Industry Outlook 2025: Through the Lens of a Service Provider

At the macro level, and through the lens of a service provider to R&D, there are three key trends that have impacted the bio/pharma industry over the course of 2024, according to Adam Sherlock, CEO of Qinecsa Solutions, a pharmacovigilance technology and services solution provider. “The three key things that I've seen this year are really an increased pressure on price and an increased scrutiny of the cost of health and the cost of health care provision globally; then we've had the kind of mega trend of AI [artificial intelligence]; then the third piece is actually, from a therapeutic point of view, has been the unbelievable success of the GLP-1 [glucagon-like peptide] class of products, and the potential implication for a much broader range of conditions, diseases, and treatment areas using GLP,” he says.

When looking at AI and the technology agenda for the industry in more detail, Sherlock believes there are two key areas that will be impacted. “The first is, what can AI/machine learning/robotic process automation/digitization do for efficiency and productivity? So, we see that as a service provider, we're looking to use these technologies to be more productive and more efficient, faster, and higher quality in terms of what we do for our clients, but we're also baking that into our own technology solutions that we are then selling to clients, and clients are using within their own businesses. So, the efficiency agenda, and that, of course, drives towards not just better productivity, but also, you know, lower cost. That's one key major theme that technology is enabling,” he says. “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.?”

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About the speaker

Adam Sherlock, CEO of Qinecsa Solutions

Adam Sherlock is CEO of Qinecsa Solutions, which is a UK-headquartered, international pharmacovigilance technology and services solution provider. Adam has more than 35 years’ experience within the pharma services industry and has held senior roles in a number of different pharma services businesses over the past 15 years.