"Think of agentic AI as a new evolution, where agents become business partners. They are always on, they are always learning, and they are scaling at a rapid pace to support every aspect of life science operations."

A new kind of AI has arrived

Artificial intelligence is transforming business as usual for life sciences organizations—and the evolution of agentic AI adds a new level of value. AI agents can act independently, adapt to new information, and carry out tasks on their own. This shift marks a new chapter for the industry. According to Gartner®, “by 2027, 50% of all business decisions will be augmented or automated by AI agents for decision intelligence.”¹ For life sciences organizations, that means faster innovation, smarter operations, and a reimagined partnership between humans and machines.

AI agents become business partners

AI agents are intelligent, autonomous systems designed to work alongside human teams, elevating collaboration and decision-making. As business partners, they go beyond simply generating outputs to also streamline processes, proactively support strategic goals, and continuously adapt to evolving needs. This partnership marks a shift toward more dynamic and responsive operations, where technology and people work together to unlock new levels of agility and innovation.

Unlike traditional AI models that stop at generating outputs, agents can take a broad range of actions such as:

• Monitoring market trends and generating simulations.
• Identifying risks and opportunities early and recommending strategic responses.
• Executing routine processes autonomously while keeping humans in the loop.
• Incorporating insights from human interaction to continuously refine decisions.

Strategically leveraging agentic AI across life sciences

Many life sciences companies are already utilizing agentic AI in their daily operations, and this “partnership” is already showing practical impact all across the life sciences value chain—from R&D and safety to commercialization.

Here are some examples of the many ways AI is making a difference:

• Improving field and omnichannel effectiveness.
• Enhancing customer and patient support operations.
• Serving as commercial analytics copilots.
• Contributing market access and payer intelligence.
• Providing content generation and lifecycle management (with compliance guardrails).
• Accelerating regulatory and medical writing supporting clinical trial operations.
• Offering patient identification and trial enrollment support.
• Acting as data processing and stewardship agents.
• Automating contracting and commercial ops.
• Monitoring quality, safety and compliance.
• Ensuring employee enablement and training.

Driving AI agent adoption

“Agentic AI is really automation at scale, freeing experts to focus on strategy.”

For healthcare and life sciences organizations, the benefits of agentic applications are both practical and profound. Leaders who shift tasks to AI agents will have more time and energy to devote to innovation, strategy and patient-centered initiatives. However, AI readiness and successful adoption depend on careful planning and a structured approach.

The core principles of organization change management apply for agentic AI adoption, including the importance of leadership commitment, clear communication, and forums for stakeholder feedback. Larger changes require more planning and effort.

Agentic AI creates some additional considerations for successful adoption:

• Organizational inertia is strong, so large efficiency gains need clear efficiency goals and often a change in the mix and number of people deployed to a business function.
• Outputs should undergo human review for consequential decisions or sensitive topics, such as compliance reporting. Over time, monitoring of quality metrics can allow more automation with lower rates of human review.
• Nonexpert user groups tend to adopt agentic AI tools faster, as experts have a lower tolerance for any limitations of agentic AI solutions.

Looking forward: The future of innovation in life sciences

Life sciences and healthcare will continue to be transformed by AI agents working alongside humans. Over the next few years, these agents will solidify their role as trusted collaborators, propelling us to reimagine and reshape what life sciences can achieve. Starting with these best practices will ensure organizations are on a path to successful adoption, accelerating innovation and bringing therapies to patients faster.