January 18, 2012
Reid Paul, Executive Producer, Pharma Science Multimedia, Advanstar Communications
What can Barak Obama teach us about data analytics?
As the Republican Party’s nomination process for the US presidential campaign heats up, criticism of President Barak Obama is coming fast and furious. It would seem as though the President can do little right. And yet there may be one thing that Democrats, Republicans, and yes even pharmaceutical companies can all learn from the President: The time for predictive modeling may have finally arrived.
Data analytics experts and retail companies have been pushing the limits of data analytics toward better predictions for years. Even pharmaceutical companies have had great success in mining sales data to better understand how to position their medications. As early as 2004, a National Institute of Health (NIH) report recognized that, “the use of data mining techniques in knowledge discovery in medical databases is likely to be of increasing importance in the process of pharmacovigilance as they are likely to be able to detect signals earlier than using current methods.”
Finding the signals is hard enough, but would it be possible to actually predict behavior and be able to prevent adverse events before they happen? Obama’s adoption of some of the most advanced techniques in what has been described as Project Dreamcatcher suggests that predictive modeling has come a long way. It would be foolhardy to suggest that it’s a short step from predicting people’s political actions to pharmacovigilance, but it’s a hopeful step about the maturation and spread of these techniques.
Of course, the jury is still out on the Obama campaign—not to mention its data analytics prowess. Still, it’s an encouraging thought that amid the estimated $6 billion that some expect will be spent on the 2012 elections, some of that cash will be devoted to furthering data analytic techniques that could one day improve pharmacovigilance and prevent adverse events.
