Last week, the WSJ reported that Johnson & Johnson cut 90% of its AI projects. The move came after J&J realized the need to trim redundant or ineffective pilots in favor of prioritizing those generative AI use cases with the highest value.
As the life sciences industry transitions from a “should we do genAI” to accepting its relevance, this may be a teachable moment for pharma commercial operations pros in how to harness the power of AI.
When ChatGPT made its debut in 2022, J&J embarked on a period of mass testing and learning. Employees across the healthcare conglomerate pursued some 900 use cases.
In 2024 the company set about determining what was really working. Its analysis found that 85% of the value from AI came from just 10% to 15% of use cases.
So it shed what was underperforming and redirected resources to what was. In addition to passing the ethics test, the GenAI case studies that made the cut were chosen based on factors such as delivering ROI. AI-driven clinical trial recruitment, for instance, has improved enrollment by up to 40%.
Others were synergistic. A “Rep Copilot” for coaching sales reps on how to engage with HCPs about new medicines from the company’s Innovative Medicines unit is being extended into MedTech.
J&J’s case study is notable. Research conducted in 2024 by MM+M and Publicis Health showed just 39% of senior pharma leaders said AI was deeply infused in their organizations and accessible to marketers.
As biopharma companies consider where GenAI might make sense, J&J has shown the way: encourage an innovation-led culture in which colleagues are at liberty to try and fail.
At the point when innovation outpaces integration, tap BU leaders to identify applications that have potential to see wider adoption across the company, and empower them to embed the technology and track growth.
Whether and to what extent GenAI is ready for the pharma big leagues has been a major storyline in the life sciences industry.
This case study supports the notion that for advanced analytics to blossom, it needs strong roots. In coming years, commercial operations pros will have an opportunity to help facilitate this evolution.
As published here