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The Evolution of Pharma Market Research

The past few years have ushered in a seismic shift in the pharmaceutical industry.

From billion-dollar, government-funded research initiatives to a renewed focus on manufacturing new technologies, there’s no shortage of lucrative investment opportunities in every sector of the industry.    

To capitalize on strategic growth, pharma organizations and investors need to stay up to date on the market-moving trends, shifts, and developments that are shaping the industry landscape.

An increasing number of pharma professionals are relying on market intelligence platforms to stay on top of these movements while providing the tools they need to devise a business or investment strategy. 

By taking a more proactive—rather than reactive—approach to research, organizations can leverage better-informed strategies to stay ahead of their competitors.

How Pharmaceutical Market Research Is Changing

Historically, market research methods in the pharmaceutical industry involved relying on historical datasets and manually searching for information from incomplete and disparate sources.

The tedious, time-consuming, and often unreliable process of gathering relevant data points and documents and then separating useful insights from the noise is a herculean task in today’s age of information overload.

Yet, this was the status quo for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies until the advent of technologically advanced market intelligence platforms . These tools turned a monumental task into a cakewalk by exponentially increasing the accuracy, breadth, and depth of conducted research.  

However, it took the COVID-19 pandemic for companies to understand the true value of these tools. As speed became tantamount in the race to solve the public health crisis, traditional methods of research became obsolete. Staying on top of the latest regulatory actions, clinical trials, drug developments, and FDA approvals was an essential component to engineer a vaccine against the virus.

In addition to the sheer volume of information researchers had to wade through, regulatory sites are notoriously difficult to navigate. These factors only made keeping informed and finding answers even more time-consuming. 

In today’s interconnected world, pharma professionals need to understand more than just diseases and treatments. 

The events of the last four years have highlighted the importance of having a solid understanding of global supply chains, remote working trends, sales and marketing constraints, the effectiveness of personal protective equipment, the impact of social distancing on consumer behavior, and much more. 

Today, the best approach to market research is rooted in speed, efficiency, and thoroughness—qualities that are integral in every industry, but none more so than the pharmaceutical space.

That’s why an AI-powered market intelligence platform that not only provides access to all the right data, but also helps you quickly filter out the key insights from the noise, is critical for forward-thinking pharma organizations.

Related Reading: Top Pharma Trends to Watch in 2024

Artificial Intelligence in Pharmaceutical Market Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) is improving not only the quality of results from the market research process, but increasing the speed at which it’s done. AI search technology can quickly extract the relevant market data needed to identify trends and patterns that would otherwise be impossible for humans to detect using manual processes alone.  

Compared to the time and expenses associated with manual research, platforms that leverage AI search technology offer an exponentially higher ROI to any market research process. 

In fact, advancements in AI have even made it possible  to understand the context and purpose behind your search terms. The AlphaSense platform uses machine learning to expand your query, delivering the most relevant results available on your topic using  Smart Synonyms™ technology .  

Whether it’s information about a competitor’s new products, market segmentation, customer insights, pricing benchmarks, or financial performance, market research platforms that utilize the power of AI are revolutionizing strategic planning processes, product development decisions, and investment strategy.

Organizations that transition their market research and competitive intelligence processes onto a market intelligence platform instantly gain a competitive edge, regardless of how they choose to use it.  With a modernized market research process, organizations can easily identify outcomes that matter to different stakeholder groups, gain insights to inform future business decisions, or monitor clinical pipelines with minimal effort.

Conducting Pharmaceutical Market Research With AlphaSense

AlphaSense is a leading market intelligence platform for life sciences professionals and investors. Our platform sets itself apart with its extensive content universe—spanning company documents, expert calls , news and research journals, broker research , and regulatory documents—as well as its proprietary AI search technology.

Here’s how these features work in tandem with an extensive content universe to level up the market research process for pharma professionals:

Aggregated Content Universe

AlphaSense’s comprehensive content library draws from more than 10,000 high-quality content sources, offering both quantitative and qualitative global market research data. By providing timely, reliable insights, the AlphaSense platform can help you make faster, more-informed business decisions.

The following examples are just a few of the different types of industry-specific content that’s accessible in the AlphaSense platform:

• Healthcare industry news, pharmaceutical company reports, statistical data, and industry publications from authoritative sources like the World Health Organization and the US National Library of Medicine
• A vast library of regulatory healthcare content from ClinicalTrials.gov, FDA, EMA, PubMed, and more
• Exclusive equity research and analysis from Wall Street Insights® , a premier market research tool for corporate teams and healthcare professionals
• Primary research that includes over 40,000 expert call transcripts from interviews with doctors, patients, medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies, healthcare industry leaders, and more

Semantic Search

AlphaSense’s proprietary AI search technology recognizes the intent of your search and surfaces key insights without you having to perform multiple manual searches or spending time reading through the entirety of long documents. 

Our Smart Synonyms™ technology analyzes speech patterns across tens of millions of search documents, resulting in a robust library of synonymous words. AlphaSense does the heavy lifting of searching for your query, as well as all relevant synonyms, within text-heavy documents.

Sentiment Analysis

Our sentiment analysis technology utilizes natural language processing (NLP) to uncover market perceptions about a given topic. Further, it color-codes positive and negative sentiment for easy recognition as you browse search results. These AI features are executed in seconds, saving analysts precious hours that were previously spent combing through broker reports and other complex healthcare market research .

Generative AI

Unlike other consumer-grade generative AI (genAI) tools trained on publicly available data, AlphaSense takes an entirely different approach. Our industry-leading suite of generative AI tools is purpose-built to deliver business-grade insights and leans on 10+ years of AI tech development. 

Our suite of tools currently includes:

• Smart Summaries – This feature allows you to glean instant earnings insights—reducing time spent on research during earnings season, quickly capture company outlook, and generate an expert-approved SWOT analysis straight from former competitors, partners, and employees.
• Enterprise Intelligence – This is a first-of-its-kind knowledge management offering that delivers AlphaSense’s AI-powered search and summarization capabilities to customers’ internal organizational knowledge.
• AlphaSense Assistant (in beta) – Assistant is a generative AI chat experience that transforms how users can extract insights from hundreds of millions of premium content sources.

Our pharma and biotech customers use our generative AI capabilities to:

• Extract guidance
• Summarize most important insights
• Extract sentiment
• Summarize and rank positives and negatives
• Extract KPIs
• Validate KPI accuracy in summary

Related Reading: Accelerating Pharma Research With AI (Complete Guide)

Modern Pharma Market Research in Action

But how do these features help pharma professionals and investors conduct quicker, deeper research and feel more confident in their work?

Clinical Pipeline Tracking

AlphaSense makes it easy to track and analyze clinical pipelines with aggregated access to regulatory healthcare content from ClinicalTrials.gov, FDA, EMA, PubMed, and more. Our advanced filtering features allow you to get straight to the right types of content for your specific research needs. Instead of sifting through entire documents, let AlphaSense find the insights most pertinent to your search query.

Disease Landscaping 

Perform a more comprehensive competitor pipeline analysis and disease research to ensure you never miss out on updates with AI-powered company recognition and Search Summaries. Our platform can gather the context behind your quantitative research, so you can focus on developing an effective go-to-market strategy and take your product development to the next level.

Earnings Analysis

You can analyze earnings transcripts in a more strategic, in-depth way by using AlphaSense’s sentiment analysis technology and Search Summaries. The former allows you to uncover shifts in commentary on relevant companies and topics, while the latter helps you develop a full-scale understanding of an industry by surfacing emerging topics from sector leaders, competitors initiatives, and company KPIs. 

Trend Forecasting

Pharma industry trends evolve on a near-constant basis, making a market intelligence platform that allows you to spot new developments quickly a critical tool. alphasense aggregates content from the four key perspectives (company, journalist, analyst, and expert) to help you uncover insights before they’re on anyone else’s radar., experience the alphasense difference.

Download our Advancing Pharma Research with AI  guide to learn the nine ways AI can help you enhance your pharma research processes.

AlphaSense’s extensive content library, proprietary AI search functionality, and market sentiment scoring feature converge to streamline pharma market research. By leveraging our AI and NLP technology, organizations can reduce time and money spent on fruitless market research, and maintain an edge on the competition.

