Scaling Innovation Without Losing Executional Rigor: Q&A with Mark Thierer

As pharmaceutical manufacturers navigate an increasingly complex commercialization landscape, marked by data-driven decision-making, evolving access models, and accelerating adoption of AI, leaders are reassessing how best to scale innovation without losing executional rigor. Pharmaceutical Executive spoke with EVERSANA’s CEO Mark Thierer about what he’s hearing from manufacturers following recent industry gatherings, how commercialization models are evolving, and why integrated data and AI strategies are becoming essential to what comes next.

Pharmaceutical Executive: How has the year progressed at EVERSANA since you were at JP Morgan in January and, more recently, at Asembia meeting with clients? Have client needs changed?
Mark Thierer: What’s been consistent since January is the sense that the industry has crossed an inflection point. At JP Morgan, conversations were still largely framed around uncertainty like capital constraints, pipeline risk, evolving access dynamics. By the time we got to Asembia, those same leaders were much more focused on execution. The question has shifted from “What should we do?” to “How do we actually make this work at scale?”

Client needs themselves haven’t changed as much as expectations have. Manufacturers are looking for fewer handoffs, better visibility across the lifecycle, and partners who can help them connect strategy to real-world performance. Across specialty, rare disease, and established brands, there’s a clear demand for integrated models that can move faster, adapt in-market, and still operate within a highly regulated environment.

PE: What is EVERSANA doing to help manufacturers think about what’s next in terms of innovation?
Thierer: A big part of our role today is helping companies separate experimentation from enterprise transformation. Innovation doesn’t mean running pilots in isolation. Instead, it’s about rethinking how commercialization actually works from start to finish.

At EVERSANA, we’re investing in platforms, data infrastructure, and operating models that allow innovation to be deployed once and scaled across markets, brands, and functions. That includes how teams plan launch strategies, engage HCPs and patients, manage access and affordability, and learn from real-world performance in near real time.

What clients value most is trust and exceptional execution. They want partners who understand the realities of compliance and governance but can deliver with speed and excellence to help them move forward with confidence rather than caution alone.

PE: What commercialization models are really standing out for manufacturers today?
Thierer: The models gaining traction are fundamentally more connected than what we’ve seen historically. Manufacturers are moving away from fragmented agency and vendor ecosystems toward integrated commercialization models that align strategy, execution, and data under a single operating framework. That’s why we’ve built models like what we call COMPLETE.

What’s especially important is flexibility. The most effective models today allow companies to scale up or down based on lifecycle stage, market dynamics, or portfolio shifts, without needing to rebuild the infrastructure every time. Whether it’s launch readiness, specialty pharmacy engagement, patient services, or omnichannel activation, integration is what enables speed and consistency.

The other model we’re really seeing is in the direct to patient space. We are uniquely positioned here because of our strong foundation in digital and data, coupled with our relationships and connectivity to payers.We have and will continue to build programs that really reduce friction points that consumers may experience, and help create wins for patients and manufacturers.

Ultimately, the winners will be the organizations that can coordinate execution across functions while keeping patient access and outcomes front and center.

PE: How has the importance of data strategy changed commercialization over the past five or six years?
Thierer: Data has evolved from a reporting asset into a strategic engine. Five years ago, many organizations were still focused on aggregating data after the fact and trying to understand performance once a campaign or launch phase was already underway.

That’s no longer the case.

Today, data strategy is about anticipation and orchestration. Manufacturers want to connect insights across commercial, medical, access, and patient services so they can make smarter decisions earlier. That requires clean, interoperable data, but just as importantly, it requires the ability to activate that data across teams and channels.

Commercialization is no longer linear. Data allows it to become adaptive, which is essential in markets that are more complex, competitive, and value-driven than ever before.

PE: Everyone is talking about AI. EVERSANA has a partnership with Google—how is that work progressing, and what’s next?
Thierer: AI has clearly moved beyond hype, but the real differentiator now is how it’s applied. Our partnership with Google and our AI Agency is a great example of this. We’re laser focused on building AI directly into the operating fabric of commercialization, not as a tool layered on top, but as an engine that drives strategy, execution, and learning in a responsible, compliant way.

Together, we’ve developed the industry standard for an AI-powered agency and commercialization platform built on Google Cloud, leveraging technologies like Gemini models and Vertex AI. What’s important is that this isn’t theoretical. Our solution is already being used with pharmaceutical brands to speed execution, improve quality, and create more personalized, scalable engagement.

As we move forward, the opportunity is less about individual use cases and more about orchestration, using AI to connect data, content, channels, and decisions across the full lifecycle. We believe that’s where AI will deliver the most meaningful and sustainable impact for manufacturers and, ultimately, for patients.