Demystifying Metaverse for Pharmaceutical Industry – ‘Change your Game Plan – 2030’

With a passion for mentoring and an expert on pharma brand management, he’s guided over thousand’s of brand manager’s with his book and career counselling. Mr. Khandpekar, collaborated with us to provide a detailed insight about how Metaverse profoundly influences Pharmaceutical industry, stressing its pivotal role and promising prospects.

Demystify Metaverse for Pharma brands with an eminent Industry leader 

Let’s look around what is already happening in the Medical industry

The metaverse, the digital world’s Next Big Thing, is touted as the internet domain where animated avatars of our physical selves will be able to virtually do all sorts of interactivities. Healthcare industry is also utilizing its essential components. Meta and Microsoft glasses like Oculus and HoloLens are already being used in key medical technology applications, from design of medical tools to surgical procedures. “It’s like having a GPS navigator in front of your eyes,” Timothy Witham, M.D., director of the Johns Hopkins Neurosurgery Spinal Fusion Laboratory, said after conducting the institution’s first-ever augmented reality surgery in June 2021.

Since Meta Platforms acquired Oculus and its VR headset technology in 2014 for $2 billion, numerous health-care applications have been developed since then. One of the latest was a collaboration with Meta Reality Labs and Nexus Studios and the WHO Academy where a mobile learning application was created for nearly 22,000 healthcare workers combating Covid-19 globally that included training modules utilizing augmented reality (AR) to demonstrate correct procedures for wearing and removing personal protective equipment.

Oculus technology is used at UConn Health, the University of Connecticut’s medical centre in Farmington, Connecticut that offers VR training and educational modules in Orthopedics. HoloLens 2 by Microsoft provided an opportunity in evolving OR (Operating Room) design from 2D to 3D so well that Stryker engineers were able to design shared ORs (Operating Rooms) with the use of holograms creating MR experience.

Zimmer Biomet, a Warsaw, Indiana-based medical device company, recently unveiled its OptiVu Mixed Reality Solutions platform.

So, a lot has been happening around the world and its worth the hype when we see its application in different sectors in Healthcare Industry.

When it comes to Pharma Industry, I believe Metaverse, holds immense potential. It stands at the forefront of transforming how pharma brands interact with their stakeholders today and contribute to the future of healthcare.

Today, pharmaceutical companies are leveraging augmented and virtual reality to create experiences and communicate medical information. For example, using virtual or augmented reality to help doctors or family members experience conditions like migraines — GlaxoSmithKline’s Excedrin brand built what became an award-winning VR headset experience to simulate migraine for sufferers’ loved ones. Another similar example is Klick Health’s SymPulse empathy device that stimulates the muscles and nerves in a person’s arm to replicate a Parkinson’s disease patient’s tremors.

Moving ahead with biggest lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension, will get complete coverage and monitoring in the best possible way as we move ahead with Metaverse. It will be useful in elucidating complex drug mechanisms, simulate clinical trials, enhance medical training, and facilitate remote consultations. This immersive digital realm enables innovative approaches to engage healthcare professionals and educate the public, ultimately advancing healthcare understanding, accessibility, and patient outcomes.

In my views, undoubtedly metaverse has opened new doors of possibilities and developments in the field of science, technology, and healthcare – and pharma is no exception. Metaverse is introducing new horizons for the entire Industry.

When Apple introduced ‘ios’ operating system as a closed loop, it faced huge resistance within the Company, everyone had a doubt on the idea. Today when we look back it has offered so many competitive advantages over everyone else in the market. It offers best in everything, and yet it keeps on reinventing. Steve Jobs had a kind of vision resembling the essence of what the metaverse represents today, Reinvention & Transformation.

Pharma brands can now utilize the metaverse to enhance and transform medical communication through interactive and immersive platforms, which was largely dependent on print media traditionally, could streamline the Clinical trials by introducing the possibility of digital twin, act as a platform to gain Consumer Insights & create Market Research through Patient engagement and support groups and what not!!. It presents endless opportunities. However, the niche is yet to bloom as it presents lucrative avenues for Pharmaceutical Industry. The technology exists, the transformative impact lies in its integrated application in various components in the Pharma Industry.

One such component is Pharma Marketing. Pharma Marketing will evolve on all parameters. Eventually BHARAT(India) will be a mix of everything ( Metaverse, Omnichannel, Digital & Traditional Marketing Practices). Yet in next 10-15 years metaverse will change things around the world. Pharma Marketing will have to master all of the above to do well.