Start your free trial of AlphaSense today.

Fueled by empathy-driven storytelling and good coffee, Nicole is a content marketing specialist at AlphaSense. Previously, she has managed her own website/blog and has written guest posts for various other publications.

Read all posts written by Nicole Sheynin

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Ethical Issues in Pharmaceutical Marketing: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda

Research output : Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

This systematic review of cross-disciplinary peer-reviewed quantitative research into pharmaceutical marketing ethical issues from 1990 to 2021 reveals a focus on direct-to-consumer advertising and physician-directed promotion. This review documents inconsistent findings across studies due to discrepancies and limitations in research designs, study populations, sampling procedures, and analytical approaches as well as discipline-specific biases and normative ethical ideologies. We present a comprehensive taxonomy of ethical issues from the systematic review, additional scholarly and industry publications, and expert interviews. We recommend that future research test causal inferences, use rigorous research designs, explore under-researched topics, resolve conflicting findings, and incorporate ethical theories.

• Pharmaceutical and medical ethics
• direct-to-consumer advertising
• ethical issues with pharmaceutical sales representatives
• marketing mix
• physician-directed promotions
• systematic review

Access to Document

• 10.1080/08911762.2021.1949084

Other files and links

• Link to publication in Scopus

Fingerprint

• Pharmaceutical Marketing Business & Economics 100%
• Systematic Review Business & Economics 93%
• Ethical Issues Business & Economics 74%
• Research Agenda Business & Economics 63%
• Research Design Business & Economics 61%
• Ethical Ideology Business & Economics 52%
• Ethical Theory Business & Economics 48%
• Direct-to-consumer Advertising Business & Economics 47%

T1 - Ethical Issues in Pharmaceutical Marketing

T2 - A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda

AU - Limbu, Yam B.

AU - Huhmann, Bruce A.

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

N2 - This systematic review of cross-disciplinary peer-reviewed quantitative research into pharmaceutical marketing ethical issues from 1990 to 2021 reveals a focus on direct-to-consumer advertising and physician-directed promotion. This review documents inconsistent findings across studies due to discrepancies and limitations in research designs, study populations, sampling procedures, and analytical approaches as well as discipline-specific biases and normative ethical ideologies. We present a comprehensive taxonomy of ethical issues from the systematic review, additional scholarly and industry publications, and expert interviews. We recommend that future research test causal inferences, use rigorous research designs, explore under-researched topics, resolve conflicting findings, and incorporate ethical theories.

AB - This systematic review of cross-disciplinary peer-reviewed quantitative research into pharmaceutical marketing ethical issues from 1990 to 2021 reveals a focus on direct-to-consumer advertising and physician-directed promotion. This review documents inconsistent findings across studies due to discrepancies and limitations in research designs, study populations, sampling procedures, and analytical approaches as well as discipline-specific biases and normative ethical ideologies. We present a comprehensive taxonomy of ethical issues from the systematic review, additional scholarly and industry publications, and expert interviews. We recommend that future research test causal inferences, use rigorous research designs, explore under-researched topics, resolve conflicting findings, and incorporate ethical theories.

KW - Pharmaceutical and medical ethics

KW - direct-to-consumer advertising

KW - ethical issues with pharmaceutical sales representatives

KW - marketing mix

KW - physician-directed promotions

KW - systematic review

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85115234314&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/08911762.2021.1949084

DO - 10.1080/08911762.2021.1949084

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85115234314

SN - 0891-1762

JO - Journal of Global Marketing

JF - Journal of Global Marketing

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Thirty-Four Years of Online Pharmaceutical Marketing Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Introduction to pharmaceutical marketing management, the counterproductive effect of pharmaceutical marketing in pakistan: a qualitative study.

This study explores the effects of pharmaceutical marketing on patients and society in Pakistan. Pharmaceutical marketing is an integral part of the drug industry, which channels product-related information to healthcare professionals. Physicians are the target audience as they prescribe medicine to the users. The pharmaceutical industry mobilizes all resources to influence physicians’ prescriptions in favor of their brands. It is commendable from the organizational perspective, however; it leads to unintended negative consequences for society. The primary reason is the blind pursuit of commercial interest and near-total neglect of ethical behavior in marketing drugs. This study conducted open-ended 20 interviews from primary stakeholders of this issue that includes physicians, pharmaceutical managers, and officials of drug regulatory authority through purposive sampling. The findings show that misleading promotional strategies influencing physicians are responsible for the misuse and abuse of drugs and antibiotics. Pharmaceutical drug incentivization, the personal obligation for physicians, skewed data, and inappropriate promotions were the major categories developed during analysis. The study recommends various steps to minimize these ill effects.

Ethical Issues in Pharmaceutical Marketing: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda

Covid-19 pandemic and digitalization of healthcare among youth: a marketing perspective.

The term "digital" has been ingrained in our culture. At a quicker rate than the rest of the world, every industry has adapted to the digital era. Apart from the website, the pharmaceutical sector has yet to fully embrace digital marketing. More pharmaceutical and healthcare firms are using social media sites or eCommerce sites as digital marketing platforms in the wake of the Corona Virus pandemic. Some businesses are attempting to comprehend the actual worth of digital, while others are incorporating it into their whole marketing plan. In the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, digital marketing is displacing traditional marketing techniques. This research looked at a variety of topics, including marketing among youth, the present role of digital marketing in the pharmaceutical business, the influence of COVID-19, and current consumer buying behavior. The main goal is to learn about the past, comprehend the current shift, and forecast the consequences of pharmaceutical marketing in the future. This is accomplished by doing a thorough literature review and then presenting a questionnaire based on the findings for validation among the general public. KEY WORDS: Marketing, Health Services, Pharmaceuticals, COVID-19, Pandemic, Youth

The effect of medical cannabis laws on pharmaceutical marketing to physicians

Pharmaceutical marketing transformation due to covid-19 pandemic.

Background: Since COVID-19 spreads from one person to others, it is necessary to stay away from others or reduce contact. This habit or practice is called social distancing. It encourages people to stay at their homes and to avoid crowded and/or public places. Objective: To evaluate and discuss changes and shifts in the pharmaceutical marketing strategies due to COVID-19. Methods: This is a narrative review articles and we use triangulation method to collect the related information from multiple electronic database. The results and findings of the selected articles were summarized and synthesized. Results: As the number of COVID-19 infected people grows and the uncertainty of finding a cure continues, the people are becoming more apprehensive. Pharmaceutical companies made changes to their marketing strategies. From being too invested with in-person marketing, most companies are now exploring options that do not require as much physical interaction. Pharmaceutical companies have been reliant on telemarketing, digital marketing, and miscellaneous offers. This change is primarily driven by fear of being infected by the virus and self-preservation. Conclusions: Based on the studies collected and reviewed in this paper, the changes appear to be successful especially with regard to digital marketing. This review provides an insight to marketing managers in the pharmaceutical industryto continue adjusting and modifying theirmarketing strategies due to COVID-19.Because this study focused on a specific sector (i.e., pharmaceutical)the results cannot be generalized and extended to other sectors.Future studies are needed to investigate the trends of changes and shifts of the pharmaceutical marketing strategies due to COVID-19.

Pharmaceutical Marketing Ethics: Ethical Standards for More Acceptable Practices

Patient influencers: the next frontier in direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical marketing (preprint), what is right and wrong in marketing the pharmaceutical products.

Pharmaceutical marketing is the ability to reach the right health care professionals with the right note and spell. According to the Cambridge English Dictionary the business activity that involves finding out what customers want, using that information to design products and services, and selling them effectively. But recent studies on pharmaceutical marketing is full of controversy like issues and concerns of ethical and unethical marketing.

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Explore Top 10 Pharmaceutical Industry Trends in 2024

Delve into our data-driven analysis of 1700+ pharma startups, revealing significant pharmaceutical industry trends. Our research highlights the impact of AI, precision medicine, 3D printing, and blockchain on treatment innovation and industry standards. Explore these key trends in-depth and understand their role in shaping the future of healthcare.

The pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the rapid integration of technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), additive manufacturing, and blockchain. These key pharmaceutical industry trends are catalyzed by substantial investments, the maturation of industry technologies, and the expiration of crucial patents. Enhanced inter-organizational collaboration and a supportive regulatory framework are further accelerating innovation and reshaping the pharmaceutical landscape.

This article was published in October 2020 and updated in January 2024.

Innovation Map outlines the 10 Current Trends in Pharmaceutical Industry & 20 Promising Startups

For this in-depth research on the Top Pharma Industry Trends & Startups, we analyzed a sample of 1745 global startups & scaleups. This data-driven research provides innovation intelligence that helps you improve strategic decision-making by giving you an overview of emerging technologies in the pharma industry. In the Pharma Industry Innovation Map, you get a comprehensive overview of the innovation trends & startups that impact your company.

What are the Top Pharmaceutical Industry Trends (2024)?

• AI in Pharmaceuticals
• Big Data & Analytics
• Flexible Production
• Precision Medicine

Additive Manufacturing

• Extended Reality
• Real-World Data (RWD)
• Digital Therapeutics
• Curative Therapies

Click to download

These insights are derived by working with our Big Data & Artificial Intelligence-powered StartUs Insights Discovery Platform , covering 3 790 000+ startups & scaleups globally. As the world’s largest resource for data on emerging companies, the SaaS platform enables you to identify relevant technologies and industry trends quickly & exhaustively.

Tree Map reveals the Impact of the Top 10 Pharma Industry Trends in 2024

The Tree Map below illustrates the top 10 pharmaceutical trends that will impact companies in 2024. From drug discovery and development to medical imaging and patient engagement, artificial intelligence occupies a prominent position in the industry. Along with big data and analytics, more than a third of pharma startups are working on software solutions for the industry. There is still a lack of access to basic medicines in many regions of the world, prompting demand for flexible pharmaceutical manufacturing.

The use of real-world data to collect accurate patient experiences, blockchain to securely transact and manage patient records, and augmented, virtual, and mixed reality (AR, VR & MR) solutions also find a place in the top 10 trends in the pharmaceutical industry. However, these technology trends in the pharmaceutical industry cover only a small fraction of the breadth of innovation in the industry. Based on your specific criteria, your top trends can look quite different.

Global Startup Heat Map covers 1745 Pharma Startups & Scaleups

The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights the global distribution of the 1745 exemplary startups & scaleups that we analyzed for this research. Created through the StartUs Insights Discovery Platform , the Heat Map reveals that the United States is home to most of these companies while we also observe increased activity in India as well as Europe, particularly in the UK and France.

Below, you get to meet 20 out of these 1700+ promising startups & scaleups as well as the solutions they develop. These 20 startups were hand-picked based on criteria such as founding year, location, funding raised, and more. Depending on your specific needs, your top picks might look entirely different.

Interested to explore all 1700+ pharma startups & scaleups?

10 Key Trends in Pharmaceutical Industry (2024)

1. ai in pharma.

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is accelerating drug discovery and development processes. Innovative startups are leveraging AI to tackle industry challenges, streamlining manufacturing processes, and devising efficient marketing strategies for post-launch success. In the critical realm of patient selection for clinical trials, AI enhances the precision of eligibility criteria, streamlines patient inclusion, and accelerates cohort identification.

This not only expedites the entire clinical trial process but also reduces associated costs significantly. Furthermore, AI’s predictive analytics are instrumental in identifying potential participants, ensuring a more targeted and effective trial phase, and consequently, a swifter route to market for new drugs. The global AI in drug discovery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28.2% from 2024 to 2030 , highlighting its increasing impact on the pharmaceutical industry.

Pangaea Data – Patient Cohort Identification

Pangaea Data is a British startup that uses unsupervised AI algorithms to identify patient cohorts for drug discovery, clinical trials, and real-world evidence (RWE) studies. The machine learning-based software scans through electronic health records (EHR) and unstructured doctors’ notes. Pangaea Data’s solution enables clinicians to find the right patients based on phenotypes. The startup also develops a library of AI models for different disease areas.

Valence Discovery – Drug Discovery

Canadian startup Valence Discovery develops novel algorithms for drug discovery. The startup uses different machine learning approaches, such as few-shot learning, reinforcement learning, active learning, and representation learning, to aid the drug discovery process. Its deep learning solution uses small and noisy datasets to predict and optimize potential drug candidates, further eliminating the need for large datasets.

2. Big Data & Analytics

The pharma industry requires high-performance systems to analyze the large volumes of data generated during the drug discovery and development process. Pharmaceutical companies use third parties to share data with collaborators, making data management a crucial area of focus. The advancement in analytical techniques is also turning historical and real-time data available with pharmaceutical companies into valuable assets for predictive, diagnostic, prescriptive, and descriptive analytics.

Moreover, these pharmaceutical analytics techniques are used on almost all types of medical data from patient records, medical imaging, and hospital data, to name a few. The pharmaceutical analytical testing market is expected to reach USD 8.98 billion in 2024 and grow at a CAGR of 8.41% to reach USD 13.43 billion by 2029 , highlighting the growing importance of analytics in the industry.

Baixing AI Lab – Medical AI Research Platform

Baixing AI Lab is a US-based startup that creates AI Pharma Bx , a SaaS medical AI research platform. It combines proprietary data sourced from RWD, clinical data, and more with multimodal fusion, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP).

With this integrated approach, the startup eliminates data silos in pharmaceutical research. AI Pharma Bx thus benefits pharmaceutical companies, doctors, researchers in basic medicine and drug mechanisms, and other aspects of research.

Pomicell – In-Silico Modeling

Israeli startup Pomicell offers software tools for big data analytics in pharmaceutical research and development (R&D). The startup utilizes machine learning techniques to analyze and aid in the development of in-silico models. The startup further builds customized drug development road-maps by augmenting the available data, analysis, and insights through matching and in-silico modeling.

3. Flexible Production

The pharma industry is adapting its manufacturing to meet new market needs, like producing smaller batches for precision medicine. Single-use bioreactors are becoming popular for their efficiency, cutting downtime by simplifying cleaning and validation.

Additionally, new bioreactor technologies and continuous manufacturing are key in biopharmaceutical production. They minimize downtime, use less energy, boost productivity, and reduce waste. These advancements also ensure consistent product quality, comply with strict regulations, and allow quicker market response.

Cellexus – Single-Use Bioreactor

Cellexus is a Scottish startup that makes single-use airlift bioreactor systems. The startup’s patented airlift technology uses bubbles instead of mechanical mixing to move cells and nutrients. The reactor comes with disposable bioreactor bags and an integrated heater.

The startup also offers precise regulation of biochemical parameters such as pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. The single-use system is used for a variety of cell cultures and fermentation and has achieved the growth of bacteria, yeast, microalgae, and bacteriophage amplification.

Secoya Technologies – Continuous Manufacturing Optimisation

Belgian startup Secoya Technologies offers novel technologies for production processes by tailoring the continuous manufacturing process equipment down to the ideal scale. Microstructured elements such as microfluidic droplet generators are used for optimizing manufacturing processes. The startup’s solutions find use in intensified chemical synthesis, crystallization, pervaporation, and micro-encapsulation.

4. Precision Medicine

Precision medicine stems from the concept of tailoring treatment to the distinct characteristics of each patient. Progress in omics and data analytics is shedding light on the human body’s drug response mechanisms. This understanding, combined with innovative production techniques like additive manufacturing, is bringing personalized medicine closer to fruition.

Drug exposure models play a crucial role in precision medicine by assessing the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic attributes of drugs. These models aid in determining the optimal drug dosage by considering factors such as age, gender, comorbidities, and other clinical variables. The global precision medicine market size is expected to reach USD 168.3 billion by 2032 , growing at a CAGR of 9.1% during 2024-2032.

ExactCure – Drug Exposure Model

ExactCure is a French pharmaceutical technology company that offers a software solution for simulating the effects of drugs in a patient’s body based on personal characteristics. The startup utilizes population pharmacokinetics, as well as scientific literature data, for real-time prediction of efficacy and drug interaction. ExactCure is developing drug-specific exposure models for drugs under investigation for the treatment of COVID-19.

