Look back - 2023 CNS Summit Digital Innovation Index 10-1 Countdown:

The competition for leadership in digital healthcare is fierce, and the next few years promise even more exciting developments. Stay informed as we reveal the top players in the CNS Summit Digital Innovation Index. 

Here we share the 2023 top ten. Explaining last year's ranking and highlighting the top performers in Digital Innovation.

10) Bristol-Myers Squibb: BMS leveraged AI collaborations to expand digital pipelines and enhance clinical trials, reinforcing its supply chain through strategic acquisitions. 

9) Gilead: Gilead’s innovative CARAMA program, focused on CAR-T remote patient monitoring, allowed earlier detection and improved patient care. 

8) Bayer: By integrating Apple Watch technology for Parkinson’s monitoring and developing cardiovascular AI tools, Bayer secured its second consecutive top-ten finish. 

7) Eli Lilly: The launch of Tempo, a fully digital diabetes management platform, has kept Eli Lilly at the forefront of innovation in a competitive market. 

6) Sanofi: Sanofi’s partnerships with Flatiron and Owkin have allowed the company to reshape clinical trials and drug discovery using AI, solidifying its position as a leader in digital healthcare. 

5) Astellas – Powered by a plethora of collaborations, Astellas earned its first top ten finish within the Index last year. Headlined by a deal with Sony, the two companies began exploring novel antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs) to provide better targeted anti-cancer drug delivery. In another collaboration centered on novel antibody discovery, Astellas entered into an agreement with Twist Bioscience to seek out antibodies in multiple therapy areas utilizing Twist Bioscience’s extensive expertise in DNA synthesis technology.  

Astellas also pushed to get an edge in the competitive diabetes market in their home market of Japan. By joining the fray alongside Roche Diabetes Care Japan under an agreement to commercialize Roche Diabetes Care’s glucose monitoring system (Accu- Chek Guide Me) in combination with BlueStar, a digital health solution for diabetics (currently marketed in the US and Canada). Astellas also joined forces with Mitsui Fudosan to build an innovation hub located in Japan which is dedicated to tumor microenvironment research, with state-of-the-art machine learning technologies and research equipment.  

4) Pfizer held a strong fourth place in last year’s ranking, continuing its investment in digital tools for patient diagnosis and monitoring. A highlight of the year was the launch of its collaboration with Sidekick Health, introducing a digital therapeutic solution for atopic dermatitis (AD) in the EU and Japan. This platform uses gamification to improve patient adherence, and with Pfizer’s acquisition of ResApp, more remote monitoring tools for respiratory diseases are expected. 

Despite easing its clinical efforts slightly, Pfizer formed a significant partnership with Truveta, gaining access to a vast real-world patient database to advance research and care. Internally, Pfizer made strides by creating a team focused on AI and machine learning, expanding its Center for Digital Innovation, and announcing plans for a “virtual factory” to enhance manufacturing and supply chain processes. 

3) Boehringer Ingelheim – Last year, Boehringer Ingelheim launched several initiatives, from AI-driven collaborations to optimizing clinical trials, while maintaining its strong commitment to R&D. These efforts, combined with organizational transformations to integrate digital tools, helped the company rise to third place in the Index. Last year alone, Boehringer Ingelheim invested €5 billion in R&D, including deals with RetinAI to use AI for geographic atrophy and PhoreMost to explore new targets across its pipeline. 

The company achieved a major milestone by becoming the first in the pharmaceutical industry to automate Veeva CRM, saving 84% of time in its customer engagement processes. Boehringer Ingelheim also integrated technology into its clinical trials, such as a pilot for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) that used wearable devices to remotely monitor patients’ symptoms. This tech-driven approach is helping to advance the understanding of IPF and accelerate therapy development. 

In neurology, Boehringer Ingelheim extended its partnership with Click Therapeutics to develop a prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) for schizophrenia, building on their 2020 collaboration. The company also funded studies evaluating digital health technologies, including an app for early stroke detection and a comprehensive study on managing congestive heart failure with novel digital tools. 

2) Roche - Roche remained as a mainstay in last year’s Index, finishing as a strong runner-up. Building on its previous achievements, Roche continued to form significant collaborations, securing its leading position and top score in commercialization. Key partnerships included a multi-year alliance with Sysnav Healthcare to use movement tracking technology for patients with neuromuscular disorders and a collaboration with Domo Health to develop a digital health solution predicting respiratory failure in spinal muscular atrophy patients. 

Roche also made strides in infrastructure, breaking ground on its Roche Accelerator building in Shanghai, designed to foster AI and digital innovation in diagnostics and personalized healthcare. Internally, it unified its digital health brands under the Navify umbrella, which offers digital solutions and infrastructure to expand its reach to healthcare providers and patients. 

The company continued to explore deep learning applications in clinical research, with studies focused on predicting geographic atrophic lesions in ophthalmic disease and creating models to identify therapeutic opportunities in untreated conditions. Roche also concluded a study in synthetic data, conducted in collaboration with Statice, revealing promising insights into using synthetic data as a substitute for real patient data, indicating future developments in this area.  

1) AstraZeneca - AstraZeneca made a remarkable leap to claim first place in last year’s index, rising from tenth place due to its significant digital investments and initiatives in the clinical space. A key driver of this success was AstraZeneca's use of AI in drug target discovery, highlighted by collaborations with Illumina, using AI tools to identify genetic variations, and with Insilico Medicine, employing digital twin technology to optimize drug development. AstraZeneca also partnered with the University of Sheffield to develop AI technology aimed at reducing costs and accelerating drug discovery. 

In addition to AI for research, AstraZeneca explored its application in patient diagnosis and management. A standout project with Clinithink developed AI capable of deciphering unstructured medical notes to identify high-risk lung cancer patients. Other collaborations included working with Idoven to detect cardiovascular disease using AI and teaming up with Ibex Medical Analytics and Daiichi Sankyo to improve breast cancer diagnosis through AI-based HER2 scoring. 

AstraZeneca rounded out its efforts with an €800M investment in a new R&D center in Spain and the launch of the Africa Health Innovation Hub, aiming to improve healthcare access for up to a billion people by 2025. With its broad range of digital partnerships and investments in key therapeutic areas like oncology, cardiovascular, and renal disease, AstraZeneca’s focus on future innovation and drug discovery secured its top position in the Index.