[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":156},["ShallowReactive",2],{"slug-5-things-that-will-define-the-future-of-pharmas-medical-affairs":3},{"post":4,"relatedPosts":154,"relatedBooks":155},{"id":5,"date":6,"date_gmt":7,"guid":8,"modified":10,"modified_gmt":11,"slug":12,"status":13,"type":14,"link":15,"title":16,"content":18,"excerpt":21,"author":23,"featured_media":24,"comment_status":25,"ping_status":25,"sticky":26,"template":27,"format":28,"meta":29,"categories":30,"tags":34,"project_category":35,"contact_email_category":36,"yst_prominent_words":37,"class_list":43,"better_featured_image":53,"acf":91,"yoast_meta":99,"_links":101},61135,"2026-08-31T09:33:44","2026-08-31T07:33:44",{"rendered":9},"https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002F?post_id=61135&_wpnonce=5e4092fc16&status=auto-draft&type=post","2026-08-31T09:33:46","2026-08-31T07:33:46","5-things-that-will-define-the-future-of-pharmas-medical-affairs","publish","post","https:\u002F\u002Fmedicalfuturist.com\u002F5-things-that-will-define-the-future-of-pharmas-medical-affairs",{"rendered":17},"5 Things That Will Define The Future Of Pharma’s Medical Affairs",{"rendered":19,"protected":20},"\n\u003Cp>Over the past years, I have given more than a hundred keynotes to Medical Affairs teams around the world. These conversations have given me a close look at the questions they keep returning to, the technologies they are trying to understand, and the challenges they increasingly face in their daily work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Medical Affairs is the part of a pharmaceutical company that connects scientific evidence with clinical practice\u003C\u002Fstrong>. Its teams work with healthcare professionals, researchers and patients, communicate and interpret medical evidence, gather insights from the field, support education, and help make sure that the use of medicines is grounded in the latest scientific knowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Again and again, the same themes come up: how to use AI without losing the human side of the profession, how to engage patients in a more meaningful way, how physicians themselves are changing, and how Medical Affairs can remain relevant as medical knowledge becomes increasingly mediated by algorithms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Based on these discussions, I think there are five developments that will have a particularly important impact on the future of Medical Affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Generative AI will become part of almost every aspect of the job\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Generative AI, in the form of large language models, will gradually become embedded in almost every Medical Affairs workflow. It can already help summarize scientific literature, prepare materials, analyze publications, identify knowledge gaps, structure insights from healthcare professionals and personalize educational content.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Medical Science Liaisons\u003C\u002Fstrong> could use AI before a meeting to understand a physician’s recent publications, research interests and questions that might arise during the meeting. After the meeting, the same system could help organize insights and identify patterns across hundreds of similar interactions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>As these tools improve, information processing will become faster and easier. This will increase the importance of the distinctly human parts of Medical Affairs: understanding context, building trust, interpreting ambiguity and deciding which information is actually relevant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Using AI effectively will simply become part of the profession.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Patient centricity will evolve into patient design\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Patient centricity has been one of the most frequently used expressions in healthcare for years. The problem is that almost any initiative involving patients can be described this way. The next step should be deeper involvement in the actual design of healthcare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Patients can contribute to deciding which outcomes matter in real life, how clinical trials should be structured, what makes participation unnecessarily difficult, what information they need and how services around a treatment should work.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Medical Affairs is in a strong position to facilitate this because it already connects scientific evidence, healthcare professionals, patients and the organization itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The most advanced companies will increasingly involve patients before important decisions are made rather than asking for feedback afterwards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>That is what I mean by moving from patient centricity to \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.jmir.org\u002F2022\u002F8\u002Fe39178\">patient design\u003C\u002Fa>.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"498\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2022\u002F09\u002FPatient-design-quote-tmf-768x498.