I remember the exact moment it hit me.
I had just received my first COVID-19 vaccine. The nurse handed me the card with the batch number written on it, and I knew what that number meant. I knew the facility where the batch had been produced. I knew the team that had made it all happen. It was a moment in time where I was personally impacted by the work that we do!
I had spent months watching the team at NECI work around the clock to launch Moderna’s mRNA vaccine in record time. But it wasn't until I stepped into the role of patient—actually receiving the vaccine—that I fully grasped the weight of our extraordinary accomplishment.
We took a scientific breakthrough and moved it from development to large-scale manufacturing at a pace few thought possible. It felt like the beginning of a new standard. It felt like the starting point for what came next. I remember thinking, “If our industry can do something like this once, why wouldn’t we keep doing it?”
But the future didn’t unfold as I expected.
Work at an Unprecedented Pace
It’s not that the life sciences industry suddenly became more capable during the pandemic. We had the same scientific expertise and infrastructure as before. The most notable changes were operational and systematic alignment. Fueled by the urgency of the moment, teams collaborated cross-functionally and made decisions quickly.
It’s amazing what’s possible when people align with purpose and determination around a meaningful outcome. At one point, a young team member was awaiting notice that the first batch was approved by the FDA. We had put enormous trust in her and in the team supporting her, and they all delivered.
It’s easy to focus on the big wins—and this was a huge one—but we can’t forget what it takes to achieve them. Extraordinary successes aren’t possible without extraordinary effort. Here’s what most people didn’t see: For six months, our team worked every single day in continuous shifts, around the clock, to keep progress moving forward. They gave up holidays and weekends. It was worth it for what we were able to achieve. But operating at such an intense level isn’t a sustainable model.
A Slowing of Momentum
We proved something important: drug development can move faster than we previously thought. What we did not yet understand was how to sustain that level of speed. You can’t expect people to work in crisis mode indefinitely.
Once the immediate emergency faded, the industry faced a difficult question. How do we maintain the benefits of that speed without burning people out in the process? At the time, I believed we would quickly begin solving this problem. Surely, the experience would trigger a wave of innovation. Instead, momentum stalled.
Innovation in life sciences is capital-intensive, and after the pandemic, massive amounts of capital flowed in. Investors saw the scale of opportunity and poured resources into the space. But in the inevitable correction that followed, less funding led to fewer resources to support continued innovation.
But the issue isn’t only an investment one. The life sciences value chain isn’t structured for optimal speed and efficiency. Though each discrete part of the value chain (e.g., drug discovery, manufacturing) shares the common goal of delivering innovation to patients at speed and scale, the systems used to pursue that goal are largely siloed. One solution I’ve written about extensively is to embrace an ecosystem model in which the many touchpoints in the value chain function as a cohesive, interconnected whole.
A New Disruptor Emerges
The pandemic disrupted the life sciences industry in ways none of us expected. But disruptions don’t have to come from global emergencies. Right now, artificial intelligence is reshaping how we work, and it can help us jumpstart the stalled momentum.
AI is already revolutionizing asset discovery, but it has the potential to support teams across the drug development cycle: enabling real-time data sharing and decision-making to enhance collaboration and efficiency; optimizing process parameters, predicting outcomes, and identifying potential issues proactively to ensure a smooth transition from lab to production. Reinventing the way engineers and scientists work to move faster without sacrificing quality, it closes the gap between operating in crisis mode and accelerating progress.
We are in uncharted territory, so uncertainty about what’s to come is to be expected. Seeing so many businesses in my orbit explore AI-enabled solutions has me optimistic, though. We must continue working to integrate AI holistically into our organizations—using it to work better and smarter while maintaining the human element that is still essential to our work.
The pandemic offered a glimpse of the extraordinary achievements that are possible when we pursue innovation faster together. We owe it to patients everywhere to build on that momentum and push the limits of what we can accomplish.
