and medtech, is most comprehensively described in my 5thbook:

“Darwin’s Medicine. How life science business models are evolving”

And if you would like a summary of the book, I published a series of 4 articles in the PME. You can request the PDF set by mailing me at the address below.

You can also find a full archive of over 300 of my publications in the free library at my website, Pragmedic.com

And you can also find the published editions of all my “Darwin’s Medicine” columns in PME magazine at PMlive.com

Finally, I’m always very happy to talk to other people who are as interested as I am in the pharma, medtech and other biomedical businesses. Please email me at [email protected]