At Prescient, we are finding that most pharmaceutical organisations are in a phase of accelerated transformation. Against a backdrop of pricing pressure, evolving regulations, empowered patients and HCPs, and technology-driven disruption, our clients have reached the point where their marketing teams must move beyond the now traditional ‘seven capabilities’ to build for a dynamic five-year horizon.
Our own data, including that from our LExLevel Pulse benchmarking, tells us that the organisations that will thrive are those that not only sustain the established capabilities but also evolve them into new, future-facing forms. In this article, we systematically explore the evolution required across the seven capabilities and urge those in pharma and biotech leadership to question whether their teams are set up to succeed in each of these in the context of tomorrow’s world.
1 – Insight and Behavioural Orchestration
Previously, we described ‘Insights and Behaviour Change’ as a capability. Over the next five years, this must evolve into Insight and Behavioural Orchestration; the ability to continuously sense and influence behaviour across HCPs, payors, patients and caregivers, powered by real-time data, generative AI, and adaptive experiences.
For example, consumers and HCPs now expect personalised journeys more akin to their consumer-digital interactions2. In practice, this means using predictive models and behavioural signals to tailor content, channels and timing, and tracking outcomes beyond clicks into real-world action.
2 – Value Pathways and Access Innovation
In 2019, we described ‘Funding and Pricing Strategy’. Going forward, the capability must scale into broader Value Pathways and Access Innovation – this being the design of holistic value propositions, evidence-led health economics models, and ecosystem partnerships that unlock access in increasingly constrained funding environments.
Our 2025 inbound research shows that regulatory and payor pressures are intensifying: pricing power is widely reported to be under pressure and pharma business models are shifting3, but this will come as no surprise to those in the thick of it. The proactive in the industry are working more closely with access, HEOR, and real-world evidence (RWE) functions to build narratives of value that extend beyond drug price to include patient outcomes, system savings, and ecosystem impact.
3 – Strategic Focus and Portfolio Agility
Originally, ‘Strategic Focus’ was defined in the 2019 list, and we now broaden this to Strategic Focus and Portfolio Agility: the capability not only to articulate a clear strategic direction for a brand in a static environment, but also to pivot rapidly as science, regulation and commercial models evolve.
For pharma companies facing smaller patient populations, faster launches and more competition, agility becomes a differentiator. Marketing capability must therefore include scenario planning, modular brand platforms, and rapid test-and-learn models aligned with business strategy. Our colleague, Max Smith, wrote more on this in her 2025 article4, set against a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty.
4 – Experience and Engagement Ecosystems
‘Customer Experience’ in the 2019 framework referenced multichannel journeys across patients, physicians and payors. Over the next five years, we recommend evolving this into Experience and Engagement Ecosystems.
This capability means designing and delivering seamless experiences across digital, physical and hybrid touchpoints; integrating HCP, patient and caregiver pathways; and embedding technology-enabled service models. The rise of telehealth, remote monitoring, and patient-centric services means marketing teams must operate within broader care ecosystems.
Operationally, this demands collaboration across commercial, medical, digital, patient services and operations; a cross-functional mindset that aligns with our LECC framework (Leadership and Empowerment; Enabled and Encouraged; Clarity and Confidence; Capability and Collaboration), referenced in more detail in Chelsea Foxwell and Amelia Hutchins’ eBook5, ‘Navigating Change’.
5 – Smart Analytics, Automation and Insight Acceleration
In the original list, ‘Digital Channel Metrics’ highlighted analysis of social media, websites and email. Looking towards 2030, this capability must advance into Smart Analytics, Automation and Insight Acceleration – the ability to effect data-driven decision making in real time, supported by AI, automation and advanced analytics.
Our conversations across client organisations’ global and country teams find that many are investing heavily in data and AI to drive improved outcomes and efficiencies. Marketing teams must have access not only to dashboards but also to decision algorithms, scenario simulators, and agile campaign engines that enable rapid iteration and optimisation.
Challenge yourself as to the extent to which you have truly embedded automation and AI tools into your workflow to enable faster insight-to-action. For most teams, there is still a large gap here.
