The life sciences IT market stood at $23.71 billion in 2024 and the shift to digital-first HCP engagement, the expansion of patient-facing digital services and the growing importance of digital in clinical and commercial operations have all driven significant platform and capability investment. We have worked with organisations including AstraZeneca as part of this shift.
The organisations making the strongest returns from that investment share a common characteristic: they have addressed four structural issues that hold back digital performance across the sector.
The regulatory environment in pharma and life sciences is frequently cited as a constraint on digital optimisation. In practice, the organisations performing best digitally have found that compliance requirements and a structured optimisation programme are entirely compatible. The key is building the compliance process into the optimisation workflow from the outset, so that testing, personalisation and content improvement operate within a defined, auditable framework.
This requires investment in programme design upfront. The return is a digital optimisation capability that can operate at pace within regulatory boundaries, rather than one that is constrained by them indefinitely
Pharma companies invested an estimated $19.45 billion in digital advertising in 2024, accounting for nearly 90% of all healthcare digital ad spend. Yet the return on that investment depends almost entirely on how well it is targeted. Only 24% of pharma organisations comprehensively collate and analyse HCP engagement data, and just 22% act on those insights.
Healthcare professionals engage with digital content from pharma organisations on their own terms and in contexts where relevance and timing matter significantly. The organisations achieving the strongest HCP engagement are the ones using behavioural data to serve relevant content at the right moment, across digital channels and across the relationship lifecycle.
The capability to do this exists on modern digital platforms. The challenge for most organisations is the strategy and operating model required to activate it consistently. Building that capability produces measurable improvements in HCP satisfaction, content engagement and, ultimately, in the commercial outcomes the digital programme is designed to support.
Pharma and life sciences organisations produce large quantities of regulated digital content across therapeutic areas, geographies and audiences. Optimising content for digital consumption is the third-highest strategic priority for pharma organisations, yet managing that volume efficiently while maintaining quality and regulatory compliance remains a genuine operational challenge.
The organisations that have built content performance frameworks into their operating model are gaining a measurable advantage. They know which content is driving the outcomes they care about. They can allocate production resource towards what works and reduce investment in what is underperforming. They can demonstrate content effectiveness to internal stakeholders in commercial terms.
Fewer than 20% of pharma organisations measure knowledge gain, behavioural change or impact in practice for most of their HCP education activities. That figure reflects a wider disconnect between digital activity and the commercial and scientific outcomes the organisation is pursuing.
The most effective digital programmes in pharma and life sciences map directly to launch support, indication expansion, patient adherence and HCP education. That connection shapes how the programme is resourced, how performance is reported and how the digital team makes the case for investment. Organisations that have built this connection report stronger internal alignment, clearer prioritisation and better commercial outcomes from their digital investment.
Pharma and life sciences organisations are investing in digital at a level that reflects its commercial importance. The ones generating returns proportionate to that investment are the ones that have built a structured programme connecting strategy, insight, operating model and performance management into a system that improves continuously.
If you want to understand where your programme stands across those four areas, our Digital Optimisation Health Check is a good starting point.