GenomicDAO – Decentralized Science (DeSci) for Precision Medicine

GenomicDAO is a Singaporean decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that develops an AI-powered DeSci platform for precision medicine. It allows members to contribute to active DAOs and receive proprietary tokens in return.

The startup then recruits participants to join genetic tests and the revenue from the test is shared back to DAO members. Using its drug response study, the startup provides gene-based drug recommendations for patients, advancing precision medicine.

5. Additive Manufacturing

The demand for precision medicine is driving pharmaceutical companies to revolutionize their production techniques. Significant research is dedicated to evolving advanced 3D printers that print tissues or cells . Within the pharmaceutical sector, 3D printing finds utility in the realms of drug formulation, organ fabrication, and regenerative therapy.

Consequently, additive manufacturing enables the crafting of medical formulations tailored to individual age or physiological profiles, as well as the creation of precision dosage pills. Additionally, bioprinters are pivotal in advancing the fields of bioinks, tissue scaffolding, and microfluidics .

FabRx – Printed Pill

FabRx is a UK-based startup that manufactures M3DIMAKER , a 3D printer for personalized pills. M3DIMAKER uses proprietary technology for direct powder extrusion. The single-step printing process uses a single screw extruder for the extrusion of powdered material.

The startup manufactures pills with properties such as sustained or delayed doses, and multidrug combination pills (polypills). The printer also enables small batch production for clinical trials and precise personalized dosage forms for individuals.

Frontier Bio – Tissue Bioprinter

The US-based startup Frontier Bio offers FLUX-1 , a 3D bioprinter for making human tissues. The startup prints tissues as an effective way to test new pharmaceuticals. Frontier Bio addresses the limitations in making tissues have desirable structures and features with a good cell survival rate. FLUX-1 employs the electro-hydrodynamic printing (EHDP) technique to deliver tissues with micro and nano-scale features, as well as higher cell survival rates.

6. Blockchain

Blockchain technology is crucial at every stage of drug production and distribution in the pharmaceutical industry. Stakeholders typically guard their data closely due to its sensitive nature. Furthermore, blockchain is being examined as a reliable tool to tackle the use of counterfeit medicines and substandard drugs , which compromise the pharmaceutical supply chain and result in many patient deaths each year. The shift towards digital transactions makes blockchain a viable solution for improving the tracking and safety of the pharmaceutical transaction landscape.

PharmaTrace – Smart Contracts

PharmaTrace , a German startup offers a blockchain-based ecosystem to secure data and deploy smart contracts in the pharmaceutical industry. The ecosystem provides a secure system for sharing crucial and sensitive information between stakeholders in the pharmaceutical marketplace. PharmaTrace leverages smart contracts implemented in Hyperledger Fabric to address this trust deficit. Moreover, the network provides precise control and security over the information being shared.

Veratrak – Pharma Supply Chain

Veratrak is a UK-based startup offering a blockchain-based document collaboration and workflow management platform for the pharmaceutical supply chain. The platform enables secure document sharing across supply chain partners with immutable audit logs. Good automated manufacturing practice 5 (GAMP 5)-compliant cloud-based software further lets stakeholders, within and outside organizations, collaborate at various stages of the pharma supply chain.

7. Extended Reality (XR)

Mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) are transforming visualizations in unparalleled ways. Pharma startups are investigating the potential of extended reality technologies in the realms of pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.

These extended reality tools enable data-rich and meaningful interactions among research teams in real time, regardless of geographical location. Startups are bringing human augmentation in the pharmaceutical sector to life through innovative extended reality wearables and devices.

Nanome – VR Collaboration Tool

Nanome , a US-based startup, offers VR collaboration tools for atomic, molecular, and protein visualization. The VR-based molecular visualization tool by Nanome imports molecular data from public databases or custom inputs. It lets researchers design proteins, iterate 3D structures, and also work in a virtual workspace with global team members.

Goodly Innovations – AR Suite

German startup Goodly Innovations develops OptiworX , an AR suite for pharma and biopharma manufacturing. The solution enables technicians and line operators to increase their productivity and efficiency by prompting various tasks in real-time, in an AR environment.

The startup’s modular design allows for both standalone and connected systems, enabling two-way data flow. Additionally, this suite supports all shop floor processes like manufacturing, filling, primary packaging, and secondary packaging.

8. Real-World Data

Real-world data (RWD) and real-world evidence (RWE) are reshaping innovation in the pharmaceutical sector. RWD encompasses information about patient health, treatments, and routine health reports. Given its research-driven essence, the pharmaceutical industry must ensure the reliability and significance of the data it utilizes. The accessibility of real-world data, facilitated by the Internet of Things (IoT), sensors, and wearable technology, is restructuring the operational dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry.

Graticule – Unstructured Patient Data

The US-based startup Graticule creates structured data sets from unstructured RWD sources. The startup offers data subscriptions and on-demand data collaborations to pharma clients for uncovering value in RWD. Graticule makes use of clinical notes, free text, and images, as well as non-clinical data for data completeness.

OncoChain – Oncological Data

Romanian startup OncoChain offers a research platform based on a de-identified real-world oncological patient database. The startup’s solution enables early detection and timely intervention for cancer detection, treatment, and cure. The OncoChain Analytics tool also provides real-world evidence insights for regulatory decision-making, clinical trial design, and multi-center studies.

9. Digital Therapeutics

Digital therapeutics deliver evidence-based therapeutic interventions using software , providing non-drug, technology-centric solutions to prevent, manage, or treat a wide array of physical, mental, and behavioral conditions. These interventions function independently or in conjunction with medications, devices, or other therapies. Digital therapeutics empower individuals by granting them enhanced control over their health and treatment outcomes.

MINDCURE Health – Psychedelic Therapy

MINDCURE Health is a Canadian startup that offers iSTRYM , a software application to deliver data-driven support for psychedelic therapies. It collects real-world data before, during, and after therapy sessions and then applies AI to analyze the data. The application also provides clinicians with data-proofed protocols and integration plans as well as real-time plans for personalized plans. This, in turn, improves clinical outcomes and patient convenience.

Dopavision – Eye Treatment

German startup Dopavision is making a smartphone-based digital therapeutic for myopia. The startup’s solution aims to slow down the progression of myopia in the young population, especially children. The solution achieves the activation of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in eye growth regulation. Dopavision is currently undertaking pre-clinical trials of the digital therapeutic.

10. Curative Therapies

A fundamental shift is occurring in the approach to treating illnesses, moving from disease management to achieving complete cures. Curative treatments, including cell and gene therapies, are transforming the treatment landscape for chronic and complex conditions by negating the necessity for prolonged therapy.

Gene therapy involves the introduction of genetic material into cells to counteract defective genes or to produce a beneficial protein. Viruses that have been genetically modified typically serve as the primary vectors in gene therapy applications.

Mogrify – Cell Therapy

Mogrify is a British startup that develops a proprietary direct cellular conversion platform to transmogrify any mature human cells. The platform technology identifies the transcription factors or small molecules required to convert any mature cell into any other mature cell type by analyzing sequencing data and regulatory networks. Mogrify develops novel cell therapies for musculoskeletal, auto-immune, and cancer immunotherapy, as well as ocular and respiratory diseases.

Lacerta Therapeutics – Gene Therapy

The US-based Lacerta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene therapy startup working on cures for the central nervous system and lysosomal storage diseases. The startup’s proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector technology platform develops novel AAV vectors with improved transduction, tissue- or cell subtype-selectivity, and immune escape profiles. Lacerta further offers novel capsid variants and a scalable vector manufacturing platform with limited production components.

Discover all Pharma Technologies & Startups

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies to reevaluate various facets of their operations, including manufacturing and supply chains, a trend equally pertinent for pharmaceutical firms. The crisis underscored the necessity to enhance the rapidity and precision in the discovery, mass production, and distribution of new drugs, treatment methodologies, and vaccines. Moreover, entities at the nexus of life sciences research, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals are unveiling novel cellular and molecular properties, paving the way for groundbreaking industry solutions.

