Investing and innovating in the next era of immunology

The below includes insights from our webinar guests, Dr. Rubin, Dr. Silverberg and Dr. Weinblatt.

Immunology healthcare delivery is at an inflection point. The industry must make strategic decisions on where to innovate and how to invest along the immunology care delivery spectrum. Rising trial scale, patient prevalence and shrinking practice team staff and capacity have contributed to widening supply and demand gaps. At the same time, wearables and other digital technologies are driving consumer behavior, and AI is increasingly being used to automate how practice teams provide care.

When these trends are combined, they reveal the emergence of pathway transformation and management (PTM) solutions, which have two critical elements:

1. An intelligent set of protocols or tools that can transform care delivery through early identification of at-risk patients, drive care delivery to be proactive rather than reactive and improve end-to-end patient management
2. Last-mile management infrastructure that deploys these protocols or tools to track and improve outcomes holistically through electronic health records or other digitally connected services

There is a unique opportunity here for PTM solutions to solve workflow challenges at scale by leveraging digital- and AI-led technologies. Many innovative interventions already exist across the immunology spectrum—scalability, however, has been limited to pilots or few sites of care due to challenges like market access and workflow automation.

Recently, we spoke to a panel of experts from different healthcare specializations about immunology. The panel included Dr. David Rubin, section chief of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition at University of Chicago Medicine; Dr. Michael Weinblatt, professor of medicine, co-director of clinical disease rheumatology and associate director of the Center for Arthritis & Joint Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School; and Dr. Jonathan Silverberg, professor in dermatology at The George Washington University. Below we look at some of their standout insights.

The key arc of evolution of the gastroenterological patient journey revolves around adopting a treat-to-target mindset through proactive monitoring techniques that reduce hospitalization rates. Precision diagnostics and therapies, the widespread adoption of noninvasive monitoring alternatives (like intestinal ultrasound) and empowering advanced practice providers for additional proactive workload management are all key enablers.

Dr. Rubin discussed IBD Qorus, a quality-of-care initiative comprising protocols that have led to practical approaches in patient care while reducing resource utilization at over 30 sites in the U.S. He also talked about point-of-care testing using ultrasound monitoring, which delivers time savings by eliminating the wait time for stool sample reviews while providing visual assessments that enhance patients’ understanding of their conditions.

Advancing the treat-to-target mindset sooner and more precisely has become critical due to emerging therapeutic options in the rheumatological patient journey. Dr. Weinblatt noted that, to improve the treatment pace amid healthcare staff shortages, the role of advanced practitioners is evolving quickly alongside improved triaging and early scheduling of at-risk patients—reducing wait times from over six months to see a specialist. Another step toward faster management uses tests for therapeutic response rates and advances comorbidity assessments through joint rheumatology-cardiology and rheumatology-dermatology clinics for holistic care delivery.

Digital technologies are enhancing quality-of-care management holistically while helping care teams achieve better outcomes in dermatology. Dr. Silverberg discussed how digital interventions in many cases will be adopted to improve diagnosis and severity assessment across various chronic inflammatory diseases. These innovations help patients predict flares driven by environmental factors and improve therapy adherence—significantly enhancing their care experience. Dr. Silverberg also noted that broader adoption of multidisciplinary clinics that bring together specialists like dermatologists, allergists and rheumatologists can help in managing comorbid conditions.

Scalability remains an issue in bringing innovations to life. Building business models around these innovations also remains a challenge. The panel discussed in detail how community adoption will be driven by actively sharing best practices across centers while deploying protocols and point-of-care solutions through end-to-end care management mindsets. There remains a need for innovation around new reimbursement models that can advance treatments while reducing healthcare system costs and improving outcomes.

Watch the full 45-minute webinar on demand for the full discussion.

The webinar covers:

• The key trends driving evolution across immunology
• How cutting-edge technologies and treatments will optimize patient outcomes amidst evolving care dynamics
• How GLP-1 agonist utilization is affecting the treatment and management of autoimmune conditions
• Opportunities for pharma companies looking to innovate