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How did the global pandemic affect the Life Sciences industry in 2021? What is the outlook for 2022?
Predictions and trends for the industry by Yulia Zabazarnykh, Global Leader of Life Sciences & Healthcare Practice Group at InterSearch Worldwide.
Pandemic proved to be a strong driver for Life Science segment development and transformation. Being one of the most traditional and conservative businesses, this segment has changed significantly. Short-term strategies prevail over long-term; businesses expect the result much more quickly.
Digital transformation is the top trend not only for life science but in pharma, biotech and hospitality we can see the biggest number of challenges and new approaches. One of them is the active development of digital hospitals. This trend, which originated in China, has spread to almost all countries of the world. People get access to distance medical help, staying at home, which lead to saving the costs and time for both patients and clinics.
Another trend is developing online sales of medicines. E-commerce is booming since 2020 but pharmaceutical products sales are strictly regulated worldwide. We expect more changes in regulatory issues, which should help easier growth of medicines delivery.
Regarding the focus on R&D, it is obviously Covid vaccines and products, which are included into treatment protocols. Another focus is oncology, which receives a lot of investments in most of the countries and requires more qualified specialists. Artificial intelligence is applied in R&D more and more actively, which helps to improve the dynamics of innovations.
Taking into consideration all the above-mentioned trends, the most demanded specialists in 2022 will be team leads in R&D, IT, Production and E-com.
Key predictions for 2022 are the following: increasing the number of digital hospitals, growth of online sales of medical products, rising the speed of R&D activities, coming new treatments for Covid, updating vaccines, opening new manufacturing sites with technologies transfers. In general, the segment will most likely demonstrate at least 8-10% global revenue growth. World leaders in life science will most likely stay Pfizer, Merck, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, and Novartis.
Yulia Zabazarnykh
Being the partner of InterSearch Russia for 12 years, and 24 years in executive search, Yulia Zabazarnykh is responsible for Life Science practice, with strong expertise in manufacturing and R&D. Successful track record in partnership with the leading pharmaceutical companies, more than 30 completed searches for senior roles over the past three years.
A moderator and speaker in external industry events and round tables organized by Kontakt InterSearch Russia, she is also a columnist at leading business and specialized publications.
Yulia is the leader of cross-border business in Russia and the Head of the global InterSearch Life Science Practice Group.
