Smart search to seamless care: How AI will transform experiences in 2025

The world changed when GenAI emerged two years ago with the introduction of ChatGPT. Since then, companies have experimented extensively with AI to boost efficiency and replace old ways of working.

While AI has revolutionised drug discovery and development in life sciences, its impact in commercialisation has been slower. This will change dramatically in 2025, as biopharma companies embrace AI-first, purpose-built solution strategies to better serve healthcare professionals and patients.

The coming year will bring significant industry changes as AI delivers measurable impact at scale. Here are our predictions for key transformations in life sciences, as companies refine their AI approaches and find and implement more specific, high-value use cases.

Settling into a new AI (regulatory, security, governance) reality

During 2025, we will see a continued AI-specific market correction as we move from hype to practical, high-quality applications. Supporting this trend is the need for pharma organisations to reduce technical debt. This debt typically occurs by deploying quick fixes or delaying upgrades, rather than implementing long-term, scalable solutions. The cost is significant. According to a McKinsey survey, CIOs reported that 10% to 20% of the technology budget dedicated to new products is diverted to resolving issues related to tech debt.

One way to reduce this debt is to take multiple content management (CMS) and digital asset management systems (DAM) and integrate them into a single system. This will result in less maintenance and oversight.

Additionally, we will see AI models emerge to address data security concerns while providing unprecedented capabilities that combine content and analytics, for both cloud and on-premise ecosystems. However, we will see technology refinements and safeguards prioritised over major leaps in capability, such as AI for governance, data traceability, and ethical use.

In October 2024, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) unveiled its perspective on regulating AI, stating that oversight needs to be coordinated across all regulated industries, international organisations, and the US government. Technology will play a major role in helping pharma companies navigate the growing complexity, especially since there are approximately 120 pieces of AI legislation in progress in the US alone.

We can expect future requirements to disclose AI-generated content and data usage, and advanced text-to-voice engines capable of creating full interview simulations with high-quality output capable of synthesising complex information. Related, there is future potential for AI-to-AI, human-supervised interactions in regulatory processes, and scenarios for paperwork submissions and evaluations.

We will also see AI-based alt text generation for images and SEO, OG, and text-based descriptions. AI-generated image quality will improve to the point that many organisations may replace stock photos. By automating a lot of the routine administrative tasks involved in content and communications, AI stands to significantly impact the marketing workflows for vendors.

Lastly, with all additional AI functionality and features, organisations can expect to see new levels of pricing models. Customers should anticipate pricing transparency for what each feature costs and have the opportunity to accept or opt out based on company needs.

An end to frustrating physician, clinician, and patient research

One of the most noticeable changes we’ll see are the myriad ways AI will improve online search. Rather than a brief synopsis or link-based results, we will see specific, direct, context-aware answers that are more comprehensive and in line with desired insights.

We will also see a solution to cyberchondria – defined by the NIH as an excessive and/or repeated online health search that is associated with increased distress or health anxiety. With cyberchondria, patients typically spend hours searching for information online after receiving a diagnosis. The time spent often correlates with the severity of the condition and access to reliable medical sources. The more complex the disease, the more time spent trying to find current, relevant information. AI will provide an alternative to hours of searching while providing improvements in provider-patient communications.

Patients can expect to see more personalisation with apps, such as post-diagnosis information, therapy plans, and personalised medicine advisory. Not only will this improve provider-patient communications, but it will also bring extraordinary levels of insight for a wide range of diagnostics, saving time and frustration. Rather than looking for information directly, their primary care provider will offer specifics related to each patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan.

Next year will further displace chatbots. In their place, AI agents will provide specific, insightful responses, rather than the standard, often dreaded “decision tree” responses. This will be a welcome change for those who conduct health and treatment research for themselves, family members, and friends.

New wave of technology capabilities, consolidation, and industry disruption

There will be massive consolidation among major digital providers in pharma, creating uncertainty and shockwaves in the industry, especially for risk-averse pharma companies. This is great news for innovative technology providers, and even better news for pharma companies open to exploring alternative solutions.

Driving this trend is the declining market position of major technology providers relying on complex licensing and SaaS models. In response, we'll see increased product integrations across the ecosystem of providers supporting biopharma companies.

Content management systems (CMS) serve as a prime example of this shift. Traditionally dominated by large, monolithic vendors, the CMS landscape in 2025 will experience a notable transformation. Pharma companies will increasingly move away from big, inflexible, and complex CMS tools for content creation and claims management, opting instead for more agile, composable enterprise solutions offered by smaller, engaged vendors.

This transition will foster greater digital innovation and openness to new approaches, as smaller vendors provide more personalised attention and advanced AI capabilities. For example, GenAI will help vendors scale personalised content so they can more efficiently and effectively reach users with relevant content and offers. And modular approaches will become standard as organisations bring together siloed systems under a single interface and/or platform.

The industry will also see improvements in content-to-HCP interactions, empowering pharma companies to exert more control over content generation and engagement with doctors and patients. Agency-client relationships will evolve, with in-house teams taking greater control of digital assets and implementations, while agencies focus more on creativity. This collaborative approach will place increased emphasis on analytics and engagement, ultimately leading to better, measurable outcomes.

Big changes ahead

The industry’s AI and digital journey will take it to unfamiliar places in 2025. The impact will be far-reaching, from security and governance to powerful search capabilities and an entirely different technology landscape. Ultimately, this transformation will pave the way for more efficient and productive ways to benefit patients and healthcare professionals.

About the authors

As a solution architect, Tobias Kerschbaum works closely with customers and partners to help meet their project requirements, ensuring the right modules and technologies are chosen. He delivers tailored workshops and supports partners and customers implementing new functionality and custom requirements.

As US strategy and partner leader, Mark Melton empowers customers to achieve their desired business outcome. His dynamic career includes sales leadership at Crownpeak and pioneering life sciences initiatives at Acquia, reflecting his constant pursuit of customer success and innovation.

Jan Schulte is the head of group consulting at Magnolia. Working at the intersection of business and technology, Schulte helps Magnolia biopharma customers with their content management and digital experience initiatives, framing solutions to their custom challenges and opportunities.