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47387\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2022\u002F09\u002FPatient-design-quote-tmf-768x498.png 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2022\u002F09\u002FPatient-design-quote-tmf-1536x995.png 1536w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2022\u002F09\u002FPatient-design-quote-tmf-2048x1327.png 2048w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2022\u002F09\u002FPatient-design-quote-tmf.png 1667w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Medical Affairs will need to understand the physician of the future\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Future Medical Affairs strategies also have to take into account how the physician’s job is changing. Physicians will increasingly work with AI copilots, automated documentation, clinical decision-support systems, remote monitoring platforms, digital biomarkers and algorithmic recommendations. And even more importantly, they will work with empowered patients daily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This will change how they access medical knowledge. Today, a physician might read guidelines, search PubMed, attend congresses and discuss emerging evidence with colleagues. \u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In the future, part of this process could happen through an AI assistant that continuously synthesizes guidelines, publications and patient-specific information. \u003Cstrong>That physician will have different expectations from Medical Affairs.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Providing scientific information will remain important, but physicians may increasingly need help interpreting an overwhelming amount of evidence, understanding the limitations of algorithms and deciding how new technologies fit into clinical practice. Understanding this new kind of physician should become a strategic priority for Medical Affairs teams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Pharma will increasingly compete for inclusion in the algorithms physicians use\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>For decades, pharmaceutical companies have competed for the attention of healthcare professionals. Scientific publications, congresses, educational activities and interactions with Medical Science Liaisons have all been part of that competition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>AI could introduce a new layer between medical evidence and the physician.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Imagine a physician asking an AI system to compare treatment options for a patient. The system might analyze guidelines, clinical trials, regulatory information and recent publications before presenting a recommendation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>In that environment, companies will also have to think about how their evidence becomes visible and interpretable to those systems. One of the biggest future challenges for pharma might be making sure its scientific evidence is represented accurately inside the algorithms healthcare professionals increasingly rely on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\u003Cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"959\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F08\u002FTMF-How-Physicians-will-use-AI-s-768x959.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61133\" srcset=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F08\u002FTMF-How-Physicians-will-use-AI-s-768x959.png 768w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F08\u002FTMF-How-Physicians-will-use-AI-s-1229x1536.png 1229w, https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2026\u002F08\u002FTMF-How-Physicians-will-use-AI-s.png 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \u002F>\u003C\u002Ffigure>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Foresight will become a Medical Affairs skill\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>Medical Affairs teams will also have to become better at preparing for technological change.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The problem is that the direction of change is rarely obvious. Generative AI could advance extremely quickly in some areas while regulation slows adoption in others. Physicians might adopt AI assistants faster than hospitals. Patients could start using sophisticated medical AI tools before healthcare systems know how to respond.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>This is exactly where futures methods can help. Scenario planning, horizon scanning and other foresight approaches allow organizations to explore several plausible futures and test whether today’s strategies would still make sense in each of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>A Medical Affairs team could explore what happens if AI assistants become the main way physicians access medical knowledge. They could examine a future in which patients routinely arrive with AI-generated medical interpretations. They could also prepare for a world in which regulators expect scientific evidence to be provided in formats that machines can easily process.