Centre for Health Management and

Research (CHMR), IGMPI, IGMPI

Big Data Analytics in Medical Applications
Lec II
By : Dr Hoor Fatima Associate Professor IGMPI
(PhD. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi )

For feedback o n this lecture, pl write to feedback @ igmpi . ac.i n

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 introduction
 In recent times, the global healthcare industry valued at US$9.59 trillion
(PwC Report, 2015) has undergone sweeping changes in every aspect of
its business.

 These include massive adoption of electronic health records (EHR) by

governments, hospitals and physicians to full digitization of research
databases and billions of patient records belonging to pharmaceutical
companies.

 The onset of mobile health apps, wearable medical devices, telemedicine

and automated medicine dispensers that work like ATMs portend a smart,
digital-driven future.

 s. If there is one single factor which unifies all these healthcare trends, it
is Big Data – the huge gaps faced by the industry in converting
unstructured information bytes into meaningful business intelligence
Centre for Health Management and Research (CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 introduction
 Intrusions of analytics and Big Data in pharma sector have been increased
progressively to ensure sustainable growth.

 Most of the companies are designing Data-driven drugs to influence the

purchase decision of consumer’s .Improving operational efficiency and
reducing costs is vital to counter shrinking industry profitability.

 While there is no one-stop solution to achieve that, pharma businesses

worldwide are increasingly turning to data analytics for help.

 The opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to make use of analytics are

manifold – from analyzing patient demographics and medical histories to
optimizing drug launches, through to identifying physician behavior and
establishing their likelihood to adopt new drugs.
This Lecture will define big data, explore the opportunities and challenges it
poses for Pharma/Biotech/Healthcare, and recommend solutions and
technologies that will help the healthcare industry take full advantage of this
burgeoning trend.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
 What is Big Data?
“Big Data” refers to the collection of data that cannot be processed in a
timely manner using traditional database application”

 Primary aim of Big Data in Pharma is to help companies make informed

decisions related to business operations so that business environment
can be made less complex.
 Companies can take informed decisions collectively by analyzing a large
volume of data generated from all sources including retailers, doctors,
patients etc.
 Tapping of the large volume of data which is unexploited by
conventional Business Intelligence (BI) programs is also important to
make an effective and quick decision.
 Data analytics being used so extensively in marketing and sales teams is
unsurprising. Applications generally revolve around optimizing sales
force design and planning, as well as territory management, allowing
pharma companies to work out how to improve sales and balance the
workloads of their representatives.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
 Expectations of Pharmaceuticals
Industry from Big Data Analytics:
 Spreadsheets have been around long before BI and analytical tools took
off in such a big way.
 Using in-built charts and pictorial representations, visualizing data is not
exactly rocket sciencebut considering the business demands of today, the
limitations of spreadsheet visualizations can no longer be ignored.
 Apart from this limitation, there a few more limitations that the industry
is currently facing and which furthermore encourage the use of Big Data
in Pharmaceuticals industry.
 So far, healthcare corporations were used to dealing with static, stored
data which could be collected from various sources before they were
analyzed and interpreted for visual results.
 However, the rapid onset of large data volumes – log files, EHR data,
patient readings, social media sentiments, click stream information
(“customer clicks on the website”) means datasets are no longer expected
to reside within a Central server or within a fixed place in the Cloud.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI
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 Expectations of Pharmaceuticals
Industry from Big Data Analytics:
 Analyzing data is a rather simple affair when all data sources collect
information based on unified file formats.

 However, the biggest challenge facing enterprises is the undefined and

unpredictable nature of data emerging in multiple formats.

 Unstructured data can fall into any one of these categories - textual, non-
textual, audio, video, presentations, pictures and .rar files.

 Converting unstructured data into structured formats is only half the

battle won.

 An informed business decision can only be taken when the data can be
readily converted into relevant charts and pictorial depictions that enable
“real sense” of all the information pouring in.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Expectations of Pharmaceuticals
Industry from Big Data Analytics:
 Big Data analytics help in disease pattern analysis to decode the real
impact of developed drugs. This might involve identifying a pathway to
target or understanding the likely impact of a certain treatment or drugs
over the time.
 Big Data can also help in finding the new information about disease
patterns across geographies.
 It also helps in the understanding drug development process better
through the tools like automated learning and data mining etc.
 There could be great gains made if R&D teams used analytics to improve
the efficiency of clinical trials by utilizing data from a wider range of
sources such as social media, and taking more criteria (such as genetic
information) into account to make trials smaller, shorter and cheaper.
 Using Big Data and predictive analysis, companies can conduct effective
clinical trials. The patients selected for these trials can meet certain
prerequisites found through multiple databases, and researchers can
monitor the participants in real-time.
Centre for Health Management and Research
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 Expectations of Pharmaceuticals
Industry from Big Data Analytics:
 Big Data also has its place in predicting side effects for specific
compounds before the clinical trial begins.

 Currently, there is a method that predicts drug toxicity in compounds. In

the past, human trials may have found the toxicity too late. With the
Proctor method analyzing 48 drug features, companies can save time,
money and lives.