The trends and startup innovations in the pharmaceutical sector highlighted in this report represent just a fraction of the developments uncovered through our comprehensive research. Emerging technologies such as low-volume production, nanotechnology, and mRNA vaccine technologies are set to redefine the industry landscape. Proactively identifying and integrating these emerging opportunities and technologies into your business strategy is crucial for securing a competitive edge. Contact us to seamlessly and thoroughly explore relevant technologies and startups that align with your objectives.

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Pharma Market Research: 10+ Trends & Real-Life Examples in '24

Cem is the principal analyst at AIMultiple since 2017. AIMultiple informs hundreds of thousands of businesses (as per Similarweb) including 60% of Fortune 500 every month.

Cem's work focuses on how enterprises can leverage new technologies in AI, automation, cybersecurity(including network security, application security), data collection including web data collection and process intelligence.

The pharmaceutical industry is facing several challenges, especially after COVID-19 and the changes the pandemic has brought to the pharma market and the healthcare landscape (see figure below). One way to understand the market dynamics and evolving needs is to conduct market research with healthcare providers, patients, and employees. Here, we provide the latest trends and some real-life examples of how market research can play a role in the pharmaceutical industry to help companies understand evolving healthcare models and gain a competitive advantage in the industry.

Source: McKinsey 1

Figure 1. The network of forces in the pharmaceutical industry

If you are looking for a market research tool , you can check out our vendor’s deep dive on the top providers in the market.

Top 13 latest pharma market research trends

1- ai & automation.

It usually takes 12 to 18 years for a new drug to get to the market, costing around $2.6 billion on average. 2 By leveraging machine learning, deep learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP) , or other AI technologies, pharmaceutical companies can:

• accelerate drug discovery
• enhance the accuracy of research
• streamline various phases of clinical trials.

This technology can analyze vast data sets more quickly and accurately than traditional methods, leading to more efficient identification of potential drug candidates and optimization of trial designs.

1.1. Generative AI

Pioneering pharma companies are harnessing generative AI to reshape drug discovery and development. Indeed, 44% of industry professionals view their quality IT infrastructure as dependent on numerous, independent IT systems. 3 This trend marks a paradigm shift, as AI algorithms predict drug efficacy and safety profiles, drastically reducing the traditional decade-long drug development cycle.

Check out our comprehensive article on the use cases of GenAI in the healthcare industry if interested.

1.2. Digitalization

The top five pharmaceutical companies have declared over 50 investments in digital health firms and assets, doubling their digital health partnerships, emphasizing a strong focus on digitalization in the sector. 4 Companies are integrating digital channels into their R&D, marketing, and patient engagement efforts, leveraging technologies like AI, IoT, and cloud computing to optimize operations and reach.

1.3. Sentiment analysis

91% of those involved in the pharmaceutical industry believe that adopting a patient-centric quality approach is a strategic benefit for their organization. 5 To develop a patient-centric approach, the industry is increasingly using sentiment analysis . By mining social media and healthcare forums, companies can fine-tune their marketing strategies and product developments, ensuring they resonate with end-user expectations and experiences.

If interested, you can also check out how sentiment analysis is used in the healthcare industry .

Predictive modeling

AI-driven predictive modeling in pharmaceuticals involves analyzing data like sales history and disease trends to forecast drug demand. This approach helps companies make informed decisions about production and inventory, adapting efficiently to market changes and patient needs. As new data emerges, the AI continuously refines its predictions, enhancing accuracy and aiding in strategic planning.

Real-time market monitoring

Real-time market monitoring involves using advanced AI algorithms to continuously track and analyze market data. This includes monitoring competitor activities, drug pricing, regulatory changes, and consumer behavior to understand the market dynamics. By processing data from sources like social media, medical journals, and market reports instantly, companies gain actionable insights into emerging trends and market shifts.

2- Clinical pipeline tracking and disease landscaping

Companies are using advanced analytics to monitor drug development stages, predicting potential bottlenecks and market readiness. This strategic foresight is pivotal in maintaining a competitive edge in the fast-paced pharma industry.

3- Sustainability

Sustainability is no longer a ‘nice-to-have’; it is a ‘must-have’ in pharma. Companies are embracing green chemistry, waste reduction, and energy-efficient practices to achieve sustainable growth. These enable companies to be involved in a more eco-conscious market, ensuring long-term brand loyalty and corporate responsibility.

4- Strategic workforce planning

Demand for STEM-related roles in the life sciences industry in the United States has seen a 20% surge. 6 As pharma ventures into new realms like genomics and personalized medicine, strategic workforce planning is crucial. Companies are actively reskilling their workforce and recruiting niche experts, ensuring their teams are equipped to navigate the evolving scientific and regulatory landscapes.

5- Development of partner ecosystems

In the face of complex drug development challenges, pharma companies are cultivating partner ecosystems. Indeed, research shows that more than 50% of companies are planning to significantly enhance their collaborative efforts with other industry players. 7 These collaborations, ranging from academic institutions to biotech startups, are vital for innovation sharing and risk distribution, paving the way for groundbreaking therapies.

6- Technical product development

76% of survey participants don’t believe that their organization has yet reached the quality maturity it should have. 8 Thus, the race for technical superiority in product development is intense. Companies are investing in advanced drug delivery systems, precision medicine, and next-gen biologics, aiming not just to participate in the market but to redefine it.

7- Personalized pharmaceutical products

Personalized medicine is transforming patient care. Pharma companies are leveraging genetic insights to tailor treatments, moving away from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and towards therapies that offer higher efficacy and reduced side effects for individual patients.

8- Patient identification and stratification in clinical trials

Precision is key in clinical trials. Advanced analytics and AI are enabling healthcare professionals to identify and stratify patients, enhancing the efficacy of trials and speeding up the time to market for new drugs.

Real-life examples of market research in the pharmaceutical industry

PTC Therapeutics implemented the Interactions Hub, a digital solution by PwC, to streamline its processes. 9 This move addressed the inefficiencies of their previous manual system, where staff spent about 25% of their time on administrative tasks. The new digital approach improved operational efficiency and compliance, enabling a more focused effort on strategic drug development initiatives​.

VaxAssist, an online tool introduced by Pfizer, assists adults in determining their eligibility for various respiratory vaccines such as COVID-19, pneumococcal pneumonia, influenza, and RSV. 10 This initiative responds to the confusion and hesitancy caused by an overload of health information and the “triple-demic” impact of flu, COVID-19, and RSV, which led to significant hospitalizations and emergency room visits in the U.S. VaxAssist aims to simplify vaccination processes and improve accessibility, addressing both the misinformation problem and the barriers to vaccine uptake, reflecting a market research-driven approach in the pharmaceutical industry to enhance public health outcomes.

Sanofi, a pharmaceutical company, invested $180 million in Owkin, with a strategic shift in pharmaceutical market research. 11 With this initiative, the company focuses on artificial intelligence and federated learning to advance its oncology portfolio. This collaboration, targeting four cancer types, emphasizes building private and secure disease models from vast datasets. It aims to enhance clinical trial design and identify new biomarkers.

For those interested, here is our data driven list of market research tools .

External Links

• 1. “ Emerging from disruption: The future of pharma operations strategy “. McKinsey. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
• 2. “ Generative AI has the potential to revolutionise drug discovery “. Pharmaceutical Technology. August 3, 2023. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 3. “ Putting patients at the centre of quality “. PwC. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 4. “ Rewired pharma companies will win in the digital age “. McKinsey. June 14, 2023. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 5. “ Putting patients at the centre of quality “. PwC. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 6. “ Emerging from disruption: The future of pharma operations strategy “. McKinsey. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
• 7. “ Emerging from disruption: The future of pharma operations strategy “. McKinsey. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
• 8. “ Putting patients at the centre of quality “. PwC. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 9. “ An automated compliance system allows PTC to better focus on its mission “. PwC. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 10. “ Pfizer Launches VaxAssist, to Help Individual’s Assess Respiratory Vaccine Eligibility “. PwC. December 15, 2023. Retrieved December 29,2023.
• 11. “ BioMap Establishes a Strategic Collaboration with Sanofi to Co-Develop AI Modules to Accelerate Drug Discovery for Biotherapeutics “. BusinessWire. Retrieved December 29,2023.

