Pharmaceutical Executive: August 2026

View the Pharmaceutical Executive August 2026 issue in an interactive format.

This year's Pharm Exec Emerging Pharma Leaders represent a new and growing breed of leader: Those capable of navigating an industry where scientific advances, technology and business models are evolving simultaneously.

A changing of the guard atop Pharm Exec’s latest listing of the top biopharma Rx revenue producers reflects an industry being remade in real time, becoming as much a map of franchise quality and market momentum as it is the strategic shifts and bets necessary to turn today’s disruption into tomorrow’s growth.

As trust shifts from a stated value to an operating condition, pharmaceutical leaders face new expectations for how credibility is built, governed and sustained under continuous scrutiny.

Q&A with PwC’s Glenn Hunzinger explores why biopharma M&A investment could approach $300 billion in 2026, how drugmakers are balancing risk amid patent cliffs and policy pressures, and the urgent need to transform healthcare as commercial medical costs climb toward 9%.

From guiding pursuits in artificial intelligence and R&D to scientific marketing and company building, meet Pharm Exec’s new slate of select rising leaders who are helping to shape the next generation of biopharma innovation.

Christopher Savage, managing director, Propensity4, and chief of staff, Inizio Engage, on creating lasting impact over chasing the next opportunity.

Abid Rahman, head of AI Agency and innovation at EVERSANA, explains how the pharmaceutical industry is moving from generative to agentic AI.

Sarah Ghosh, U.S. scientific marketing lead in oncology at Regeneron, discusses developing and adapting the narrative for a medication for every global market.

Rena Denoncourt, chief operating officer at Corsera Health, discusses the operational challenges of building a startup and how she balances prioritization with the flexibility drug development demands.

Dr. Nick Botwood, chief medical officer and head of research and development at Syndax Pharmaceuticals, draws on his career to explain what separates good R&D organizations from great ones.

Why pricing pressure, policy volatility and supply-chain risk are pushing drugmakers toward greater cost and portfolio discipline, without losing sight of investment in innovation.

Overcoming the limits of traditional segmentation through a more connected, responsive and effective approach to health care professional engagement.

Why the industry must abandon its traditional top-down communications model and instead build trust through credible individuals, audience information habits and faster engagement in the peer-driven networks where health conversations now unfold.

Such enterprises will be defined not only by breakthrough therapies but also by agile leadership, AI-enabled transformation and patient-centered operating models that accelerate innovation into real-world impact.

Insights into the "differentiation paradox" from a study of 340 drug launches.