Realizing the value of artificial intelligence in life sciences

Transformative AI in action

In pharma R&D, AI is reshaping the landscape. By streamlining drug identification and accelerating development processes, AI not only can help cut costs but also boost revenue by hastening market entry. This area alone accounts for 30% to 40% of the potential value, showcasing the important role it could play in the industry’s artificial intelligence journey.

Following closely is the commercial sector, which could capture 25% to 35% of artificial intelligence’s total value. Here, AI refines marketing strategies and enhances script utilization, optimizing expenses and improving service delivery to drive revenue growth.

Manufacturing, supply chains, and enabling areas supported by functions like IT, HR, and finance primarily benefit through operational efficiencies and cost reductions. These areas are important for foundational cost savings and sustainable AI integration. We estimate a five-year timeline for an enterprise to capture peak value from use of AI. The value accretion schedule also differs by functional area due to each area’s inherent characteristics.

Can GenAI in pharma and life sciences live up to its predicted value potential?

Anecdotal success stories and endless media attention have generated hype around the utility of GenAI. Deloitte’s IndustryAdvantage™ framework can help you implement and scale GenAI technology, drive its adoption, and monitor its transformative value. We’ve scaled dozens of AI and GenAI use cases for our life sciences clients, showcasing our commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technologies to foster industry-leading innovations.

Our experience suggests that there is realizable value from GenAI. But it’s critical for companies to separate hype from reality to best understand the true impact GenAI could deliver.

What are the GenAI ‘no-regret bets’?

Initiating GenAI projects with “no-regret bets” offers organizations a prudent path to harnessing AI’s potential swiftly and effectively. Actions like automating scientific literature summarization and optimizing contract performance can deliver immediate benefits and pave the way for broader, strategic integration.

Download our report to explore the potential value for key “no-regret bets” across R&D, supply chain and manufacturing, commercial, and enabling areas.

The time to act is now

The life sciences industry is at an inflection point—and harnessing AI and GenAI as a catalyst for transformation is vital. Winning tomorrow requires organizations to take the right steps toward embracing this technology today.

Here are the top five actions you could take in order to initiate momentum on your AI and GenAI value journey:

1. Establish a leadership mandate: Empower leaders with a mandate to win and drive an enterprise AI and GenAI agenda.
2. Align on a strategic blueprint: Prioritize two to three strategic opportunity areas to serve as enterprise North Stars.
3. Identify ‘no-regret bets’: Activate business units and IT/digital to identify initial “no-regret bets” that align to priority areas.
4. Create minimum viable governance: Establish a governance function that can manage AI and GenAI risks, investments, ethical use, and progress while encouraging innovation.
5. Launch pilot solutions: Deliver solutions that can demonstrate tangible value and prove out adoption.

Successfully driving large-scale AI transformation programs will likely require more than just technological implementation—it will demand a deep transformation of core business operations. By focusing on strategic areas such as commercial operations, product innovation, and operational efficiencies, companies can build a competitive advantage within their industry.

If you’d like to learn more about leveraging GenAI to help transform your life sciences organization, let’s set up a conversation.

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