Here’s a look at how Google’s pharma investments are about to shake up the healthcare industry.
Google has become a juggernaut in the technology industry, but they’ve now set their sights on dominating the healthcare industry. Their acquisition of 17 pharmaceutical deals since 2014 proves just as much. In comparison to the little seven pharma deals Google completed from 2009 to 2014, it’s clear they’ve increased their focus on achieving their goal.
Bringing Google’s Innovation to Healthcare
While they’ve succeeded in landing pharma deals, Google has also been looking for ways to take things a step further within the healthcare industry. They’ve now teamed up with Novartis to bring a glucose-measuring contact lens to the healthcare industry market.
This innovative concept is a game-changer that would surpass pharmaceutical and the healthcare industry. For people with diabetes, the contact lens would rid them of the constant finger pricks that have become synonymous with the needle they must use daily for glucose checks.
Google’s contact lens also has the potential to shift wearables from being a fashion trend to being clinically necessary.
Google’s Pharma Investments
It’s clear that during the last few years Google has made it a priority to invest in healthcare startups. In fact, the tech giant is making all the right moves to establish itself in the pharma sector.
One of the factors behind Google’s increased pharma investments is that they can acquire pharmaceutical startup deals for either their talent or valuable IP.
The second factor is that Google’s Calico and Verily are giving the conglomerate the opportunity to begin establishing itself in pharma and the healthcare industry. Through this process, Google can seek strategic developmental partnerships from the startups in which they invest.
Despite Google’s mission to establish an ‘internal pharma pipeline’ being relatively new, Calico and Verily are already both involved in several promising partnerships.
Verily, for example, has partnered with GlaxoSmithKline to develop implanted devices for treating diseases through the modulation of electrical signals to the peripheral nerves. As for Calico, it has partnered with C4 Therapeutics to develop a treatment for protein degradation.
Bringing Competition to the Healthcare Industry
The healthcare industry has long relied on extended-release drugs and line extensions. It has become a sort of method for success.
While pharma has achieved innovative advancements, this method has also become a fallback way of delivering innovation.
However, now that tech giant Google has entered the competition, the healthcare industry market is gearing up to get a run for their money.
It’s not that competition is not wanted in this industry, it’s that a conglomerate like Google will shake up and forever change pharma and the healthcare industry. They are a company that thrives on innovation, always seeking the next big thing to bring to market. Their increased pharma startup deals provide them a stronger source of promising talent and intellectual property (IP).
With Google having their eye on valuable IP, they will remain in tune with the trends and needs of the healthcare industry. They already have the reputation to achieve success, all they need is the knowledge to use their tools correctly.
As their pharma investments continue to grow, Google will have a stronger presence in the healthcare industry. With significant innovations like their proposed glucose-measuring contact lens, they are starting off strong.
Their plan to bring technology and pharma together will spark a competitiveness in the already established companies existing within the same market. Google’s presence will lead to a more fervent search from all other corporations seeking to achieve the same thing through talent and valuable IP entering the market via pharma startups. Gone will be the days of coasting by on extended-release drugs and line extensions.
But above all else, Google’s mission is clear: set the tone in the healthcare industry and bring something new to the market that is an obvious Google creation.
