“Big Data” in the life sciences sector is now a strategic opportunity for all researchers, and the benefits may soon be captured by all stakeholders and society. Capturing, storing, maintaining data flow, structuring messy data, and improving the analysis of information-rich processes can offer deep insights for life science researchers, particularly the discovery, clinical & late-phases.

Companies who can exploit Big Data and advanced analytics when developing new products will have the potential to improve the competitiveness, productivity & efficiency of R&D in order to better demonstrate clinical benefit and improved outcomes. Not only will researchers benefit from enhanced insights into richer data, but so will other internal stakeholders, physicians, insurers, regulators and the patient. The potential for a Big Data strategy to facilitate the anticipated era of personalised & precision medicine makes it an increasingly essential part of any life science R&D organisation. Researchers & informatics experts need to turn huge, unstructured volumes from disparate data sources into structured data that can be used for advanced analytics to improve R&D intelligence.