Commentary

The COVID-19 pandemic is testing hospitals and healthcare systems across the globe like never before. Public hospitals’ emergency and intensive care units have swollen to capacity whilst the resources for elective and outpatient care are redirected to aid urgent functions.

The huge advances seen in healthcare over the past 50 years are among the greatest achievements of modern science. As a result we are living longer than ever.

As the second-most commonly reported Healthcare Acquired Infection (HAI), surgical site infections (SSIs) are a significant cause of negative outcomes, with the incidence in low- and middle-income countries reported at more than 10%.

Just last week, researchers in Singapore achieved a milestone in healthcare: they created the world’s largest genetic databank of Asian populations. Thanks to sequencing data of around 5,000 Singaporeans, scientists and doctors will now be able to better diagnose rare diseases and find the causes of chronic ailments.

There is little doubt that the Asia Pacific region represents a key growth ambition for the majority of Life Sciences companies. Statistics around unmet healthcare needs are well-known and, as the saying “necessity is the mother of innovation” goes to show, the Asia Pacific has an opportunity to leapfrog the West when it comes to novel therapies and approaches to market access. But at the same time, cost control and compliance remain sizeable challenges.

Over the next decade, an estimated $2t investment into Universal Health Coverage (UHC) schemes is expected to land in Asia. The developing markets in the region have traditionally under-funded healthcare at a rate of about 5% of GDP (compared to the average of 12% in OECD countries like Australia and Japan). Whilst some emerging markets in Asia continue to grapple with lingering infection control, all are shifting focus to the more advanced lifestyle diseases.

Many speak of the “war” for talent arising across the globe, including in the Asia Pacific and as it pertains to the Life Sciences industry. Whilst indeed there is a level of scarcity in certain roles and regions (though arguably public healthcare provision is much more in need than the private sector), the battle-like mentality does not take full advantage of the broader industry shift toward collaborations and alliances. According to KPMG 2018 Global CEO Survey, 61% of Life Sciences CEOs intend to work in consortia models going forward (compared to a 49% cross-industry average).

Singapore remains a leader in making healthcare more accessible for its growing pioneer generation. The focus now is likely to shift towards taking the digital route to making healthcare more affordable and accessible. 

In the last decade, “big data” and “data & analytics” dominated the life sciences sector, and with increasing digitisation and liberation of data, the sharing of medical information will take center stage going forward. But it comes with great responsibility, particularly from a security and privacy perspective because health data is highly valued, especialty by hackers.

Rapid technological advancement in recent years has placed affordable genetic testing in the hands of consumers and the global direct-to-consumer genetic testing (DTC-GT) market is forecast to be worth over US$1bn by 2020.

Diagnostics play a vital role in spotting health problems and informing medical interventions. However, despite rising demand in most of the world’s largest healthcare economies, many diagnostics companies struggle against commoditization as governments face increasing pressure to move from volume to value-based contracting and to encourage more preventive, healthy behaviors of the population. These very same pressures also present opportunities as diagnostics companies can be the central link between healthcare products and services.

The United Nations (UN) has set a goal to achieve “Health for All” by 2030 and while 193 countries have signed up to it, more than one billion people still lack access to basic healthcare. If every country without universal health coverage (UHC) is to increase their health spending per capita to the average OECD levels by 2030, it would mean total global health spending will have to increase by 400% or an additional US$27 trillion over today’s budgets. Such investment is clearly beyond the means of low- and middle-income countries but, according to Dr. Mark Britnell, KPMG Global Head of Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare, “we can’t go back on the aspirations of UHC. It’s too difficult for governments to say they don’t believe in UHC”.