Pharmaceutical Technology Trends That Will Impact Your Business In 2025

With new technologies, the pharmaceutical industry will face a watershed moment, with breakthroughs and changes spread over the next few years, signaled by emerging trends and innovation in pharmaceutical technology. Driving the momentum of innovation are policy reforms, customer demands and heightened competition in the pharma landscape.

Beyond drug manufacturing, these current trends in pharmaceutical technology will impact regulations, marketing, supply chain, distribution and a lot more. Hence, there is a growing need for efficiency, robust security and cutting-edge solutions in various areas, such as clinical trials, drug discovery and regulatory compliance.

Last year, we explored top five trends that dominated Pharma Tech in 2024, including electronic health records, point-of-care testing, MLOps and digital therapeutics. This year, we delve deeper into the technology trends in pharmaceutical industry that are shaping 2025.

As technological advancements in the pharmaceutical sector continuously evolve, redefining the industry's future, let's uncover the top five Pharmaceutical Trends shaping the landscape in 2025 and the near future.
 

Trend 1: Data And Text Analytics Will Continue To Dominate

Yes, we all know that data is the new oil. Pharmaceutical companies too have increasingly adopted data-centric management to harness their unstructured data, reduce costs and improve outcomes. Soon, by integrating and leveraging text analytics and AI-powered NLP technologies, they will be able to consolidate data from diverse sources and extract valuable insights from research texts, medical databases and clinical notes. This trend will help in overcoming a historical obstacle in the pharmaceutical industry: real-time access to data!
 
Pfizer, one of the world’s pharma giants, employs data analytics to accelerate drug discovery and development, which traditionally involves considerable time, effort and money. By using computational techniques and AI, they analyze vast datasets across multiple sources and accelerate the process. Notably, Novartis also employs data analytics for clinical trial optimization by using predictive modeling and machine learning to identify optimal trial sites, patient populations and recruitment strategies.

Hence, in 2025, we expect pharma leaders to leverage text analytics to make better and faster use of their data.

TechDogs’ Takeaway:
 

• Improve the effectiveness of data access available to pharma professionals to create a more targeted healthcare routine.

• Leverage predictive modelling to reduce cost and speed up clinical trial designs by examining data from historical clinical trials.

• Use continuous monitoring to optimize text and data storage, enabling faster retreival and access during production.

Trend 2: Cybersecurity's Noose Will Tighten

Pharmaceutical companies are a golden target for cyber-attacks. With valuable IPs, sensitive data and vulnerable supply chains, they risk breaching regulatory compliances. Well, the repercussions will be huge in the near future! In 2025, we will see the rise of Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), a cybersecurity framework that operates on the principle of "never trust, always verify."
 
Due to its enhanced security measures against cyber threats, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) is gaining traction in the pharmaceutical industry. In fact, ransomware gangs, especially LockBit, have targeted pharmaceutical companies such as Eisai, Sun Pharmaceuticals and PharMerica in one of the most successful ransomware attacks. ln 2023, PharMerica Corporation was attacked by ransomware, leading to the personal data of nearly 6 million people being exposed.

ColorTokens Inc., a leading enterprise microsegmentation provider, announced in September 2024 that Omega Healthcare has deployed its zero-trust solution to secure its server network. This move underscores the healthcare industry's increasing focus on protecting sensitive patient data and maintaining trust, something that pharmaceutical leaders will emulate in 2025.

In the near future, the pharmaceutical industry will tighten its security posture and deploy newer ways to secure its sensitive, proprietary data.

TechDogs’ Takeaway:
 

• Implement multi-factor authentication to enhance your Zero Trust strategy to prove a user's identity.

• Use identity and access management solutions to protect access to customer data and reduce the risk of a breach.

• Strengthen your supply chain traceability as bad actors can exploit the lack of visibility and control in supply chains for counterfeiting.

Trend 3: Cloud Computing Will Be An Innovation Catalyst

The pharmaceutical industry has traditionally been cautious and slow to adopt new technology. However, with the rapid rise of cloud computing, pharma leaders are leveraging cloud-based platforms to access tools for data analytics, AI/ML and more. In 2025, this will further accelerate drug discovery, optimize clinical trials and personalized treatments in the pharma sector.
 
Powerful computational tools are available on the cloud for pharma businesses, allowing them to examine vast volumes of data including molecular structures, clinical trial outcomes and genetic information. This can hasten the identification of fresh therapeutic ideas and even enhance cooperation and collaboration.