 Through data analysis pharma companies can identify which drug will be
most effective to which patient. They can also study a complete history
of data samples to develop more impactful products and drugs in future.

 It is obvious from the facts that Big Data in Pharma can play a key role
in drug development.

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Expectations of Pharmaceuticals
Industry from Big Data Analytics:
 Apart from this, to generate real-time insight, sophisticated analytic
system or highly advanced data analysis technology is needed. To
address these issues, pharma companies can go beyond the in-house
capabilities and think of outsourcing data analysis tools and techniques.

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
Implementation of Big Data Analytics
in Pharmaceutical/Healthcare
Industry:
The pre- requisites required to bring about massive improvements in the
healthcare industry by implementing Big Data are:

 Firstly, data needs to be managed and integrated at all stages of the value
chain;

 secondly, all stakeholders need to collaborate to enhance linkages across

drug research, development, commercialization, and delivery.

 Thirdly, portfolio management needs to be data-driven for the analysis of

current projects, and pharmaceutical R&D should employ cutting-edge
tools which will enhance future innovation

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
Implementation of Big Data Analytics
 Biosensors which are linked to apps are making health-measurement
more effective and more affordable than ever before. All of these
measures should result in improved clinical trial efficiency and a better
safety and risk management record.
 It’s no exaggeration to say the rapid uptake of cloud computing is
changing every aspect of the pharmaceutical industry.

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
Implementation of Big Data Analytics
While several different methodologies are being developed in this rapidly
emerging discipline, here is outline one that is practical and hands-on.
 Step 1 Concept statement
• Establish need for big data analytics project in healthcare based on the
“5Vs”.
 Step 2 Proposal Step 4 Deployment
• What is the problem being addressed? • Evaluation & validation
• Why is it important and interesting? • Testing
• Why big data analytics approach?
• Background material
 Step 3 Methodology
• Propositions • Conceptual model
• Variable selection • Analytic techniques
• Data collection -Association,clustering,
• ETL and data transformation classification, etc.
• Platform/tool selection • Results & insight
Centre for Health Management and Research
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Implementation of new innovative way
of analytics in our regulated
environment:
 Clinical researchers are juggling ever changing volume of data from trial
sites, patients, CROs and other vendors as well as from newer resources
like EHR, social media and wearable technology.

 The eClinical technology market is growing quickly and rapidly

evolving. The industry is increasingly embracing cloud-based data
solutions which allow sponsors and CRO to collect data digitally and
store it centrally.

 The key of implementation of such innovative way of analytics in

clinical environment is a federated approach to store data from various
domains (clinical trial, EMRs, claims, medical device, consumer device,
etc.) in multiple repositories.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
Implementation of new innovative way
of analytics in our regulated
environment:
 Each repository contains a tool set optimized for the data domain
managing and preparing these data for high-speed analysis and optimized
for storage of that domain data, both in a structured and unstructured
representation.

 These resulting, federated data sets can then be used together to support a
myriad of advanced analysis, patient data visualizations and analysis use
cases to accelerate clinical research and improve patient outcomes.

 Systems such as these—with metadata management capabilities—will

have the flexibility and scalability to handle all real-world data in the
format, size and frequency required as clinical trials evolve

Centre for Health Management and Research www.chmr.org.in

Implementation of new innovative way
of analytics in our regulated
environment:
 In addition to having the ability to trace trial data from beginning to end
and speed the review/query resolution, they will also offer ease of access
to data management and integrated downstream analysis across all
patient data types.
 Finally, they will offer advanced analytics and patient data visualizations
for better, faster, actionable insights, and cross-portfolio analysis
 Analysis of the bigger, more diverse real-world data sets can shed light
via visualizations on unknown relationships among clinical trial factors,
for instance, in relation to patient centricity, safety, risk-based monitoring
and genomics.
 Taken together, the ability to amalgamate, organize and analyze real-
world data sets with structured data sets can only enhance those
questions we know to ask of our clinical trials.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Integration of data
 Implementing end-to-end data integration requires a number of
capabilities, including trusted sources of data and documents, the ability
to establish cross-linkages between elements, robust quality assurance,
workflow management, and role-based access to ensure that specific data
elements are visible only to those who are authorized to see it.

 Pharmaceutical companies generally avoid overhauling their entire data-

integration system at once because of the logistical challenges and costs
involved, although at least one global pharmaceutical enterprise has
employed a “big bang” approach to remaking its clinical IT systems.

 Companies typically employ a two-step approach: first, they prioritize

the specific data types to address (usually clinical data) and create
additional data-warehousing capabilities as needed.
 Second, the company develops an approach for the next levels of priority
data, including scenario analysis, ownership, and expected costs and
timelines.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
 Integration of data
 Modern big data integration often requires rapid ingestion of data into a
data lake from varied sources, while minimizing the impact on their
performance.
 Big data integration takes traditional data, machine-generated data, social
media, web data, and data from the Internet of Things (IoT), and
combines it to provide the most complete view of your business, driving
the insights you need to boost performance.
 Big data integration, along with data quality standards, allows you get
the most from your big data and ensures interoperability.

