The trends that will shape pharma and biotech industry

Recently, I posed the following question to biotech researchers in the pharmaceutical industry in a LinkedIn poll:“What do you think will be the most important trend shaping the pharma and biotech industry between 2025 and 2030?”. Let’s briefly go over their responses.

AI: 57%

More than half of the respondents selected AI as the most important trend expected to shape the industry. Although the pharmaceutical sector is heavily engaged with information technologies, I consider it relatively more conservative than other industries such as defense and finance. Therefore, this overwhelming preference for AI is somewhat surprising. It suggests that many believe AI will deeply penetrate pharmaceutical research over the next five years.From this result, I infer that AI use will not remain confined to IT departments. Rather, it is likely to be adopted independently by Data Science or Bioinformatics teams, integrated into functional units, outsourced, or implemented through a hybrid approach (I personally favor the hybrid model—but that’s a topic for another article).

The more important question, in my view, is which AI technologies are best suited to address the specific problems organizations face. Many people see AI as a silver bullet capable of solving every challenge. In reality, it is more like a massive toolbox filled with highly specialized methods. Successfully integrating AI into a biotech organization requires deep expertise in both AI and biomedical science, along with domain-specific knowledge of the organization’s needs.

New Molecular Technologies: 33%

To my surprise, new molecular technologies came in second, with one-third of respondents selecting this option. Since the Human Genome Project, we’ve witnessed an exponential rise in innovations like next-generation sequencing, single-cell sequencing, and, most importantly, CRISPR-based gene editing.

When the Human Genome Project began, many physicians and genomic researchers believed it would lead to a complete understanding of genetic diseases and widespread cures. However, the reality turned out differently. While treatments have been developed for a few genetic conditions, progress in complex diseases like cancer and diabetes has been slower than expected. This may have tempered expectations regarding the transformative power of molecular technologies in pharmaceutical research.

That said, I still expect these technologies to unlock new possibilities in areas such as gene therapy (for Mendelian diseases), stem cell therapy (for regenerative medicine), and targeted therapies (for cancer and other complex disorders).

Economy and Public Policies: 9%

It was also surprising to see that researchers ranked economic and policy factors so low in importance. These elements play a significant role in enabling early-stage translational research, particularly in academia and startups. When financial or policy support diminishes, the pipeline of potential treatments for large pharmaceutical companies also shrinks.

Nevertheless, most respondents seem to believe that the pace of scientific discovery is relatively resilient to such external pressures.

Robotics: 1%

Only a small fraction of researchers foresee robotics having a major impact on pharma. This may be because pharmaceutical research remains highly human-centered, and increasing scale doesn’t necessarily accelerate its pace. Whether this assumption holds true in the future remains to be seen.