Cem's work has been cited by leading global publications including Business Insider, Forbes, Washington Post, global firms like Deloitte, HPE, NGOs like World Economic Forum and supranational organizations like European Commission. You can see more reputable companies and media that referenced AIMultiple.

Cem's hands-on enterprise software experience contributes to the insights that he generates. He oversees AIMultiple benchmarks in dynamic application security testing (DAST), data loss prevention (DLP), email marketing and web data collection. Other AIMultiple industry analysts and tech team support Cem in designing, running and evaluating benchmarks.

Throughout his career, Cem served as a tech consultant, tech buyer and tech entrepreneur. He advised enterprises on their technology decisions at McKinsey & Company and Altman Solon for more than a decade. He also published a McKinsey report on digitalization.

He led technology strategy and procurement of a telco while reporting to the CEO. He has also led commercial growth of deep tech company Hypatos that reached a 7 digit annual recurring revenue and a 9 digit valuation from 0 within 2 years. Cem's work in Hypatos was covered by leading technology publications like TechCrunch and Business Insider.

Cem regularly speaks at international technology conferences. He graduated from Bogazici University as a computer engineer and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

AIMultiple.com Traffic Analytics, Ranking & Audience , Similarweb. Why Microsoft, IBM, and Google Are Ramping up Efforts on AI Ethics , Business Insider. Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI to pursue artificial intelligence that’s smarter than we are , Washington Post. Data management barriers to AI success , Deloitte. Empowering AI Leadership: AI C-Suite Toolkit , World Economic Forum. Science, Research and Innovation Performance of the EU , European Commission. Public-sector digitization: The trillion-dollar challenge , McKinsey & Company. Hypatos gets $11.8M for a deep learning approach to document processing , TechCrunch. We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck AI startup Hypatos used to raise $11 million , Business Insider.

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Navigating sample sizes in pharmaceutical marketing research

In the first of a three-part series, HRW discusses sample sizes in quantitative marketing research.

The value of small sample sizes  

Editor’s note: Nicola Vyas is the senior research director at Healthcare Research Worldwide. The HRW team can be reached at [email protected] . This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared under the title “ Small is   Beautiful: Optimising Quantitative Approach in Healthcare .”

If you have previously worked in consumer research, in the first few weeks of working in the pharmaceutical industry, you may have raised an eyebrow when presented with a quantitative sample size of 30 respondents. While you may have initially scoffed at such a paltry base size, after only a few months you will find yourself actively defending these sample sizes and bandying about terms such as “robust”, “statistically significant” and “conclusive evidence.”

So where does that leave us? Should we be worried about researching with such small base sizes or is this just a fact of life in pharmaceutical market research?

I firmly believe that we should always aim for the largest achievable sample size. Recent projects we have conducted have included sample sizes of over 1,000 respondents and with this number of respondents we can all feel confident that the results we obtain deserve the moniker “robust.” A larger sample size provides us with a much richer data set in which we can explore subgroups, test hypotheses and run more complex statistical analysis.

Where we struggle is when researching small population sizes from which it is neither practical nor appropriate to draw a large sample of respondents. This is when we are forced to take a more pragmatic approach. Let’s face it, budgetary and time constraints nearly always impact the feasibility of a quantitative research study. But does that mean we are just making do? No, I don’t believe it does. However, there are several pitfalls which we need to avoid.

Data has limitations: Over-analyzing and over-interpreting data

One of the key considerations when working with a small sample is simply to remind yourself of its limitations. Complex statistical analysis may not be appropriate, and researchers need to remember that subgroup analysis can be misleading. This doesn’t mean that you can’t interrogate the data, but it does mean that you need to approach the analysis with a critical mind. Analyzing subgroups of less than 30 respondents is clearly suboptimal, so if you find yourself doing so, think again.

Indeed, it is all too easy to fall into the trap of analyzing a small sample in the same way as you would approach a larger sample. It is either negligent or disingenuous to gloss over the fact that we are dealing with low numbers so we need to ensure that our debrief document gives a fair and honest representation of the data.

Over-reliance of statistical significance testing 

Statistical significance tests provide us with an essential tool for analyzing market research data. Without these tests, we would need to rely solely on our own judgement – a definite risk. However, there is a tendency to rely on significance testing above all else, and this is particularly problematic when dealing with a small base size.

Yes, significance testing provides us with a great deal of reassurance that our findings are genuine. The issue comes when we rely solely on statistical tests and fail to take note of the overall pattern of response. Even with a small sample size, statistical tests will undoubtedly pick up some differences, but how do we know that these differences are real?

In my opinion, we know this only by looking at the data set as a whole. Checking the consistency of response and themes within the data is a good start.

The importance of a small sample size

Another factor we need to consider is the overall population you are researching. Within small populations, you would expect a proportionately small sample size. For example, a very large sample size of 10,000 respondents amongst the total U.K. population accounts for only about 0.16% of the population. Compare this to a sample size of 100 GPs in the U.K., which accounts for almost 2.5% of the population. This starts to put the numbers into perspective.

In addition, even with a very small base of respondents, the degree of consensus is important in defining how confident we can be in the results. If 18 out of 20 people agree on a particular point, this is a powerful result regardless of the small number of people questioned.

In pharmaceutical market research, small sample sizes are unavoidable but worthy of consideration nonetheless. The views of even a few people add to our knowledge and understanding and help us make sound business decisions. What we often forget is that small sample sizes need to be handled differently. Respect the statistics but don’t overplay them, be honest in the way data is presented and don’t try to hide the fact that it has limitations. Clients respect our opinions and expertise, so a discussion around the sample size is entirely appropriate.

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Emerging from disruption: The future of pharma operations strategy

In the past, many pharmaceutical companies (pharmacos) deprioritized operations strategy in the face of competing business pressures. This is now changing. Factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation, geopolitics, new therapeutic modalities, and new ways of working make it vital for pharmacos to carefully reconsider their long-term choices in sourcing, manufacturing, and supply chain.

Now is exactly the right time for this renewed emphasis on operations strategy, as pharmacos emerge from two years of intense firefighting. Succeeding in pharma under these new and challenging conditions will require succeeding in operations.

The focus for operational leaders may need to shift from the prevailing emphasis on continuous improvement—including cost savings, quality assurance, and constant readiness to deliver—to longer-term external challenges. These include high inflation and an increase in complexity and risk, as well as the compounding effects these forces have on each other.

Pharma operations leaders now have an opportunity to deliver even greater value to their organizations by achieving this shift in focus, but they must act quickly to keep abreast of the challenges confronting the industry. The effort will require enormous mobilization and thoughtful prioritization. This task will fall to leadership; only the CEO and head of operations are in the right positions to make it happen.

This article explores the challenges facing pharma leaders and the steps they can take to develop a more strategic, long-term, and integrated approach to operations strategy. It presents questions leaders can ask as they design the solutions needed to make sure operations can protect enterprise continuity while still delivering to patients.

A perfect storm of external challenges

The pharma industry is facing a multitude of challenging trends (Exhibit 1). Global demand is growing rapidly, and the unprecedented need for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics has put additional pressure on the industry. The industry’s ability to find innovative solutions to deliver COVID-19 vaccines while still meeting overall demand is a remarkable achievement, but rising global demand is still a significant challenge for the industry in the long term.

The product landscape also is changing swiftly. New modalities, such as cell and gene therapy and mRNA vaccine technology, have increased from 11 to 21 percent of the drug development pipeline—the fastest growth ever seen in the sector. This change is likely to bring more fragmentation of technology, new supply chains, and unique product life cycles.

In addition to these industry-specific trends, pharma has also been affected by broader global trends, such as supply chain pressures. While the pharma industry is considered somewhat protected by its high inventory levels and long-standing dual sourcing, over a given ten-year period, the likelihood of supply chain disruptions still represents a potential loss of 25 percent of EBITA . Inflation has risen in recent months to levels not seen for decades, leading to increasing costs for labor, raw materials, and transportation. This is over and above the persistent price pressures pharma is already facing, particularly in generics. Since pharma customers are not expected to fully absorb these cost increases, profit margins are under pressure.

