Sumptuous Data Sciences
At the Intersection of Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Data

Data is the fuel that powers dynamic innovations in healthcare, leading to improved patient outcomes. The convergence of healthcare and pharmaceutical data paves the way for advanced drug development processes capable of addressing specific medicinal requirements and reducing the time-to-market for treatments.

Organizations seek to tap into the trove of structured and unstructured data and unleash their potential by converting them into insights that inform clinical decision-making. This calls for a competent data analysis service provider that can implement innovative methods to accelerate data processing, reduce cost, and improve quality.

This is where Sumptuous Data Sciences (SDS) distinguishes itself by offering a fresh outlook to data analysis. An ISO 9001-certified company, SDS delivers biostatistics and data operations services to bridge the gap between healthcare and clinical data analysis and management, addressing the requirements of various stakeholders, including pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organizations, patient foundations, focus groups, and specialized researchers.

SDS’s services have been important contributors to the healthcare sector, for instance, the data analytics processes in various new drug development programs from the pharma sector.

“The need to streamline healthcare and clinical data analysis gained a renewed focus during the development of the COVID-19 vaccine and patient treatment options. Taking place on a global scale, it involved the analysis of vast amounts of healthcare and clinical data collected from numerous data sources. It also created the need for redefining or taking a fresh look at existing processes, like how the data is analyzed, processed, and reported to regulatory bodies. We address these challenges by operating on both the healthcare and pharmaceutical fronts,” says Parag Shiralkar, president at SDS.

SDS’s team of experts collaborated with industry consortia and regulatory authorities to guide all stakeholders on the best practices to curate the data for effective analysis and reporting. Through this process, it has created a knowledge-sharing platform to help clients and prospective customers stay updated on the latest trends in the industry.

A Step-by-Step Approach to Data Science

Every project at SDS begins with biostatistics processes, which include clinical or healthcare research design, proposing statistical methodologies, performing data analysis, and accurate reporting and submission to regulatory bodies and other stakeholders.

The team offers data science services that involve the acquisition, curation, and migration of data. From a statistical programming perspective, SDS ensures the data is programmed in compliance with the standards required by regulatory bodies across the globe, like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Health Canada, Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, and European Medicines Agency.

SDS adopts innovative measures to prepare the data for the application of standardized processes and machine learning technologies.

This ensures that the submitted data is of high quality, from a verifiable source, testable, and involves no bias, enabling pharmaceutical companies to assess patient safety and the drug’s effectiveness before submission for regulatory approval.

As a functional service provider, SDS drives value for clients by optimizing costs, improving productivity, and ensuring the timely delivery of projects. Its methodology and solutions are geared toward facilitating the efficient execution of the business model and intellectual capital management in the field of data analytics.

In one instance, SDS applied its methodology to help a client use their patient registry data for rare diseases. As a specialized data solutions provider, it researched the available data and brought in subject matter experts to recommend the best methods for data curation and identify how the data can be analyzed for clinical outcomes assessment. It also made the data interoperable with clinical data standards accepted across the pharmaceutical industry, enabling the client to leverage the data to assess the patient’s quality of life and the burden on caregivers in the case of rare diseases.

A New Landmark in Clinical Drug Development

Developing innovative solutions that advance the usage of data in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries is the hallmark of SDS. One of its clients faced challenges with ingesting and processing electronic health record (EHR) data to develop a medicinal product. The EHR data does not follow the clinical data standards accepted by regulatory bodies. The SDS subject matter experts stepped in and performed an analysis and studied the properties of the data in the EHR. Following this, its experts established a set of data acquisition standards for the client.

We Build Innovation into Our Services Based on the Industry’s Progress and Use the Latest Technology Developments to Assist our Clients Most Efficiently

This project marked a significant milestone for SDS as it paved the way for the usage of EHR data in clinical drug development. The standards developed by its team were acceptable to the regulatory authorities, and it was one of the most unique and major regulatory submissions in the pharmaceutical industry. At the same time, it ensured that the data collected was unbiased, testable, accurate, and interoperable with clinical data standards.

Driving Innovation with a High-Performing Team

SDS’s knowledgeable staff has always been at the heart of its success. The majority of its employees have over ten years of experience in the healthcare industry and are capable of managing data analytics requirements across multiple therapeutic areas, including infectious disease, immunology, oncology, and neurology. By maintaining open and transparent relationships, the team has gained the trust of its clients.

It takes input from clients about further research and development. While interacting with regulatory bodies, the team gathers information on trends and applies them while serving its clients.

SDS also delivers one-of-a-kind services through its internal shark tank team. Every solution in its pipeline undergoes the process of ideation, prototype, and rollout. Through this process, it keeps its services aligned with the advancements in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry.

“We build innovation into our services based on the industry’s progress and use the latest technology developments to assist our clients most efficiently,” says Shiralkar. “If clients are unaware of certain industry process updates, SDS demonstrates the adaptability to the new processes on their end. Unless we see value in processes and services for clients, we do not propose them to our clients.”

“Net Revenue and Gross Margins are Secondary to us. Our Primary Indicator of Growth is how we Acquire Knowledge and Bring it to Bear to Best Serve our Clients”

Adopting a ‘think global, act local’ mentality, the team keeps in mind the requirements for the execution of all data analytics projects and adheres to the regulations on data privacy, security, and ownership. It takes a macro-level view of the challenges during the planning stage and executes its actions at a micro-level to ensure attention to detail while maintaining constant communication with all stakeholders.
SDS is technology savvy and agnostic at the same time. Instead of being fixated on one technology, it identifies how to best apply different software for analytics. Keeping this approach in mind, it has developed a training and development program to create a talented pool of employees who are not just experts in one programming language or analytic method but capable of delivering specialized solutions for every problem.

From Humble Beginnings to Global Operations

The vast experience brought by SDS’s leaders was key to setting up a culture of creativity to make a difference in the industry. The team began its operations in the U.S. and India and then expanded into Canada and other vicinities.

SDS aims to set up operations in Europe and Africa and is also looking to venture into allied fields in the data analytics space. The team continues to serve its clients with innovative services by taking up selective projects that help expand its knowledge of the latest processes.

“Our roadmap is focused on increasing the knowledge gained during a data lifecycle. Net revenue and gross margins are secondary to us. Our primary indicator of growth is how we acquire knowledge and bring it to bear to best serve our clients,” says Shiralkar.