By Allison Proffitt 

February 13, 2026 | At the recent SCOPE Venture, Innovation, and Partnering Conference in Orlando, healthcare veteran Carolyn Magill, Venture Partner at Defined Ventures, sat down with Sunny Kumar, Partner at Informed Ventures, to discuss a pressing question facing the pharmaceutical industry: How can pharma harness the transformative power of artificial intelligence while navigating its traditionally risk-averse culture? The conversation offered attendees a candid look at both the opportunities and challenges ahead as AI reshapes drug discovery, clinical trials, and commercialization. 

The Pharma Paradox 

Kumar opened the discussion by acknowledging a fundamental tension: while AI is transforming industries at breakneck speed—from software development to content creation—healthcare, and particularly pharma, remain cautious. “Whether because of risk aversion, because of regulatory pressure, because of the fact that what we do lies so close to the edge of saving lives, pharma has generally been slow to adopt emerging technology,” he noted. 

Yet Magill offered a surprising perspective. Her career has involved driving the adoption of emerging technologies over decades including leadership roles at UnitedHealth, Evolent Health, Remedy Partners, and most recently as CEO of Aetion during its acquisition by Datavant. “Selling into pharma is actually easier than selling into providers and payers,” she contended. Her reasoning? In pharma, “every day a drug is on market or every day you avoided a black box warning” matters enormously. This urgency creates a receptivity to innovation that doesn’t always exist elsewhere in healthcare.  

Magill’s experience bringing real-world evidence from niche concept to industry standard offers a roadmap for AI adoption. When she joined Aetion, “I couldn’t even spell pharmacoepidemiology,” she admitted. The company faced skepticism from respected physicians who worried about data manipulation and cherry-picked results. 

The breakthrough came through a combination of transparency, publication, and finding the “No-Brainer” use cases, she said.  

Magill recommended the same approach to AI adoption. “Think about what is the No and the Not Yet, and be okay with that,” Magill advised, “because there are absolutely use cases that become No-Brainers, and let’s focus on those, where there really is that receptivity.” 

For No-Brainers now, Magill pointed to workflow integration. Medical writing, protocol development, and regulatory submission processes are seeing real traction. “These are areas where you can demonstrate value quickly and where the risk profile is manageable,” she explained. 

Hype and the Changes to Anticipate  

But everything isn’t a No-Brainer, regardless of the marketing copy. Magill flagged aspects of AI which she views as both overhyped and underappreciated.  

The hype? “I don’t see a world in which we no longer have human subjects in clinical trials. I don’t think that we’ll just do tests on digital twins.” The human element, she insisted, will remain essential. 

On the flip side, where are we not appreciating the changes coming quickly? “Every single one of us will have AI teammates,” in the next five years, Magill predicted. These “bots will become trusted partners” not just in daily life but throughout the pharmaceutical value chain—in labs, R&D, and commercialization. “It will become a normal course of doing business.” 

She also highlighted two macro factors on which to keep a close eye: quantum computing and workforce demographics. On quantum, she noted that current encryption methods may not “pass muster” as early as 2030—a date some are calling “Q Day.” 

Perhaps more pressing is the demographic challenge. “We’re seeing like a 15% drop in 18-year-olds entering the workforce,” Magill noted. “What does that mean when we have 80 million people over the age of 65 and we don’t have a younger workforce supporting them?”