6 – Scientific-Patient Storytelling in the Ecosystem
The original capability of ‘Patient-Centric Stories’ focused on working with patients, advocacy leaders and HCPs to communicate compelling stories. In the evolving landscape, this becomes Scientific-Patient Storytelling in the Ecosystem – defined as the ability to co-create narratives with patients, caregivers and ecosystem partners that convincingly link scientific evidence, real-world patient journeys, value propositions and advocacy.
With smaller patient populations, rare diseases and advanced modalities becoming more common, the story becomes critical. It must be credible, evidence-rooted and emotionally meaningful. Marketing teams will need to engage patients and HCPs with transparent, authentic stories that align with a broader ecosystem (health systems, payors, advocacy groups).
We frequently speak with future-thinking teams about developing narratives and storytelling that are modular and reusable across touchpoints – internal and external.
7 – Innovation and Ecosystem Collaboration
Finally, the original ‘Innovation’ capability addressed the identification of opportunities to innovate through partnerships and digital services. In the next five-year window, this must be reframed as Innovation and Ecosystem Collaboration, which focuses on building the capability to identify, pilot, scale, and sustain innovative services, business models, and partnerships across the broader healthcare ecosystem.
We’re seeing an acceleration of new ecosystem models across data-driven platforms, value-based care arrangements, digital therapeutics, and integrated patient services. It is widely acknowledged that marketing teams must therefore work not just on campaign execution but on co-designing and commercialising new propositions in partnership with tech, payors, providers, and patient organisations6.
Consider your capability and enablement levels for this one – do you have structures, governance and investment to pilot new ecosystem models? Are you equipped to scale what works and retire what doesn’t?
Pulling the Threads Together
Over the next five years (2025-2030), these seven reframed capabilities will increasingly merge rather than sit in silos. We anticipate the most successful marketers across pharma and biotech – those that will make a difference to patients and deliver outstanding commercial results – will demonstrate:
- Cross-functional integration: Marketing will not be standalone. It must connect to access, digital, patient services, RWE, medical and commercial operations.
- Speed and agility: With scientific breakthroughs, compressed timelines and competitive launches, the ability to adapt quickly will be a defining capability.
- Ecosystem mindset: Rather than simply delivering campaigns, marketing must engage in creating and scaling new value propositions in partnership with the broader health-system ecosystem.
- Technology and data fluency: The use of generative AI, predictive analytics, automation and real-world data will become table stakes.
- Patient-centred purpose: Organisations will differentiate by being credible, authentic and aligned with patient outcomes, not simply product claims.
Our Advice for Marketing Leaders:
- Start by benchmarking your current marketing capabilities against this updated model. Identify where you are strong, where you have foundational capability but need to scale, and where gaps exist.
- Develop capability roadmaps that move beyond ‘training for tools’ into ‘embedding new ways of working and governance’ across the enterprise.
- Prioritise embedding a test-and-learn culture: pilot new ecosystem propositions, digital services, patient journeys, then scale what works.
- Align your marketing transformation with our LECC framework (Leadership and Empowerment; Enabled and Encouraged; Clarity and Confidence; Capability and Collaboration) so that new capabilities are sustainably embedded.
- Reinforce collaboration across functions (commercial, medical, access, digital) to avoid marketing operating in isolation.
Work with us:
If you believe your marketing team has opportunities to develop across these areas, let us support you in building the capability architecture, the enablement roadmap, and the ways of working that will deliver exceptional healthcare performance into the future.
Sources
1 Uptake, 2019, https://uptakestrategies.com/the-7-pharma-biotech-marketing-capabilities-to-develop-in-the-future/
2 Raconteur, 2025, https://www.raconteur.net/insights/the-new-rules-of-engagement-how-to-reshape-pharma-marketing-in-2025
3 PWC, 2025, https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/pharma-life-sciences/pharmaceutical-industry-trends.html
4 Uptake, 2025, https://uptakestrategies.com/navigating-geopolitical-uncertainty-the-case-for-scenario-planning-in-pharma/
5 Uptake, 2024, https://uptake.uptakestrategies.com/navigatingchangewithlecc/
6 Deloitte, 2025, https://www.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/health-care/future-of-commercial-in-pharma.html
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