In a one-of-its-kind move, one of the world's giant pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline took an innovative approach to bring costly medicines within the reach of poor. The company will no longer file patents for its medicines in the world's 50 least developed countries and low income countries, which will allow cheaper generic versions of name-brand drugs to be sold to the public. Really appreciable!

The industry that has been rolling high even during tough economic times really needs several such innovative ways to reach to the poor and needy. With the ageing population and increasing percentage of people affected with various medical conditions, pharmaceuticals and life sciences industry seems to be undulating rather higher than deemed;though not to forget technology that is playing an immense role in loosening the knots between demand and supply with an ease. But the question arises, are we brining the required level of innovation into the industry? When I spoke with some of the industry experts, their response was quite the same I assumed, 'No', but are quite optimistic about its future.

Being the lifeline of pharmaceutical and life science industries, innovation has a drastic impact not only on the health and wellness of millions of people but also the bottom lines of companies that provide it. This is why, several companies have started putting funds to establish R&D centers to fuel innovation. Apart from this, emerging countries especially in Asia are reporting impressive figures in patent applications, labor productivity and science degrees. Though initially largely ruled by big pharmaceutical companies that made, the demand has today shifted to mid-tier companies.

However, the challenges are still standing strong headed. Senior executives in the life sciences industries need a keen understanding of how to build and maintain a strong portfolio in order to enforce and defend their IP rights. On the other hand, analytics in pharma and life sciences is helping the industry to overcome challenges pertaining to data integration, stakeholder collaboration and talent/technology investment to operationalize analytics in the industry.