About this episode

Dr Andree Bates discusses the importance of presenting AI strategies in financial terms to secure CFO approval in the pharma industry.

In this solo episode of AI For Pharma Growth, Dr Andree Bates tackles one of the biggest reasons pharma AI strategies stall: they are not presented in the financial language a CFO can approve. Dr Andree argues that the issue is rarely whether AI has value. The issue is that most organisations cannot quantify that value in a way that connects to business outcomes, baselines, investment priorities, timelines and return. Too often, teams arrive with pilots, use cases, vendor proposals and enthusiasm, but no financial model that can survive board-level scrutiny. With the patent cliff putting hundreds of billions in revenue at risk, AI is being positioned as a strategic lever across R&D, commercial, medical, regulatory and market access. But activity is not strategy. A use case that looks impressive in isolation may not be the one that moves the business most. This episode explains what a credible AI financial case needs to include: initiative-level modelling, realistic cost assumptions, adoption scenarios, redeployment of time and talent, technology cost changes, the cost of inaction, and sequencing. Dr Andree also explains why implementation order can change return, because some…

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