Pharma, healthcare among sectors disrupted by global IT outage
WASHINGTON D.C., UNITED STATES — The recent IT outage caused by a software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, which subsequently affected Microsoft services, has had varying impacts on pharmaceutical companies and the U.S. healthcare sector.
While some pharma companies are still assessing the damage, others have reported minimal disruption to their operations.
Meanwhile, the healthcare sector has faced significant challenges, with hospitals and emergency services experiencing major disruptions.
Healthcare systems face major challenges
According to a Fierce Healthcare report, several healthcare facilities reported disruptions to clinical systems, leading to the cancellation of non-urgent medical visits.
Mass General Brigham said the worldwide software outage affected many of its systems, impacting providers’ access to clinical systems, including patient health records and scheduling. The health system canceled all non-urgent medical visits at all of its hospitals and clinics on Friday.
Kaiser Permanente activated its national command center to address the incident and coordinate recovery efforts.
“In some situations, we have activated backup systems to support both continuous patient care and to secure access to medical records,” said Steve Shivinsky, director of national media relations at Kaiser Permanente.
Varied impact on pharmaceutical companies
Biogen reported that approximately 5% to 10% of its individual computers were affected by the CrowdStrike issue. However, the company has not identified any significant business continuity concerns.
“Our global IT team is in the process of restoring impacted systems and proactively checking for any other impacts,” a Biogen spokesperson told Fierce Pharma.
Amgen, another CrowdStrike customer, is currently assessing the impact of the outage. In a statement, the California-based company said that they are “working to recover impacted systems as quickly as possible.
British drugmaker AstraZeneca reported no significant impact from the outage, emphasizing that its supply chain remains robust. “We continue to assess and monitor the situation closely,” AstraZeneca stated.
Meanwhile, GSK has been working to resolve issues related to the Microsoft outage but declined to provide further comments.
Several other major pharmaceutical companies, including Novartis, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Roche’s Genentech, confirmed that their operations were not affected by the IT outage.
“Novartis is not using CrowdStrike software, and we are monitoring the situation closely,” a Novartis spokesperson said. Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk reported business as usual.
Broader context and response
The widespread IT outage has been linked to a software update from CrowdStrike that caused Windows systems to malfunction.
CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz clarified that the incident was not due to a cyberattack and that a fix has been deployed. Microsoft estimated that 8.5 million Windows devices were affected, representing less than one percent of all Windows machines.
Tech companies like Dell Technologies, HCLTech, and Wipro have previously partnered with Crowdstrike to boost their cybersecurity capabilities.
The IT outage has had a mixed impact on the pharmaceutical industry and significant disruptions in the healthcare sector. The incident underscores the interconnected nature of modern IT systems and the critical importance of robust cybersecurity measures.
