Figure it out

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have built commercial strategies around human influence: reps educating doctors; marketers crafting brand narratives and payers evaluating dossiers. But that model is being quietly disrupted.

AI has become the gatekeeper between your brand and your buyer, becoming the first and most influential evaluator of your product’s value.

While the industry debates AI pilots and compliance parameters, intelligent agents are already shaping what healthcare professionals (HCPs) see, the information they trust and which brands rise to the top.

The real question isn’t about using AI to do things faster, but ‘how can we deploy agents to become smarter’? In this new era, companies that treat AI as a strategic co-pilot, rather than a backend efficiency tool, will capture a disproportionate advantage.

Agentic AI is already reshaping how your stakeholders access and engage with information. Just as sectors like B2B tech and finance use AI agents to segment behaviours and personalise buyer journeys, pharma now faces a reality where decisions are increasingly influenced – not by humans alone, but by intelligent systems that surface, filter and evaluate content on their behalf.

And in many cases, those systems have already become the default interface between a product and its potential prescribers.

These agents are embedded in everything from search engines and clinical platforms to prescribing software and payer dashboards – and if your product data isn’t structured to be visible to these systems, it may not be visible at all.

The question facing commercial leaders isn’t whether to adopt AI, but ‘whether their brand can be found and understood by it’.

Pharma’s digital content is still largely built for human eyes: slide decks; PDFs; gated portals – none of which is easily interpreted by intelligent systems. But AI agents don’t see that award-winning design that cost a quarter of your budget; they see structure.

If your product’s value proposition is buried in a PDF, hidden behind a login wall, or buried five clicks deep on a microsite, your brand may be invisible, not just to the public, but to the very systems influencing them.

If an oncologist asks an AI tool to compare HER2-low treatments, or to identify therapies that reduce hospitalisations or improve quality of life, and your data isn’t structured for visibility, your product won’t be part of the answer.

To get ahead, pharma must now design content that serves both people and machines. That means comparison tables instead of flat PDFs. Structured summaries in HTML instead of PDFs behind firewalls. Clean, scannable data instead of creative headlines. Because if the first evaluator of your brand is now algorithmic, you need to build content that earns its trust.

• Predict which HCPs are most likely to adopt a therapy based on peer influence and patient demographics
• Auto-generate compliant content tailored to the next sales conversation.
• Assemble real-time, role-specific briefing packs complete with trial comparisons, outcomes and safety data
• Identify breakdowns in formulary-to-prescription handoffs, and recommend content to address them
• Coach reps with simulations, evidence prompts and behavioural triggers that flag a shift in prescribing intent.

Picture a commercial environment where AI doesn’t just summarise past interactions, but actively scans real-world data, synthesises head-to-head trial results, builds evidence-based narratives tailored to each HCP, and surfaces high-signal opportunities for the field force to act upon.

It connects formulary wins to frontline prescribing behaviour, flags education gaps between primary and secondary care, and directs reps toward the right conversation, at the right time, with the right message.

Well, you don’t need to imagine it anymore because it’s already here and happening.
Sales enablement is one of the clearest, most immediate areas where AI can unlock value. Field forces no longer need to spend hours prepping for calls or searching for the latest data.

Done right, AI becomes your commercial intelligence agent; not replacing your teams, but equipping them with the precision, speed, and insight needed to influence with confidence.

Let’s be honest, the fear that AI might replace humans isn’t unfounded, especially in an industry as relationship-driven and high-stakes as pharma. But ‘this isn’t about robots taking over’.

It’s about empowering your people to do what they do best, supported by smarter insights, sharper stories and instant access to the facts they need.

In practice, this could look like behaviour-based AI agents analysing HCP engagement and adapting messages in real time, pivoting to clinical trial evidence for one doctor, while highlighting economic models for another.

If a region has secured formulary approval but uptake is low, AI identifies the breakdown and prescribes the right education or support. Dynamic detail aids pull together head-to-head comparisons, safety data and real-world outcomes into a format that is both customisable and compliant.

Explainable AI keeps everything traceable and scientifically rigorous, satisfying compliance while enabling agility.

And during the call, that assistant adapts in real time, responding to new questions, switching messaging focus, and surfacing only what is relevant and approved. In disease areas where this level of precision is required, ‘this level of agility becomes your competitive moat’.

Yes, the industry has valid concerns. Regulatory oversight is intense. MLR (Medical, Legal, and Regulatory) reviews are slow by design, and the risks of AI hallucinations or off-label generation are real. But those are risks to be designed for, not barriers to progress.

It is possible to build AI systems using only pre-approved content generated from locked building blocks, and offer fully auditable outputs. In banking and finance – industries that are no less cautious – this is already standard practice.

The real risk is no longer about using AI improperly but ‘becoming invisible while others leap ahead’.

AI also has a critical role in closing the gap between formulary listing and actual prescribing behaviour.

We know that market access doesn’t guarantee market share and that inconsistencies in prescribing, especially between regions or between specialists and primary care, can stall uptake and fragment patient care.

AI can surface which practices or regions are underperforming despite formulary access. It can pinpoint educational gaps at GP level. And it can deliver content tailored to different roles, driving consistency of care and commercial impact in equal measure.

Pharma was slow to embrace omnichannel. While other industries embedded personalised, multichannel journeys years ago, pharma’s engagement model remained rep-led and asset-heavy.

Now, omnichannel is finally gaining traction, but to many outside pharma, ‘it’s old news’. Meanwhile, 60% of HCPs are hard to reach and rarely see reps – the silent majority is being left behind.

AI gives commercial teams the tools to close that gap and take omnichannel to an entirely new level – one that is intelligent, adaptive, and tailored to individual behaviours.

It can predict the best channel, content and moment to engage. It can automate sequencing and personalisation, and it can transform omnichannel from a tactical programme into a living, learning system.

Every day that AI is viewed as a future pilot rather than a present priority, the gap widens. Brands that understand how to optimise for intelligent systems are already being surfaced more often, ranked more favourably, and trusted more deeply.

Waiting for the perfect framework, the universal standard, or full consensus is no longer a safe strategy; ‘it’s a slow fade into obscurity’.

AI is now a commercial imperative. Pharma doesn’t need another pilot; it urgently needs a plan:

• Audit your visibility. Can AI systems find and interpret your brand’s evidence and story?
• Reformat your materials so they are structured for both humans and machines.
• Equip your field force with AI co-pilots that support scientific conversations in real time.
• Build compliance-aligned content engines that generate approved outputs at speed.
• Most importantly, invest in AI literacy across your commercial teams. Because your most influential buyer may no longer be human, but they’ll still determine your future.

Emma Clayton is Strategic Marketing & Commercial Leader at Be Brilliant