MIT Technology Review Insights and Globant Report: Three quarters of global pharma organizations are piloting or deploying agentic AI

Rhea-AI Summary

Globant (NYSE: GLOB) partnered with MIT Technology Review Insights to publish a report, "Transforming Commercial Pharma with Agentic AI," based on a May–July 2025 survey of 250 senior pharma, biotech and bioengineering executives across nine countries.

Key findings: 73% are planning, piloting or deploying agentic AI; top use cases include regulatory compliance (51%), data standardization (49%), patient support (46%) and market intelligence (46%). Top deployment challenges: workflow design 60%, compliance/validation 55%. Report cites generative AI economic opportunity of $60–$110B/year for pharma and medical products.

Positive

• 73% of pharma firms planning/piloting/deploying agentic AI
• Report cites $60–$110B/year generative AI opportunity for pharma
• 84% prioritize data standardization and integration

Negative

• Workflow design/orchestration cited as a deployment challenge by 60%
• Compliance/validation cited as a deployment challenge by 55%
• Tech infrastructure (42%) and data governance (38%) identified as adoption hurdles

Insights

Industry AI Strategy Expert

Report shows rapid pharma adoption of agentic AI and highlights large addressable value if data and governance scale.

Three clear, measurable signals emerge: 73% of pharma leaders are planning, piloting, or deploying agentic AI (73%), and 84% prioritise data standardization and integration (84%), while the study cites an economic range of $60 billion to $110 billion a year for the sector. These facts map directly to business levers: demand for workflow orchestration, compliance tooling, and data engineering services will grow as firms move from experiments to production.

Execution hinges on three dependencies and risks: robust compliance/validation is a principal challenge (55%), workflow design/orchestration tops deployment issues (60%), and tech infrastructure and governance remain material constraints (42% and 38%). The study’s use-case priorities—regulatory compliance (51%), data standardization (49%), patient support (46%), and market intelligence (46%)—tie demand to repeatable, contractable services rather than speculative R&D bets.

Watch for concrete near-term signals over the next 12–18 months: increases in vendor contracts for data integration, announcements of validated compliance workflows, and pilot-to-production conversions for agentic systems. These milestones will determine whether the cited $60–$110 billion opportunity translates into sustained commercial spending or remains a conceptual estimate.

• New global study of 250 pharma leaders shows rapid uptake of agentic AI; early adopters focus on market intelligence, patient support, compliance and data integration.
• As the industry seeks to grasp over $100 billion a year in new growth opportunities, MIT Technology Review Insights claims: "agentic AI promises the next phase of transformation: from AI tool to AI coworker."

MADRID, Spain, Oct. 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Globant (NYSE: GLOB), a digitally native company that helps organizations thrive in a digital and AI-powered future, has partnered with MIT Technology Review Insights to launch a new report titled, "Transforming Commercial Pharma with Agentic AI." The report reveals that pharmaceutical companies are rapidly adopting AI agents across commercial and medical affairs, finding both strong momentum and clear priorities for the industry.

The report [available to download here] is based on a study conducted by MIT Technology Review Insights, the custom publishing division of MIT Technology Review, backed by the world's foremost technology institution, between May and July 2025. In total, 250 senior executives from the pharmaceuticals, biotech, and bioengineering industries took part, based in nine countries: Canada, US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Brazil, and Switzerland.

Key findings from the study

• Nearly three quarters (73%) of respondents are planning, piloting or deploying agentic AI initiatives; some are already in production. Adoption is expected to climb sharply over the next 12–18 months.
  
  
• Regulatory compliance (51%), data standardization (49%), patient support (46%), and market intelligence (46%) rank as the highest-priority use cases.
  
  
• Workflow design/orchestration (60%) and compliance/validation (55%) are the top challenges to deployment; tech infrastructure (42%) and data governance (38%) follow.
  
  
• 84% plan to prioritize data standardization and integration to make agents reliable at scale.