 Most likely, Hadoop is your go-to ecosystem for your big data
integration projects, because it’s a scalable data processing platform that
can manage large amounts of information.
 However, programming in Hadoop is complex, and skilled professionals
are hard-to-find and expensive.

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Integration of data

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Integration of data

 Data Lakes: It is crucial that clinical data solutions are designed as document oriented
databases, such as data lakes, that can accommodate structured and unstructured data, as
opposed to relational databases such as data-warehouses, in which a scheme must be
defined upfront.
 Most of the clinical data tools are built on data warehouses, but data lakes are more
flexible and the architecture of choice for the world’s most innovative technology
companies.
 With this approach, data can be exported from source system and stored in its raw
format, whether it is structured, semi-structured or unstructured. The users can manage
all of the different data sources involved in clinical research and perform on going and ad
hoc analysis.
Centre for Health Management and Research
(CHMR), IGMPI www.chmr.org.in
 Data lakes
 Due to cloud technology (data lakes), this type of solutions can be
deployed quickly, in just a few days or weeks.
 This tool can also be coupled with other cloud-deployed technologies,
such as interactive visualization-based data discovery tools.
 These solutions can fuel significant gains in clinical data integrity, trial
timelines, and in the effectiveness of Risk based monitoring (RBM).
 Data lakes are marketed as enterprise-wide data management platforms
for analyzing disparate sources of data in its native format. The idea is
simple:
 Instead of placing data in a purpose-built data store, you move it into a
data lake in its original format.
 Once data is placed into the lake, it’s available for analysis by everyone
in the organization. What’s the difference between a data warehouse and
a data lake? While both technologies can store large volumes of data,
they differ in three key ways:
Centre for Health Management and Research
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 Data lakes
What’s the difference between a data warehouse and a data lake?

1- Data warehouse is Cleansed and processed to fit into predefine schema

before storage vs Data lake is used for Raw data storage.

2- Data warehouse technology can scale to handle large data volumes vs

Data lake technology can handle extremely large data volume.

3- Data comes from several sources, usually internal vs In Data lake Data
comes from a variety of diverse sources, often both inside and outside the
organization.

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 Data lakes

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
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 Countless Possibilities with an
Integrated Data Lake:
Data-lake being a flexible and reliable platform offers endless possibilities
that can be put to use in healthcare: from keeping in line with transition to
value-based care and providing transparency, to growing in a charged
manner and delivering a holistic view of care services; data-lake has it all
and is not just limited to:
1.) Building a Population Health Management model:
An effective PHM model is based on four pillars: technology, analytics, care
coordination and patient engagement. Using integrated data lakes will result
in betterequipped providers, able to make accurate decisions – leading to
reduced readmissions, comprehensive care management and quality health
care.
2.) Optimizing and managing treatments in real-time:
Empowering a network between PCPs, patients and the specialists by data
integration and sharing, combined with analysis of patients clinical and
claims data to provide patients with the right care at the right time.
Centre for Health Management and Research
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 Countless Possibilities with an
Integrated Data Lake:
3.) Processing chunks of data at once: A data lake is no respecter of data –
it can have all kinds of data, ranging from structured to unstructured and
offering the agility to reconfigure the underlying schema – a flexibility data
warehouse doesn’t offer. Moreover, the raw data stored in data lakes is
never lost – it is stored in its original format for further analytics and
processing.
4.) Accelerated query processing: Since data governorship comes into
effect on the way out, the user doesn’t need a prior knowledge how data has
been ingested. This not only increases the efficiency, but also comes with
high concurrency and improved query processing and complex joins.
5.) Cost Effective: Data-lake offers to store massive amount of siloes data
with flexibility to grow and shrink as and when needed. Since it is
implemented on Hadoop, an open source platform, it costs less and
performs well in efficient manner.

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Countless Possibilities with an
Integrated Data Lake:
 The amount of unstructured data in the healthcare industry is immense,
and with this data growing at a rate of 48% per year, we need to make
healthcare a data-driven industry with increased scalability, performance
and analytic capability.

 We have only scratched the surface of application of data lakes and in

future, when medical imaging would be an essential way of diagnosis,
the hitch of having unstructured data would be easily manageable with
comprehensive use of data lakes.

 In the future of healthcare, data-lake is a prominent component, growing

across the enterprise.

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in
 Countless Possibilities with an
Integrated Data Lake:
Using Data Lakes in Biotech and Health Research – Multiple world-wide
health research firms are working in different departments within
organizations and employees have access to many different content sources
from different business systems stored all over the world.
The data includes:

 Manufacturing data (batch tests, batch yields, manufacturing line sensor

data, HVAC and building systems data);
 Research data (electronic notebooks, research runs, test results,
equipment data);
 Customer support data (tickets, responses); and
 Public data sets (chemical structures, drug databases, MESH headings,
proteins).
Centre for Health Management and Research
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www.chmr.org.in
 Institute of Good Manufacturing Practices, India

Thank You

Centre for Health Management and Research

(CHMR), IGMPI
www.chmr.org.in