Complex issues pose challenges for life sciences companies

Despite this potential, only 22% of life sciences leaders report having scaled such technologies, highlighting significant room for growth and adoption. Life sciences companies are moving beyond experimentation to scale technologies that enhance both efficiency and innovation. Most future buyout targets are anticipated to be in Phase 2 or later stages, reflecting a strategic focus on reducing clinical risk. The current global pipeline includes more than 20,000 drug development programs, with 17% in Phase 1, 16% in Phase 2, and 6% in Phase 3. And this, in turn, shapes the strategic focus, operational efforts, and revenue distribution of life sciences service providers worldwide.

These changes could make life sciences and biotechnology companies think differently about how much they charge for drugs and how they invest in creating new ones​. The act also requires companies to pay back money if drug prices increase faster than inflation. These are growing in importance because they offer solutions to serious global challenges — diseases, food shortages, and climate change. This level of extensive research will be crucial in developing more effective, personalized treatments, promising a future of healthcare that's more attuned to the unique needs of each patient.

Deloitte figures show that currently, over 435,000 clinical trials are underway globally, and these use more than two million health tech devices. The growing use of wearables and healthcare apps is another example of how tech is changing the landscape, especially in patient care. This enabled remote work, accelerated scientific breakthroughs, and improved manufacturing efficiency. Now, with the help of genomics and AI, it's possible to analyze vast amounts of health data to find patterns and predict the most effective treatments for individual patients.

Talent shortages, data fragmentation, rising regulatory demands, and the shift from experimental technologies to enterprise-wide adoption are changing how programs get delivered. For pharma, biopharma, biotech, and medtech organizations, increased competitive pressure is forcing a hard look at how work actually gets done. In summary, the life sciences industry in 2025 is navigating a landscape shaped by strong innovation pipelines, favorable global health trends, and an accelerating shift toward digital and data-driven operations. These GCCs are evolving from traditional support hubs into strategic centers for global commercialization, R&D, and analytics.

• There is a huge drive to improve the value chain, which has resulted in increased international investment.
• With a notable skills gap and heightened competition for specialised roles, executives should invest in developing their current workforce and refine their approach to attracting new talent.
• For life sciences companies, a stricter emphasis on sustainability means deeper investments in tracking tools and greener processes.
• From sourcing global talent to filling specialised technical roles, our expertise extends across Europe, the US, MENA, and APAC, with a strong track record of successful senior-level placements.

This will improve local supply chain resilience while creating opportunities to increase exports. Thorsten Esser, Senior Manager, Grant Thornton Germany, is seeing how many German companies are planning to invest in Germany to increase domestic capacity. “In India there is a real push to build API capacity and increase overall exports,” says Bhanu Prakash. The IBR survey shows that companies continue to focus on growing internationally, despite the added complications of higher energy costs and concerns about transport infrastructure.

How project portfolio management software is helping life sciences organizations

At the same time, the life sciences sector is looking to increase international sales. There is government backing for investment that helps to develop national capacity and infrastructure and to increase exports of value-added products. Companies are looking closely at how they can introduce or adapt technology to make processes more efficient.” “They can be more agile than large global organisations and implement change more swiftly, with less complex structures and fewer people to get on board.” The life sciences sector made a quantum leap during the pandemic, implementing changes that might otherwise have taken a decade to achieve. There is a strong focus on digitisation, which is expected to continue through this year.

ESG requires a strategic approach, with buy-in across the whole senior leadership team. Increasingly, procurement decisions in the health sector take ESG compliance into account, which requires bidding companies to be able to demonstrate best-practice. Mid-market companies appear to be further behind the curve in terms of action or measurement than global organisations, but pressure is growing around setting measurable sustainability targets. “We can support businesses to understand where their biggest operational challenges and opportunities are, including around efficiency and effectiveness.” Meeting these expectations will hinge on the ability of companies to increase selling costs in the face of solid resistance. Financial costs are also front of mind, with interest rates beginning to rise in all major economies and further increases on the horizon.

Building a Resilient Finance Function

As these approaches expand, organizations are focusing on how to manage higher data volumes, maintain data quality, and meet regulatory expectations — all while keeping trials simple for patients to participate in. Clinical trials are becoming more flexible as organizations look for better ways to reach patients and gather data. Companies preparing for 2026 are focusing on how to manage parallel development timelines, regulatory milestones, and manufacturing readiness without slowing progress or increasing risk. Digital infrastructure has become a strategic asset — not simply a support function. Success depends not just on breakthrough science, but on the operational foundations that support it.

To mitigate these challenges, life sciences companies are adopting transformative solutions to enable proactive scenario planning and risk mitigation. In the coming year, the focus will remain on embracing digital technologies, navigating a changing regulatory landscapes challenges in life sciences industry and market volatility, and addressing health inequities. Yet, because it relies on data collected from individual patients, ensuring the security of that sensitive data must be a high priority. “While there have been challenges and delays, the life sciences sector is adopting AI at remarkable speed and would expect to see significant acceleration of progress.” There also are ESG benefits from shorter supply chains, both in terms of impact and enhanced ability to control and measure.

Money alone cannot solve this problem, which is why the skills shortage requires a strategic approach by senior leadership. The IBR survey shows that concerns about the availability of people with the right skills and experience has deepened and may only get worse, given strong hiring intentions. There is a global shortage of people with the skills and expertise needed by life sciences, and it shows no sign of abating. We spoke to some of our industry experts from around the world to explore how COVID-19 has accelerated change within the sector and the key trends that they predict will impact decision-making this year. A key focus is identifying critical supplier dependencies and assessing how third-party disruptions could affect operations. This supports underwriting for property damage and business interruption, helping set appropriate contingent business interruption limits and design effective insurance programs.

Heading into 2030, the life sciences industry is on the brink of exciting changes. To make the most of this data revolution, healthcare organizations will need to embrace a new way of making decisions based on data, which is a big change from how things were done before. With AI used in this practical, supportive way, the next decade could bring big improvements to healthcare, making it more personalized and effective. Instead of simply being used for diagnostics or finding, these tools should support the daily decisions healthcare workers make.

This year’s analysis demonstrates the step change we anticipated, in our 2021 report Nurturing growth, is yet to be realised. This annual report examines how the future of global healthcare is likely to be shaped by various trends such as, driving innovation, sustainability, social care integration, cost management and workforce adaptation. Meanwhile, MedTech companies are expected to divest non-core assets in order to improve their growth profiles and create opportunities for strategic acquirers. Vaccines and next-generation treatments, such as cell gene therapy, represent new streams of revenue for life sciences companies. Pharmaceutical companies are also working towards understanding niche diseases through hyper-targeting of patient populations to ensure equitable access to treatments.