The report includes remarks from Jeff Headd, Vice President of Commercial Data Science for North America, Johnson & Johnson, who commented: "We invested heavily in learning and up-skilling on how to use AI. One of the messages we've emphasized is that AI is not going to take your job, but another human using AI might, so the goal is to become an expert at using it to bring the most out of yourself."

Within its analysis, The MIT Technology Review Insights team notes that generative AI is poised to create between $60 billion and $110 billion a year in economic value for the pharma and medical product industries, stating agentic AI could be the catalyst to kick-start a new phase of transformation for the sector.

To ensure that such promise is delivered, respondents are clear on the need for strong data foundations, with 84% ranking data standardization and integration as a high or medium priority for enabling AI agents to deliver value.

Within the report, Frank Defesche, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Life Sciences at Salesforce, added: "Instead of viewing agentic AI as a standalone, isolated tool, it needs to be embraced as an embedded and inseparable element of core business processes. It's important to build systems that can embed legislation and regulatory documentation directly, and it's essential to establish clear human oversight, specific handoff points where critical decisions must remain in human hands."

These global perspectives present a compelling case for how agentic AI can reshape the commercial and medical functions of the industry, creating new efficiencies, accelerating compliance, and driving more personalized engagement with healthcare professionals and patients.

Joaquín Labado, Healthcare & Life Sciences Managing Director at Globant added: "AI agents can accelerate and innovate across the whole medical-marketing workflow, including research, strategy, execution, and optimization to create relevant and personalized content and services for a specific health care professional to engage with. Rather than create discomfort in a highly regulated industry, it's a chance to set clear agentic rules and guardrails that let us innovate at speed while staying compliant."

Ariel Capone, CEO of Globant's Healthcare & Life Sciences AI Studio, concluded: "At Globant, we are working to ensure that agentic AI becomes a strategic pillar in the future of the pharmaceutical industry. Its value goes far beyond automation: it's about driving a new form of collaboration between people and technology, capable of transforming how the industry innovates, communicates, and improves patients' lives. We believe this is a historic opportunity to build a future for healthcare that is smarter, more agile, and profoundly human."

To learn more about the report, click here.

About Globant

At Globant, we help organizations thrive in a digital and AI-powered future. Our industry-focused solutions combine technology and creativity to accelerate enterprise transformation and design experiences customers love. Through digital reinvention, our subscription-based AI Pods, and Globant Enterprise AI platform, we turn challenges into measurable business results and promised savings into real impact.

• We have more than 30,000 employees and are present in over 35 countries across 5 continents, working for companies like Google, Electronic Arts, and Santander, among others.
• We were named a Worldwide Leader in AI Services (2023) and a Worldwide Leader in Media Consultation, Integration, and Business Operations Cloud Service Providers (2024) by IDC MarketScape report.
• We are the fastest-growing IT brand and the 5th strongest IT brand globally (2024), according to Brand Finance.
• We were featured as a business case study at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford.
• We are active members of The Green Software Foundation (GSF) and the Cybersecurity Tech Accord.
• We are global partners of Open AI, NVIDIA, AWS and Unity bringing world-class technology together to accelerate innovation across industries.

Contact: pr@globant.com

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FAQ

What did Globant (GLOB) announce with MIT Technology Review Insights on October 14, 2025?

Globant announced a joint report based on a May–July 2025 survey of 250 pharma leaders, highlighting rapid adoption of agentic AI across commercial and medical functions.

How widespread is agentic AI adoption according to the Globant/MIT report (GLOB)?

The report found 73% of respondents are planning, piloting or deploying agentic AI, with adoption expected to rise over the next 12–18 months.

What market opportunity does the report attribute to generative AI for pharma (GLOB)?

The report estimates generative AI could create between $60 billion and $110 billion per year in economic value for pharma and medical product industries.

Which use cases did the Globant/MIT report identify as top priorities for pharma (GLOB)?

Top use cases are regulatory compliance (51%), data standardization (49%), patient support (46%) and market intelligence (46%).

What deployment challenges could affect Globant's pharma AI opportunities (GLOB)?

Survey respondents flagged workflow design/orchestration (60%) and compliance/validation (55%), plus tech infrastructure and data governance issues.