Welcome to edition fourteen of The Beghou Biopharma Review by Marc Iskowitz.
My, how industry's relationship with data/analytics has evolved. A decade ago, "big data" was still so esoteric that many marketers struggled to make use of it in healthcare. Today, protoyping with AI is so easy that there's a danger of having too many data-driven demos and dashboards. Yet, most aren't ready for production, adopted beyond a limited group, governed appropriately, or tied to a meaningful business outcome.
This month, I present some resources for tackling that growing problem or preventing it in the first place. These include a talk by Beghou Partner Clare Gora at last month's Fierce Pharma Week, which also saw the first public airing of fresh findings from our Commercialization That Works research series (the full report lands later this year), and two of our white papers.
A preview of what’s holding AI back now
AI wasn’t at the center of the most valuable conversations at Fierce Pharma Week, and some speakers cited “AI fatigue” outright. In fact, the agenda and sessions gave the distinct impression that industry has moved on from the "AI is going to do everything tomorrow" myth.
Clare's session, titled The Next Act in Commercialization: From Market Signal to Coordinated Commercial Response, offered an explanation for why this fatigue is setting in. Teams, she argued, are being asked to bolt AI onto foundations that aren’t coherent, composable, or cohesive yet. Data she previewed from our upcoming Commercialization That Works research suggest gaps in those operating conditions:
The takeaway: Together, these 3 Cs are not only important for commercial systems to work well together. They’re also pivotal for helping companies successfully navigate the next frontier in life sciences commercialization: implementing AI in complex workstreams.
Clare reframed these as a diagnostic that readers can apply to their own organization.
What to do now: Self-assess the extent to which your commercial model has these three operating principles in place.
- Shared context: Are we aligned on the problem, the strategy, and what success looks like?
- Reusable foundations: Can we reuse what we build, rather than starting over each time?
- Real-world application: Can users, workflows, data, and technology work together in practice?
👀Check out our wrap-up of Fierce Pharma Week and the slides from Clare’s presentation to read more about prepping the commercial model for AI.
The 3 Cs in practice
Two other resources elaborate on the importance of the 3 Cs to an AI-ready commercial org. The first is a white paper, "From commercial data foundation to launch advantage," designed to help first-time launch companies best use their structural advantages. Authors Jenny Herritz, Beghou Partner, and Todd Foster, Practice Lead, Data & Systems Strategy, explain what it looks like to build AI-native from day one and to be able to build once and reuse everywhere through repurposeable components. Indeed, the greatest promise for first-time launch teams, write Jenny and Todd, lies in their ability to compete differently and to punch above their weight.
The second resource is essentially a full-fledged explainer on cohesion. In "The last operational mile in life sciences commercialization," Beghou’s Erica Butler, Manager of Strategy & Activation, offers a five-point checklist for pinpointing where commercial execution breaks and for taking action to address weak links in the decisioning chain. Because fragmented systems impede the “one source of truth” that organizations need to turn insight and execution into one fluid motion, Erica also touches on coherence, noting the importance of setting shared priorities and business goals. Her white paper was inspired by challenges with cohesion that were surfaced in our inaugural Commercialization That Works research report, which was released in early 2026.
What's next...
The First-Time Launch Alliance (FTLA) has two opportunities coming up that will feature Beghou leaders. At FTLA Summit: Boston (Nov. 5, Boston, MA), Beghou CEO Adrienne Lovink will moderate a panel of launch specialists discussing how first-time launchers can build the commercial capabilities to compete while navigating an uncertain future (details here). And on November 19 at 11 a.m. ET, Jenny will be featured on a webinar, “Winning the Launch: Defining Success Beyond Approval for First-Time Launchers,” to explore how different teams define launch success and why cross-functional alignment matters beyond achieving approval (information here).
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