Industry Outlook 2025: Experts Weigh in on the Most Impactful Trends for Industry

There have been numerous events over the course of 2024 that have had an impact on many industries from all over the globe, such as significant political shifts, ongoing conflicts in some regions, and a boom in artificial intelligence (AI). To gain a greater understanding of the specific trends and changes from 2024 and those predicted for 2025 that will shape the global bio/pharma industry, Pharmaceutical Technology® spoke with a selection of industry experts.

1. Through the Lens of a Service Provider

Adam Sherlock, CEO at Qinecsa, discusses industry trends from the perspective of a service provider.

According to Adam Sherlock, CEO of Qinecsa Solutions, a pharmacovigilance technology and services solution provider there have been three key trends from 2024 that have impacted the bio/pharma industry: An increased pressure on price; the rise of AI: and therapeutic success of the glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) class of products.

Looking at the AI and technology agenda in more detail, Sherlock specifies that there are two key areas that will be impacted. The first being how the technology can be used to improve efficiency and production, he states. “Then the other is, in the truest sense of AI, what innovative, new, generative output can be created by the industry using AI, whether that's around truly novel therapies, the use of data to find different patient cohorts, etc.?”

2. The Rising Prominence of AI in Pharma

Ben Sidders, chief scientific officer for Biorelate, chats about the rising prominence of AI in pharma.

The key trend from 2024 for Ben Sidders, chief scientific officer for Biorelate—an AI platform company that provides data solutions to pharma companies—was AI. The AI trend manifested in a few ways, such as shifting the way drug discovery is undertaken, being used across traditional pharma processes, and leading to the rise of digital health and the use of real-word data.

“AI will obviously continue to rise in prominence and to dominate," says Sidders. "I think that evolutionary process of adopting AI into pharma will really start to fulfill the promise, and maybe not all of the hype, but some of the hype that's been around over the last few years.”

3. Regulating Technology for the Future

Kate Coleman from Arriello talks about trends from 2024 and the potential progression of technological advances in the future.

For Kate Coleman, vice president regulatory affairs, quality and compliance at Arriello, 2024 was an interesting year where many companies in the bio/pharma industry started to take stock of everything and identify areas of future value creation. A hot topic for industry, and one that is set to continue, is that of AI, she notes; however AI is still very much in its infancy for industry, particularly in relation to how it will be regulated.

“You know, often people don't fully understand what an AI tool actually does and what the operations are behind the black boxes," Coleman says. "So, I think there's a lot of discussion going on at the moment, a lot of difference in opinion, even across regulators, in terms of how it's going to be regulated in the future.”

4. Personalizing Precision Medicine and Adopting AI

Preeya Beczek from Beczek.COM chats about industry trends from 2024 and those that might continue in 2025, including the big trend of AI.

While there have been numerous trends shaping industry from 2024 and continuing into 2025, Preeya Beczek, managing director and co-founder of Beczek.COM Ltd, explains that there has been a significant focus on personalizing precision medicine. In addition to this trend, data-driven approaches to improve efficiency and AI are also key for 2025, she adds.

“I think we're just going to have lot more people adopting [Generative AI and] that way of working, in their day-to-day work,” Beczek says. “I think that there's going to be some push to get speed, [in] things like manufacturing timelines, [so] they become shorter.”