After many years building successful technology businesses, Jeremy Sohn never imagined that at 43 he would find himself on the payroll of a big pharmaceutical company.
But 18 months ago he was appointed global head of digital business development and licensing at Swiss drugmaker Novartis. His appointment is evidence of how an industry, slow to respond to the disruption of digitisation, is grasping its importance as it confronts pricing pressures, ever-vaster quantities of patient data and more empowered consumers.