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>The value of these exercises is preparedness. Teams that have already explored a possible future will recognize it earlier and respond faster when elements of it begin to emerge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Medical Affairs is bringing closer the future of medicine\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>These developments reflect larger changes taking place across healthcare. AI is changing how medical knowledge is processed. Patients are becoming more involved in designing their own care. Physicians are gaining new technological partners, and algorithms are starting to mediate the relationship between evidence and clinical decisions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\n\n\n\u003Cp>Medical Affairs sits at the intersection of many of these changes. That is why I think the function could become significantly more important over the coming decade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",false,{"rendered":22,"protected":20},"\u003Cp>Over the past years, I have given more than a hundred keynotes to Medical Affairs teams around the world. These conversations have given me a […]\u003C\u002Fp>\n",6,55197,"closed",true,"","standard",{"_acf_changed":20,"footnotes":27},[31,32,33],504,521,490,[],[],[],[38,39,40,41,42],1631,1683,1709,1723,1833,[44,14,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52],"post-61135","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","category-future-medicine","category-future-of-pharma",{"id":24,"alt_text":27,"caption":27,"description":27,"media_type":54,"media_details":55,"post":89,"source_url":90},"image",{"width":56,"height":57,"file":58,"filesize":59,"sizes":60,"image_meta":86},1792,1024,"2024\u002F03\u002FAnnotated-medical-data.jpg",365044,{"medium":61,"large":68,"thumbnail":74,"medium_large":79,"1536x1536":80},{"file":62,"width":63,"height":64,"mime-type":65,"filesize":66,"source_url":67},"Annotated-medical-data-370x208.jpg",370,208,"image\u002Fjpeg",19228,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FAnnotated-medical-data-370x208.jpg",{"file":69,"width":70,"height":71,"mime-type":65,"filesize":72,"source_url":73},"Annotated-medical-data-768x439.jpg",768,439,61517,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FAnnotated-medical-data-768x439.jpg",{"file":75,"width":76,"height":76,"mime-type":65,"filesize":77,"source_url":78},"Annotated-medical-data-150x150.jpg",150,8063,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FAnnotated-medical-data-150x150.jpg",{"file":69,"width":70,"height":71,"mime-type":65,"filesize":72,"source_url":73},{"file":81,"width":82,"height":83,"mime-type":65,"filesize":84,"source_url":85},"Annotated-medical-data-1536x878.jpg",1536,878,189957,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FAnnotated-medical-data-1536x878.jpg",{"aperture":87,"credit":27,"camera":27,"caption":27,"created_timestamp":87,"copyright":27,"focal_length":87,"iso":87,"shutter_speed":87,"title":27,"orientation":87,"keywords":88},"0",[],23557,"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002F2024\u002F03\u002FAnnotated-medical-data.jpg",{"cta_type":27,"cta_color":27,"subtitle":27,"key_takeaways":92,"related_books":20,"related_posts_footer":20,"related_posts":20},[93,95,97],{"title":94},"\u003Cp>Medical Affairs is the part of a pharmaceutical company that connects scientific evidence with clinical practice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"title":96},"\u003Cp>I think there are five developments that will have a particularly important impact on the future of Medical Affairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"title":98},"\u003Cp>Medical Affairs sits at the intersection of many of these changes. That is why I think the function could become significantly more important over the coming decade.\u003C\u002Fp>\n",{"yoast_wpseo_title":100,"yoast_wpseo_metadesc":27,"yoast_wpseo_canonical":15},"5 Things That Will Define The Future Of Pharma's Medical Affairs - The Medical Futurist",{"self":102,"collection":108,"about":111,"author":114,"replies":117,"version-history":120,"predecessor-version":124,"wp:featuredmedia":128,"wp:attachment":131,"wp:term":134,"curies":150},[103],{"href":104,"targetHints":105},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F61135",{"allow":106},[107],"GET",[109],{"href":110},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts",[112],{"href":113},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftypes\u002Fpost",[115],{"embeddable":26,"href":116},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fusers\u002F6",[118],{"embeddable":26,"href":119},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcomments?post=61135",[121],{"count":122,"href":123},1,"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F61135\u002Frevisions",[125],{"id":126,"href":127},61137,"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fposts\u002F61135\u002Frevisions\u002F61137",[129],{"embeddable":26,"href":130},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fmedia\u002F55197",[132],{"href":133},"https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fmedia?parent=61135",[135,138,141,144,147],{"taxonomy":136,"embeddable":26,"href":137},"category","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcategories?post=61135",{"taxonomy":139,"embeddable":26,"href":140},"post_tag","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Ftags?post=61135",{"taxonomy":142,"embeddable":26,"href":143},"project_category","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fproject_category?post=61135",{"taxonomy":145,"embeddable":26,"href":146},"contact_email_category","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fcontact_email_category?post=61135",{"taxonomy":148,"embeddable":26,"href":149},"yst_prominent_words","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.medicalfuturist.com\u002Fwp-json\u002Fwp\u002Fv2\u002Fyst_prominent_words?post=61135",[151],{"name":152,"href":153,"templated":26},"wp","https:\u002F\u002Fapi.w.org\u002F{rel}",[],[],1788161863601]