But how exactly Metaverse would reinvent Pharma Marketing? I think one of the biggest and early use cases of Metaverse in Pharma marketing would be Brand Interaction & events. Conducting medical training, disease treatment initiatives, educational modules, and highlighting the benefits of drugs for related health conditions by utilizing interactive metaverse platforms, pharmaceutical companies and brands can arrange virtual industry gatherings, reaching out to healthcare professionals (HCPs), patients, and consumers alike.

Another touchpoint would be Brand Marketing activities & advertising where Pharma Companies have the potential to expand their reach to patients using innovative ways such as sponsored content, virtual billboards, immersive gaming experiences, and virtual conferences within Metaverse. The Marketing activities would be more focused on value added inputs & services in coming years. The entire game and tactics of marketing will evolve differently ( biggest challenge ).

However, with a career spanning over two decades in the pharmaceutical industry, I’ve witnessed a significant transformation in the approach to pharmaceutical marketing. The landscape has changed significantly, embracing innovative approaches to adapt to changing consumer behaviour, technological advancements, and regulatory shifts. Telemedicine / Remote medicine intent changed from covid pandemic 43% to 96% today for appointment presence. Multiple patients prefer remote approach due to waste of waiting time at clinic. Every act will be in favour of patient centricity. Metaverse will ease that.

The growth of omni-channel marketing has given pharmaceutical companies a lot of information about customers and how their operations work. With the Metaverse, these companies can use this data to make experiences that are even better. It’s like breaking the rules of space and time, making sure customers get experiences that are very real, at the right time, fair to everyone, and just for them.

Having said that, I think it’s important to strategize Customer centric approach in Pharma Marketing to leverage Metaverse. Because Pharma Companies these days face major issues in creating digital Customer experiences. Doctor-focused communities or platforms established by pharmaceutical companies often face challenges with limited active users and poor retention rates. Doctors usually lack the expertise to comprehend the specialized product information provided by pharmaceutical companies in its entirety. Communication and interactions with customers tend to be one-sided. Doctors often take a more passive role during online “question and answer” sessions.

So, I would recommend making use of virtual solutions and expand spaces with immersive experiences like gamification to increase Product awareness or promoting scientific research with Competitive games, creating VR experiences to deliver multi-dimensional content that is legible. The combination of the Metaverse in Pharma industry is poised to bring about a step change in customer engagement.

Moreover, I think Pharma industry should be investing in and considering the metaverse as an upcoming form of communication. Because the way in which technology is changing, it is offering a lot of opportunities for Pharma companies to interact with doctors and other healthcare providers. The Metaverse, a new and exciting digital world, allows the healthcare industry to be a pioneer in creating new and better ways for people to access and experience healthcare. It’s like being at the forefront of a big wave of cool and helpful ideas, even more than other kinds of businesses. An integration of medicine world and prescription world will be seen because of metaverse.

I can clearly see that medical doctor visits and pharma communication will shift its entirety to appointment based, virtual, only those companies with value added services, a lot of credibility, with great quality products ( which are already linked with practice / molecule/ metaverse pharmacy ) and highly trained avatar’s instead of human intervention. Its coming. 

Applications are immense. With the use of Telepresence, Digital Twinning , Blockchain, VR, AR, MR & Game Theory will see many advances coming in metaverse. Remote Visits, streamlining of visits, Geographical limitations getting eliminated, Patient customisation, Surgery, Proactive approach in surgical trainings, medical education training, para medical staff training, medicine training etc.

Pharmaceutical companies are poised to seize a host of opportunities within the metaverse. They can engage in virtual health consultations, spread health education, conduct clinical trials, showcase products, create health communities, offer virtual pharmacies and telemedicine, collaborate for drug discovery, utilize gamification for engagement, promote brands, and gather valuable user insights for targeted strategies and personalized healthcare solutions. The metaverse offers a multifaceted arena for pharmaceutical companies to innovate, engage, educate, and elevate the healthcare experience for all stakeholders involved, and the future seems to be promising.

Metaverse will change the things the way it is done now. To gain momentum Metaverse will have to be championed with lot of integration with different companies, agencies, government, shared practices, hospitals, medical universities, lawmakers etc. Nearly One trillion $ economy of digital universe is already in the pipeline globally. Disruptive brands and practices in every sector will come in eventually. Finally, what the end customer will benefit from Metaverse will be of significance.

The future holds immense potential for Pharma brands within Metaverse. It stands as a groundbreaking frontier where Pharma brands can lead in shaping a future that prioritizes accessible, engaging, and impactful healthcare interactions. Things are moving. So will medical metaverse.

Stay connected with UserEx if you are looking for best Customer Experience strategy for your Pharma brand or Metaverse development services. We are leading the transformation of Medical Communication in the Healthcare Industry leveraging Metaverse, thereby creating a good customer experience and engagement for all the stakeholders. Reach out to us for designing and implementing the best strategy for your Pharma brand.