Trending Forward

It’s that time of year again, when, as one often does, a peek into next year is in order. While making holiday plans with friends and family and wrapping gifts is, of course, on the agenda, it doesn’t stop the wonder and anticipation of what may lie around the corner in our own lives and in the world from building. The same goes for the pharma industry. And to that end, here at Pharmaceutical Executive, we decided to switch things up a bit in our coverage planning, moving our Annual Industry Outlook feature from its usual spot—the first issue of the new year—to right here in December, as a fitting capper to an event-filled 2024 for pharma and healthcare. Because, after all, you can’t properly look ahead without taking stock of what came before.

Editors of Pharm Exec do both in our annual examination of the top trends that we believe are impacting biopharmaceutical companies and the greater healthcare ecosystem the most heading into 2025. We offer deep dives into five select topics, which will likely match some of your own guesses (yes, digital and access-related issues are indeed covered).

Complementing our own trends coverage this month are a trio of crystal-ball perspectives from guest thought leaders. The first one, by authors with Simon-Kucher’s life sciences group, delves into the world of pharma sales forecasting. The experts argue that the tendency to assess value largely based on US-centric forecasts can be detrimental to product planning and decision-making. Regulatory, pricing, market access, and other important aspects from markets such as Europe, Japan, and China must be factored in.

“While US sales projections often form the backbone of global forecasts, extrapolating these figures without accounting for the unique characteristics of other markets introduces significant risks and errors,” the authors write.

The second guest piece presents an interesting take on overcoming pharma’s most pressing pain points today through newly evolved strategies in training. Author Diane Petrone, founder of Pharma Skills Lab, outlines six specific pain points, and for each one, offers tangible examples of ways companies can train and invest in their people to help navigate the challenging waters.

Not to be outdone on the outlook front is our guest op-ed by KOLs with PwC on turning back the tide of escalating healthcare costs.

Here’s to ushering in the new and building on the old. Have a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday season!

Mike Hennessy Jr. is President and CEO of MJH Life Sciences