Harnessing AI Beyond Chatbots to Innovate Medical Information Offerings

By Simon Johns, Director, Medical Information and Marketed Product Safety, and Louise Molloy, Associate Director, Medical Information and Pharmacovigilance

The pharmaceutical industry is increasingly leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) to enhance Medical Information (MI) services amidst rising global demand for therapies. AI integration in MI workflows offers significant advantages, such as rapid access to reliable information, reduction in follow-up inquiries, and alleviation of repetitive tasks from human staff. This AI-human synergy model facilitates scalable and continuous support, allowing AI to manage routine inquiries while human agents focus on complex issues, ensuring personalized customer experiences. Crucially, these AI systems are classified as high-risk due to their access to sensitive data, necessitating compliance with regulations like the EU AI Act to ensure safety, ethics, and fairness.

Data analytics is pivotal in optimizing AI strategies, informing strategy and process improvements, and ensuring content relevance. AI technologies automate tasks such as call transcription and sentiment analysis, thereby enhancing MI workflows and providing real-time support to agents. Companies like IQVIA exemplify successful AI integration in MI, offering customized AI roadmaps that emphasize process optimization and cost-effective solutions. By incorporating AI and data analytics, pharmaceutical companies can manage high inquiry volumes efficiently, maintain compliance, and provide a more tailored and efficient customer experience, aligning with the trend towards personalized medicine.