Heading into 2024, most healthcare leaders offered predictions warily, if at all. Anticipating a turbulent presidential election year – they were very not wrong about this – many believed that broader systemic change, whether in the form of additional drug-pricing reforms or an attempt to limit the perceived power of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), would be an uphill climb.

Others, however, correctly predicted an expansion in the way AI would be deployed to drive innovation and efficiency in healthcare. Then there were the leaders who saw mental health urgent-care clinics as the next logical expansion of the treatment landscape. Savvy soothsayers, all.

As the calendar turns to 2025, here’s what 5 pharma leaders and 1 Kinara writer expect to see in the months ahead.

Julie Cosgrove, head of portfolio operations, Sanofi Specialty Care, North America

I have three thoughts:

The future of the healthcare giants: In light of recent events, including the tragic death of UnitedHealth’s CEO and growing public scrutiny of large, for-profit, vertically integrated healthcare companies like CVS Caremark, UnitedHealthcare/OptumRx and Cigna, what changes can we expect in the PBM landscape? Will CVS consider a breakup and to what extent might government intervention reshape the future of these organizations? (Ironically, as I was writing this news broke in the Wall Street Journal about Trump “going after the middlemen.” So I’m already 1-for-1 – ha).

Direct-to-consumer healthcare: More patients are bypassing their primary care physicians to get access to prescription medications. Companies like Curology and Apostrophe in dermatology, Lilly Direct for diabetes, migraines and obesity, and Call-On-Doc and many others for on-demand treatment are putting more of the decision power in the hands of patients.   

The expansion of GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs and their impact on public health: How will the broadening application of GLP-1 drugs impact public health and the management of comorbid conditions?  With so many patients already taking them – and emerging data in other chronic conditions – how will these drugs change the healthcare landscape? 

It’s going to be an interesting year!

Sarah Landfield, director, oncology marketing, AstraZeneca

I am really looking forward to seeing more digital innovations – both AI-driven and otherwise – that support pharma companies to engage more meaningfully with their customers. These could manifest themselves in the realm of platforms, content or even measurement. I am mainly speaking about the broader HCP team here: If we can’t help them understand and digest our key data, how can we expect that the patients who could truly benefit from our therapies will have the opportunity to get them?

Marshall Thompson, senior manager, digital marketing – US rare disease, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Last year we embraced using generative AI tools to create static images for an HCP social media campaign, unlocking the possibilities of how AI can benefit the marketing team while still maintaining compliance with our MLR team. Next year I would imagine the trend of working with AI tools to continue, but it will extend into affordable, dynamic, omnichannel campaigns that will be personalized to HCPs by specialty, geographic region/country and possibly other behavior characteristics. There are currently some platforms that have provided this type of solution, but I think these AI tools will become even more accessible and user-friendly for marketing teams to work with in-house – and for MLR teams to become more comfortable with in their real-time personalization.

Mark Fallai, VP, head of customer experience, Exact Sciences

It would be easy to say something like “AI-driven (fill in the blank)” and probably be on target. But what I am paying close attention to is the cultural shift of cancer screening being more thought of as self-care and the reaction of companies that lean into that shift – which is already occurring. This will become even more evident in the ways patients find care, companies talk about screening and how the two collaborate to outline next steps, hopefully with empathy and clarity.

Zachary Capetola, oncology omnichannel strategy, Merck

As customer preferences shift towards consumerization, transformative technologies will gain traction across the biopharma commercial space. Organizations that prioritize and embrace them will have a competitive advantage.

Larry Dobrow, co-editor, Kinara

When Dr. Google first started making her presence felt during care visits in the early-2000s, neither physicians nor the industry writ large seemed particularly eager to recalibrate the traditional rules of engagement – which were, basically, “We talk and you listen.” It took a pandemic and the subsequent decline of societal trust in the public-health apparatus, but the era of patient-led healthcare is finally and fully upon us. No, we’re not going to be writing our own scripts anytime soon. We’ve already started to take the lead in diagnosing and educating ourselves, however, and the wellspring of technology and data at our disposal gives us a puncher’s chance of actually, you know, being right.

Members of the medical community may have a thought or two on whether this is a welcome trend. What’s interesting to me is how pharma and especially health-adjacent technologists have pivoted, helping consumers eliminate or steer clear of the barriers that once separated them from a satisfying (and successful) care experience. Look for plenty of additional innovation in this realm in 2025. 

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