Meanwhile, increased state interventions and protectionist trade policies are creating new pressures on manufacturing networks and could drive increased regionalization. This would be a capital-intensive exercise: to regionalize just 10 percent of current vaccine trade in one particular geographical region, governments would need to invest an estimated $100 million.

Would you like to learn more about our Operations Practice ?

The pharma industry is also facing talent shortages linked to wider labor market trends, including the 20 percent increase in demand for STEM-related roles across the life sciences industry in the United States. The current pool of pharma digital talent is at least 14 percent lower than demand, and many companies are finding it challenging to recruit technical talent. Compounding this challenge is the rise of remote working, which has increased employee expectations for flexibility. In response, nearly all pharmacos are experimenting with hybrid working models.

A few major trends point to an industry tailwind; one of them is the advancement of digital and analytics tools. Digital tools, robots, and sensors are becoming cheaper and easier to access, and they can be used to capture all manner of raw data. In addition, edge computing and cloud analytics are providing real-time optimization and transparency. Pharmacos are working to leverage the power of data to become more agile and resilient. However, to date, no pharmaco has emerged as a true global leader in this field.

The pharma industry is facing a multitude of industry-specific and global trends. But a few major trends point to an industry tailwind; one of them is the advancement of digital and analytics tools.

Each of these global trends represents significant challenges in and of itself, and the trends may be compounded and strengthened through their interactions. This compounding effect can add to the complexity of evaluating an effective strategic response.

Major implications for pharma

These global trends have six major implications for pharmacos: rising operational complexity, increasing risk, shifting capability requirements, higher capital expenditure requirements, variable-cost increases, and opportunities for savings (Exhibit 2).

Operations leaders may need to become comfortable navigating a more complex ecosystem as they respond to increased operational complexity. Risks may increase due to rising environmental, social, and governance (ESG) expectations and skills gaps, while new modalities and digital acceleration will also likely lead to a shift in capability requirements. This could necessitate reskilling and upskilling of staff, as well as a renewed focus on recruiting from outside of the pharma industry.

From a cost perspective, the pharma industry may see significantly increased capital expenditure requirements related to the construction of new sites and new digital infrastructure. Increases are also likely in variable costs in areas such as raw materials, transportation, and employee attrition, reskilling, and salaries.

Future of pharma operations

Pharma companies are experiencing a wave of innovations – from new treatment modalities, to smart machines, advanced analytics, and digital connectivity.

Although these implications are challenging, they may represent possible opportunities for savings in several areas. For example, ESG commitments on waste reduction could reduce costs, as could successful digital implementation. However, the challenge lies in monetizing these cost savings, given that the industry has long created value largely through revenue expansion rather than through cost savings.

Rising to the challenge: Actions to deliver value

To respond to these challenges, pharmaco leaders may now need to emphasize the importance of their operations strategy. They should consider taking a longer-term view and scaling activity across four key themes: network strategy and resilience, digital, operating model, and talent.

Expand focus on longer-term, transformative solutions

Operations leaders can address these challenges through several short-term and long-term responses. For example, problems associated with a more unpredictable supply chain could be addressed with a short-term approach of increasing inventory or a long-term initiative to establish an end-to-end supply chain digital nerve center.

Short-term levers can be an important part of the total response but are insufficient to fully mitigate the challenges facing the industry. To respond effectively, companies may need to accelerate new ways of working and embrace long-term thinking. This will require concrete action with a focus on making sure that strategies are put in place to weather the long-term headwinds the industry is facing.

Accelerate and scale responses across four strategic domains

To identify the actions that pharmacos could take, it may help to group these in terms of four strategic domains: network and resilience, digital strategy, operating model and ecosystem, and talent strategy (Exhibit 3). While these themes are likely to be familiar to any business leader, they now require a substantial shift in mindset. Acting on them also calls for a large investment of resources.

• Plan for and manage future resilience and reliability needs . Recent supply chain disruptions have pushed supply chain resilience up corporate agendas. Companies have been forced into reactive modes that employ short-term levers like building inventory. However, companies could better position themselves by solving multiple variables and building resilience into their operations strategy through longer-term actions like network design and dual sourcing.
• Scale end-to-end adoption of digital and automation . Digital has proven itself highly valuable to pharma operations. However, many companies struggle to move from targeted, single use cases to a fully scaled suite of solutions. And while the adoption of full-scale digital solutions can require heavy investment—around $50 million to $100 million per year for two to three years—the rewards can include significant cost savings, improved quality, and increased resilience, as well as greater employee effectiveness. Companies that truly scale and implement digital can better protect themselves from the pressures of the forces increasing costs for the industry. More and more companies are moving toward network-wide and end-to-end digitization; to date, the World Economic Forum has recognized 103 as “lighthouses,” based on their advanced application of digital technologies . Johnson & Johnson, for example, has successfully launched multiple Industry 4.0 lighthouses, including some focused on end-to-end patient connectivity and order fulfillment.
• Expand adoption of end-to-end partner ecosystems . Companies could also consider changing their operating model from a traditional hub configuration around originators to an end-to-end ecosystem of true strategic partners. More than 50 percent of companies already expect to intensify their collaboration models with other industry players through, for example, service agreements, joint ventures, or eco­systems. Some are already in motion; examples include Pfizer and BioNTech, which have already established a strategic partnership in mRNA technology discovery, and AstraZeneca and Huma, which are collaborating to scale innovation for digital health. These partnerships are indicative of increasing collaborations throughout the industry across functions.

Automation, centralization, and new job requirements may affect nearly 90 percent of today’s workforce, and to deal with this challenge, companies could adopt effective long-term strategies. Retaining talent is challenging in the present environment, with the share of workers planning to leave their jobs in the next three to six months standing at 40 percent since 2021 . 1 Aaron De Smet, Bonnie Dowling, Bryan Hancock, and Bill Schaninger, “ The Great Attrition is making hiring harder. Are you searching the right talent pool? ” July 13, 2022. Strategies for talent retention should therefore be broad and focus on more than just salary.

A viable long-term solution to talent shortages may need to involve more than increasing wages to attract people. To solve structural talent gaps, companies could ensure long-term reskilling and upskilling of the existing workforce. For example, Roche runs an operations rotational program to attract top talent with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Novartis launched a “choice with responsibility” policy to improve overall employee experience.

Successfully developing a robust operations strategy is complex and requires dedicated resources with the ability to focus on the medium to long term. This means the C-suite will need to prioritize efforts and provide adequate resourcing. Only the CEO and head of operations can set the appropriate direction for their organization, steer their company’s effort, gather the right skills and teams, and manage complex interdependencies and resource-intensive interventions.

Are companies doing enough?

As COOs look to emerge from the disruption of the past two years, reflecting on several questions could help them evaluate their organizations’ level of preparedness to respond to the trends affecting the industry. The process could provide foundational answers to inform a renewed operations strategy.

• Have you projected the impact of today’s current trends on your business?
• Do you have a focused, skilled, and scaled operations strategy team that identifies, prioritizes, and deploys initiatives across different horizons?
• Are your resilience measures proactive and dynamic, and are they being built on talent and digital capabilities to achieve greater agility and reliability?
• Have you experienced greater access to innovation and flexibility as a result of expanding your services and strategic partnerships?
• Has your digital strategy created benefits across your network and transformed your operation from digitally enabled to digitally driven?
• Have you achieved ESG improvements, and do you have a broad, long-term road map for ESG commitments (beyond net zero)?
• Has your operating model been agile enough to adapt to rapidly changing operations requirements, such as new modalities and potential disruptions?
• Have you successfully transformed your operations workforce and comprehensively improved the employee experience?
• Do you have an established governance process that incorporates past lessons into future strategy?

Although the pharma industry has performed a remarkable feat in delivering COVID-19 vaccines while also meeting growing demand, current trends create a challenging environment for pharma­ceutical companies. Companies face greater costs, complexity, and risk.

Now is the time to rethink operational strategy to respond to these trends and remain competitive. Such change may have associated challenges and will require bold and innovative leadership. But if companies successfully implement new strategies, they could position themselves to take advantage of the industry’s remarkable growth.

