As payers around the world try to figure out how to get spiraling healthcare costs under control, big data has been hailed as a silver bullet.  The underlying premise is that, with enough data and enough analysis, we can figure out how to best treat patients for the least amount of money.  It’s becoming clear that if payers, providers and regulatory agencies are beginning to look into this data, medical product makers will need to have data of their own in order to avoid being left behind.

As various stakeholders have begun aggregating data, it’s clear that having the data in and of itself is not enough.  Data aggregation matters much less than how the data is used.  There are numerous opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to use big data.  For example, they can use this data to assess products currently on the market to investigate anecdotal claims about alternative uses, verify possible side effects that didn’t appear in a controlled setting, or to confirm the existence of unmet market needs.