Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Beghou Biopharma Review by Marc Iskowitz.
- Our 2026 Biopharma Commercialization Research Report, which summed up the most salient commercial challenges facing life science organizations, debuted last month (click here to access).
- The report ended with a pledge to continue the conversation on operational dynamics, and that commitment is reflected below.
Let’s dive in!
Capital’s back. Will commercial readiness follow?
IPO activity to start the New Year has the sector hopeful that biotech’s post-pandemic slump will continue fading into the rearview.
Why it’s important: This follows the Q4 rise in biopharma deal-making, which surged both in M&A size and volume. What’s changing is that venture capital is gravitating more toward execution-ready assets with clearer paths to returns. That’s how PitchBook characterized the situation in its February Biopharma VC Trends report.
What it means for commercial execs: Biopharma commercialization is converging with the capital markets, and my annual list of upcoming drug launches echoes this trend. Convenience is challenging biologics, first-time launchers are commercializing in a capital-conscious environment, and payers (not prescribers) are sometimes proving the ultimate gatekeepers of growth.
The big picture: Positioning will drive success beyond clinical data. Read my list here.
Beghou webinar: Hear how top pharma brands prioritize the patient
Marketing strategy is led by the patient journey, but data investment may not have caught up.
Why it’s important: That disconnect is one symptom of a larger issue, as organizations struggle to interpret and apply patient centricity consistently across functions.
- We’re hosting a webinar on March 17, “Patient-centric commercialization in practice: Lessons from consumer-oriented and specialty Rx brands,” a deep-dive dialogue with industry leaders from Eli Lilly, Takeda and Averitas Pharma.
What it means for commercial execs: The panelists will share the “non-negotiables” for prioritizing more tailored, context-driven engagement to inform the patient journey. Register to join.
4 questions for… AbbVie’s Brent Hasko
I sat down with Brent Hasko, HCP digital engagement lead in psychiatry marketing at AbbVie, for a wide-ranging conversation about omnichannel. We touched on what good looks like, what’s still missing, and where he sees AI creating the most leverage in the near term.
The following Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
1. What differentiates good from just average omnichannel marketing?
Brent: Being able to show intentionality and integration. You may have an e-mail, a rep call, a couple of display banners, some EHR. Ultimately, these work with one another, enabling a connected conversation versus random touch points. At the end of the day, you're trying to allow the end user, or whoever's within your target universe, to feel connected and supported and not randomly bombarded.
2. When we asked marketers to define successful omnichannel, most ranked measurable impact on engagement and behavior over clear linkage to business outcomes. Does that surprise you?
Brent: On the surface, everyone's looking to truly quantify that and lead to bottom-of-net sales, the full P&L. But ultimately, when you actually peel back those layers, you’re there to drive behavior change. That’s being escalated as one of the bigger priorities. So that makes sense to me, because ultimately it will lead to market share or whatnot.
3. How close is the industry to delivering real personalization in omnichannel marketing?
Brent: In this space, a lot of times you're competing not against your direct competitors but potentially the Apples and those that deliver that excellent user experience. Especially within healthcare, HCPs and consumers want what they're getting in those channels from those industries. To answer your question, I feel like we're maybe about a third there and that's probably being generous.
4. Where do you see the smart investments in AI-enabled omnichannel marketing in the next 12 to 24 months?
Brent: Stepping back a bit, the ability to leverage AI for getting channels to speak to one another. For instance, if somebody is searching a product website for samples, that triggers something at the point-of-care or EHR, which triggers an internal e-mail to the rep to do some type of educational program. In the next 12 to 24 months, I’d love to see that automation integrated more within both CRM and the media AOR. Can we migrate that internally and actually work on the fly, both personally and non-personally? That's where the music is.
Beghou Deep Cut: Getting commercialization unstuck in 2026
As 2025 turned into 2026, we published two pieces drawn from our Commercialization That Works research:
The wish list: The first article maps out where investment is actually headed in the next 12 to 18 months. Leaders are prioritizing advanced analytics for better decision support, sharpening value and access strategy, and building out best-practice data ecosystems.
The resolutions: This article zeroes in on the cohesion deficit — the biggest barrier to better commercial outcomes according to our research — and lays out how leaders plan to address it in 2026, with concrete moves across strategy, tech, data, and organizational design.
On the road: JPM, SOS, and what’s next
A few quick updates from recent industry gatherings and what's coming up…
At this year’s J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, obesity, oncology, and AI were at the center of nearly every conversation. Beghou Partners Jenny Herritz, Harsh Kulkarni, and Robert Rouse were on the ground tracking those discussions.
At the recent Pharma SOS Annual Conference in Nashville, Beghou Partner Vishal Singal led a session on how commercial teams can “tame complexity” in the cell and gene therapy (CGT) sector. He laid out five strategic levers biotechs can use to keep pace with CGT's unique friction points. For a written recap of Vishal’s tips, informed by his conversations with launch veterans, read his recent piece for PharmExec.
On March 16 in Philadelphia, Beghou Partner Marcos Mendell will be moderating a session at Reuters Events’ Pharma USA 2026, “From Silos to Synergy: Evolve Field Team Models for Measurable Impact.” Click here for more info.
That’s it for now. If you’re looking for more context on any of these stories, drop me a line at marc.iskowitz@beghou.com
Cheers,
Marc Iskowitz,
Editorial Director, Beghou
Thank you for reading and to Gowri N Kishore for helping me put this together.