s we begin the new year, DIA launches a new Thought Catalyst Framework that builds on our longstanding work to progress innovation and efficiency, and adds new dimensions to drive content, in response to recent global “disruptions” that have altered the landscape of our ecosystem in significant ways.

Since our founding in response to the thalidomide crisis, DIA has focused on critical issues in the medical product development pipeline and on bringing together stakeholders who identify challenges and mobilize to develop and implement solutions. DIA is the membership collective that comes together to solve problems that negatively impact efficiency in the product development lifecycle.

Two major disruptive forces became major drivers for future innovation—the COVID-19 pandemic and the ability to collect and evaluate large data sets—and caused us to reevaluate our content strategy and update our Thought Catalyst framework for 2023 and beyond. Thought Catalyst is DIA’s framework for prioritizing and creating new content in the context of the medical product development lifecycle and is focused on core areas referred to as “thought streams.”

These Thought Catalyst thought streams have historically been patient engagement, pharmacovigilance, regulatory science, value and access, and translational medicine. Our updated content strategy expanded our traditional content pillars to include two new thought streams: institutionalizing innovation, and data in clinical development.

• Data in Clinical Development. Support integration of data from diverse sources and use of advanced analytics to enable increased efficiency in bringing new products and solutions to market.
• Institutionalizing Innovation. Identify how to apply adaptations that allow for continuity and added efficiency during disruptions to meet patient needs without interruption.
• Patient Engagement. Establish and advance the rightful place of patient involvement in the healthcare product cycle, in clinical research and clinical care, in developed and developing markets.
• Pharmacovigilance. Serve as industry’s primary reliable platform for sharing and developing pharmacovigilance thought leadership and resources.
• Regulatory Science. Support the science of regulatory decision making and increase efficiencies by promoting regulatory reliance and convergence.
• Translational Medicine. Help close the gap between academic and government-funded research and clinical development that advances therapies to patients.
• Value & Access. Contribute to the evolution of sustainable and affordable access to medicines, including what kind of evidence may support value assessment.

Although thought streams define priorities and problems that DIA is focused on solving, they are not discrete entities, but they interconnect along the continuum of therapeutic development. Content from one stream will overlap with and influence another, creating true “DIA sweet spots” for DIA members interested in the multidimensional aspects of innovation in product development and market access. Digital innovations, integrating new forms of data, decentralized clinical trials, advanced analytics, and other new approaches hold enormous potential to make the process of bringing a new medicine to market more time- and cost-efficient. But integrating these new approaches requires new ways of working, regulating, and collaborating to ensure success.

What can you expect from this Framework? The “thought streams” will be reflected in our publications (TIRS and Global Forum), our podcasts, our Conferences and Annual Meetings, our Trainings, DIA NOW, and much more. They will drive, inspire, and inform. They will draw you in.

DIA is the collective of our staff, communities, members, and volunteers who believe that by working together we can create efficiency and accelerate equitable health innovation for all. To get more involved, please reach out to any DIA staff member or through science@DIAglobal.org.