The biggest annual conference of its type in Europe, this is an event I was looking forward to and I was especially pleased to see it was taking place in Dublin this year. Along with my colleagues Richard Brown (CSC Consultant) and Ian Brady (Executive Director, Pharmacovigilance), these RQA conferences are a great opportunity to step out of my day-to-day role and put a face to the name, meeting and greeting people in person. To really take the pulse of the QA community, to get a sense of exactly where our sector might be headed.
Titled ‘Technology & Innovation in Quality: A Brave New World’, it was no surprise that again, AI was one of the the hot topics – and I suspect it could be the same thing next year too. Is AI here to stay? It’s undoubtedly a resounding ‘yes’, although like the industry view as a whole, with reservation. As you’d expect, it’s far from a black and white issue.
Potentially, AI blows the future wide open. For instance, one keynote speaker revealed several revolutionary applications we could be seeing in the pharmaceutical mainstream within the next few years. The use of AI to identify cancer markers in tissue biopsies with a greater level of accuracy and speed than a human.
The key is to ensure AI can validate to the extent we can still achieve our compliance goals. We’re getting glimpses of that already, in how we see huge datasets interrogated in a fraction of the time we’re traditionally used to. AI’s already proving to be an important support tool when guided by the human hand.
But is it ready to make those crucial patient safety decisions? Those calls that could mean the difference between life and death? Although we at ADAMAS are excited about what it could do for healthcare in the future, I’m not convinced just yet. And judging by the feedback at the conference, I’m not alone in that. But watch this space because whether it happens tomorrow or in 10 years’ time, we’re going to see substantial change in the way we do things.
Otherwise, we spent a lot of time on the ADAMAS stand talking to a mix of existing clients as well as potential new ones. Because we’re one of few players globally in our field that offers dedicated, full time experts. It means our clients get the best possible service, because they know our people are invested, and in it for the long-term. After all, ADAMAS has been the leading provider of QA services and consulting for over 22 years, and we’ve conducted QA projects in 100 different countries for more than 750 clients all over the world. So it was really nice for Richard, Ian and myself to get some live feedback!
And of course, the event’s over-riding theme of ‘Technology & Innovation in Quality: A Brave New World’, aligns perfectly with our own Quality Assurance innovations here at ADAMAS, including our Computer System Compliance (CSC) services and our “Insights” benchmarking tool. Visit www.adamasconsulting.com and see for yourself.
