Roche Australia: GC03 Challenge Provider Spotlight
Roche Australia is a Challenge Provider in round 03 of the GRAVITY Challenge. They came to GRAVITY asking innovators how real-time satellite data could support supply chain management to drive better access to healthcare services and supply. In other words, helping Roche ensure their patients get the life saving treatments they need, when and as they need it, no matter where they are. Over the past six month, Roche has been working with innovator team Seanasol Consortium, on a solution to this issue.
With such an important challenge in a time of continued disruption, we wanted to hear from Roche about why participating in GRAVITY was so important to them.
Who is Roche and what do you do?
Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, as well as growing capabilities in the area of data-driven medical insights help Roche deliver truly personalised healthcare. Roche is working with partners across the healthcare sector to provide the best care for each person.
Roche is one of the world’s largest biotech companies, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also a world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. In recent years, Roche has invested in genomic profiling and real-world data partnerships and has become an industry-leading partner for medical insights.
Roche’s pharmaceutical division in Australia employs over 300 people who are dedicated to pioneering life-changing healthcare for every Australian via the clinical development, registration, sales, marketing and distribution of innovative pharmaceutical medicines. Australian patients have access to around 40 Roche medicines and Roche is a continued leader in oncology.
Why did Roche want to be involved in the GRAVITY Challenge?
Collaboration and partnership are at the centre of our innovation journey, which is why we're delighted to be taking part in the GRAVITY Challenge. We are excited to be working with Innovators to explore how real-time satellite data can support our supply change management to drive better access to healthcare services and supplies.
Why is the Roche Challenge so important to the organisation?
At Roche, we are committed to pioneering life-changing healthcare for every Australian. We want to continue to support patients in gaining appropriate access to healthcare services and supplies, in order to improve health outcomes.
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the disruption that can take place in the healthcare supply chain, in response to a significant event. Leveraging the power of satellite data could potentially help us to make better decisions on the ground - utilising information about various ports around the world, identifying where the biggest challenges are, and using data to anticipate issues and reroute material flows to minimise disruption to healthcare supply.
Ensuring better access to healthcare services and supplies is critical to maintain, given the value to the Australian healthcare system. It’s so important that a patient is able to access the medication they need, when they need it, to manage their condition and improve health outcomes.
What surprised Roche about using space technology to solve issues on earth?
The GRAVITY Challenge encouraged collaborative partnerships, a vision that we strongly connect with. We were excited to be partnered with The Seanasol Consortium, and formed a small, talented team of experts from geoscience, healthcare, and supply chains from across different industries. The team quickly recognised that the challenges at the supply chain level needed greater understanding, to identify barriers that contribute to medicine access. In particular, these challenges were natural disasters like floods and bushfires, events that are unfortunately familiar to Australia.
Natural disasters can happen at any time, and it’s important organisations like Roche, who have complex supply chains, are prepared. While space technology is observing these events, the information is either stored or fragmented into separate services. The team we’re working with are looking to fill this gap and create better access to climate warnings that will help us to anticipate and manage any potential supply chain issues.