Real-time communication between teams and individuals as well as organizational data sharing will be made possible by cloud computing, cutting the time needed for decision-making. AstraZeneca, a pharma leader, is a pioneer in cloud adoption, leveraging a range of cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, Google and Mongo, to securely manage and analyze vast datasets. In 2022, they declared that 25 petabytes of genomic data were stored on their AWS, which enabled the execution of over 110 billion tests under 30 hours.

Similarly, like AstraZeneca, others have also started implementing cloud solutions across their value chain with multiple strategic partnerships. Pfizer, for instance, actively uses cloud computing to analyze datasets and identify potential drug targets, enabling a shorter development span. This will be a key innovation catalyst for pharma leaders in 2025.

TD Takeaway:
 

• Meet compliance requirements like HIPAA by leveraging cloud computing-driven workflows.

• Speed up your drug discovery and development, that need large amounts of data, by making data cloud-accessible.  

• Give complex data associated with clinical trials centralized access and security to maintain confidentiality while boosting collaboration.

Trend 4: Pharma 4.0 Manufacturing Will See A Seismic Shift

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly adopting a new framework called ‘Pharma 4.0’ and advanced manufacturing tools like automation, IoT and AI to streamline production, reduce costs and accelerate drug discovery. This shift is enabling personalized medicine, reduction in waste and boosting the product quality.
 
Companies like Roche, a pioneer in healthcare, leveraged pharma AI in its manufacturing and discovery programs. Starting in 2018, they collaborated with Owkin2, a medical research ML startup and GNS Healthcare3 to research the conversion of cancer patients’ data into a computer model that targets other cancer patients deemed fit for therapy. This process makes it easier for them to determine the appropriate treatment that needs to be created for the patient with a specific gene.

This is a huge step, with companies like Novartis using 3D printing to manufacture such tailored treatments. As regulatory bodies become more supportive, adopting advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) will be the new norm as it is already on the rise. The move to adopt Pharma 4.0 promises improved manufacturing efficiency, supply chain reliability and quicker drug development.

TechDogs’ Takeaway:
 

• Implement insights from IoT sensors to automate quality assurances and increase operational accuracy within Pharma 4.0 manufacturing.

• Optimize the inventory management using sensors and automation, improving the decision-making for warehousing and demand.

• Smoothen predictive maintenance with Pharma 4.0 by producing actionable predictions that maximize the pharmaceutical supply chain efficiency.

Trend 5: ERP Will Transform Pharma Workflows

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems provide pharmaceutical companies with a unified platform for businesses by streamlining operations, improving efficiency and enhancing decision-making. Though not recent, it is predicted that in the coming years, the role of ERP will broaden and adoption among pharma businesses will grow, becoming a standard practice for pharmaceutical industry.
 
Today, more than 75% of businesses believe ERP is essential for real-time management, business data and decision-making. In 2025, pharma leaders will adopt ERP systems as they can enable them to stay in compliance with rules established by regulatory bodies such.

Moreover, the quality control can benefit from ERP systems that can monitor every batch of products from raw materials to completed goods. Additionally, supply chains management will benefit too, as real-time supply chain visibility will be made possible by ERP systems. It will also enhance and assist with demand forecasting, procurement and vendor management.

Recently, a leading global pharmaceutical company acquired an Eastern European firm, which required the implementation of a new ERP to support its expansion to EU markets. The company leveraged Arbour Group’s solution to validate its enterprise resource planning and meet the stringent U.S. and E.U. regulatory standards. This helped them stay compliant and innovate while penetrating and scaling operations in the EU market, a key trend for pharma businesses in the near future.

TechDogs’ Takeaway:
 

• Leverage ERP systems to maintain accurate inventory levels, automate inventory and boost quality control.

• ERP systems can help ensure product quality and safety by defining inspection plans and checklists across the business.

• Tracking and analyzing ERP data can lead to better decisions and improved operational efficiency.

Conclusion

There we have it, folks!

As we and the pharmaceutical industry navigate through the charted waters of 2025, we believe these five trends will have an impact.

Key pharmaceutical industry technology trends to look for will be data and text analytics, advanced cybersecurity through Zero Trust Architecture, cloud computing for drug discovery and clinical trials, Pharma 4.0-based manufacturing using automation and IoT as well as the expanded use of ERP systems to streamline pharma operations.

Well, see you next year with the latest trends!