Hillary Dukart is an associate partner in McKinsey’s Denver office, Laurie Lanoue is a partner in the Montreal office, Mariel Rezende is a consultant in the Miami office, and Paul Rutten is a partner in the Amsterdam office.

The authors wish to thank Joe Hughes and Jean-Baptiste Pelletier for their contributions to this article.

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6 facts about americans and tiktok.

62% of U.S. adults under 30 say they use TikTok, compared with 39% of those ages 30 to 49, 24% of those 50 to 64, and 10% of those 65 and older.

Many Americans think generative AI programs should credit the sources they rely on

Americans’ use of chatgpt is ticking up, but few trust its election information, whatsapp and facebook dominate the social media landscape in middle-income nations, sign up for our internet, science, and tech newsletter.

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Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure in the U.S.

64% of Americans live within 2 miles of a public electric vehicle charging station, and those who live closest to chargers view EVs more positively.

When Online Content Disappears

A quarter of all webpages that existed at one point between 2013 and 2023 are no longer accessible.

A quarter of U.S. teachers say AI tools do more harm than good in K-12 education

High school teachers are more likely than elementary and middle school teachers to hold negative views about AI tools in education.

Teens and Video Games Today

85% of U.S. teens say they play video games. They see both positive and negative sides, from making friends to harassment and sleep loss.

Americans’ Views of Technology Companies

Most Americans are wary of social media’s role in politics and its overall impact on the country, and these concerns are ticking up among Democrats. Still, Republicans stand out on several measures, with a majority believing major technology companies are biased toward liberals.

22% of Americans say they interact with artificial intelligence almost constantly or several times a day. 27% say they do this about once a day or several times a week.

About one-in-five U.S. adults have used ChatGPT to learn something new (17%) or for entertainment (17%).

Across eight countries surveyed in Latin America, Africa and South Asia, a median of 73% of adults say they use WhatsApp and 62% say they use Facebook.

5 facts about Americans and sports

About half of Americans (48%) say they took part in organized, competitive sports in high school or college.

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The State of Online Harassment

Roughly four-in-ten Americans have experienced online harassment, with half of this group citing politics as the reason they think they were targeted. Growing shares face more severe online abuse such as sexual harassment or stalking

Parenting Children in the Age of Screens

Two-thirds of parents in the U.S. say parenting is harder today than it was 20 years ago, with many citing technologies – like social media or smartphones – as a reason.

Dating and Relationships in the Digital Age

From distractions to jealousy, how Americans navigate cellphones and social media in their romantic relationships.

Americans and Privacy: Concerned, Confused and Feeling Lack of Control Over Their Personal Information

Majorities of U.S. adults believe their personal data is less secure now, that data collection poses more risks than benefits, and that it is not possible to go through daily life without being tracked.

Americans and ‘Cancel Culture’: Where Some See Calls for Accountability, Others See Censorship, Punishment

Social media fact sheet, digital knowledge quiz, video: how do americans define online harassment.

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Harris County Jail inmates to use tablets in hopes of preventing violence

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Electronic tablets are coming to the Harris County Jail.

They won't cost taxpayers a penny, and administrators say they will make the jail safer and help inmates by allowing them to reach family members and research their cases.

The tablets are already in some parts of the Harris County jail and will be given to every inmate by September.

They were provided by a Dallas-based company called Securus Technologies and have been in Texas state prisons since 2021.

The tablets are strictly monitored and not fully connected to the internet.

Inmates won't be able to get on social media, and they will only be able to call people on pre-approved lists.

The tablets have free apps that give inmates access to a law library, religious texts, and self-help resources.

"Idle time can lead to issues. So that they can engage in education and other services that come on the tablets, it helps them keep busy and occupied, which in turn makes it a lower jail climate," HCSO Asst. Chief Phillip Bosquez said.

But, one of the concerns is that the technology company charges inmates for the calls.

Some say tablets are just another way to profit off a group of people with a lot of free time.

As of Friday, the average stay at the Harris County Jail is 184 days.

"I talk to my wife every night. I have five kids as well, so I get to talk to my kids, my wife, and my mom," inmate Carlos Garcia said. "We're all humans. We all make mistakes, and it's good to have something like this in jail because you know it helps you. Sometimes it gets violent in here, and this will reduce a lot of violence going on in the dorms."

Inmates can also purchase approved movies and TV shows on the tablets.

For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook , X and Instagram .

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8 Brands Poignantly Promoting Inclusivity

By Joanna Fragopoulos     June 7, 2024    

When strategizing and ideating on campaigns, it’s important to prioritize serving your audience effectively. What are the pain-points your brand and/or products are trying to address and alleviate? Taking this human approach is an integral step in marketing more inclusively and compassionately. Below are campaigns that successfully consider their audiences authentically and inclusively.

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What We Get Wrong about the Effects of Population Growth

New research co-authored by Professor Jason Dana finds that people over-focus on increased consumption without considering the positive effects of increased production.

• Jason Dana Associate Professor of Management and Marketing

When Yale SOM’s Jason Dana asks people to think about a consumer good that has gotten more affordable over time—say, televisions—they are confident they understand why: the underlying technology has improved and production is more efficient, so the product has come down in cost.

But when he asks them whether in general real costs—defined as the amount of work required to purchase individual items—have gone up or down over time, they almost always respond incorrectly, maintaining with just as much confidence that costs are on the rise. (Nominal prices, tied to inflation, are distinct from real costs and do generally rise over time.)

In new research, Dana, his former Yale SOM colleague George E. Newman, now of the University of Toronto; and Yale SOM PhD graduate Guy Voichek, a faculty member at Imperial College London, offer a label for this kind of thinking: “efficiency neglect.” Through several experiments, they show that, when thinking about population growth, people focus on increased demand, failing to consider the increased productivity that typically comes along with it. These beliefs are relatively benign at the individual level—our personal finance decisions don’t usually affect people outside our home or family —but can have downstream effects on society at large. For instance, Dana points out, people who don’t consider the benefits of population growth may support politicians who favor protectionist trade policies or limits on immigration.

“You can live your own individual life pretty well without understanding economics,” Dana explains. “But that lack of understanding probably does lead us to favor sometimes harmful or wasteful economic policies because the stuff that’s intuitive to us is not necessarily correct.”

The paper follows a bigger-picture analysis of lay economic reasoning that Dana and another coauthor published in January . In that research, Dana argues that non-economists’ understanding of markets and economic activity is understudied to the detriment of the consumer psychology field.

“Economists don’t tend to care very much, and psychologists tend not to know a lot about economics,” he says. “My work has always been kind of at the nexus of those two things.”

The belief that resources cannot keep up with demand—called depletionism—is not new. The authors point out that Plato predicted that a city-state might need to kick people out if its population grew past 5,040 households; in 1980, the biologist Paul Ehrlich famously lost a bet with the economist Julian Simon that the cost of several natural resources—including copper—would increase over the next decade.

“Because copper was used in plumbing, and all these people from developing countries were building houses, he thought, ‘Where is all this copper going to come from?’” Dana says. “But we can laugh at that now. We simply came up with a substitute.”

For the new paper, the researchers examined Americans’ views on costs over time and on how population growth would affect goods in a hypothetical thriving nation, and whether prompting people to think about production efficiencies mitigated their depletionist views, among other questions.

They found that prompting people to think about efficiency gains did counter depletionist thinking but not for everyone. When told to consider that more people can lead to more workers, more innovative ideas, and more incentives to improve technology, 27% of respondents thought goods in the hypothetical nation would be more abundant in the future, up from 6% without the prompt. The jump is significant, but future abundance is still a minority belief.

“If it were easy to shed these ideas, they would have been shed already,” Dana says.

Dana, who is currently studying people’s understanding of inflation, says he hopes the research will prompt further inquiries into lay economic beliefs, especially among marketing and consumer research scholars. As a Yale Center for Customer Insights blog post about his January paper points out, such research is “essential to understanding consumer psychology—why people act the way they do in market exchanges.” But it also may be essential to a more productive world, helping policymakers understand how to influence people’s understanding of bigger economic questions involving trade and immigration.

Dana finds the work fascinating.

“I really like talking about lay economics,” he says. “I know how economists think, and I am also acutely aware that people don’t think like economists.”