Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a key buzzword in the pharmaceutical industry, with most, if not all, companies considering incorporating this technology into their workflows across research and development, data management, and commercial operations.
At the 2025 Veeva Commercial Summit, held November 5-6 at the Madrid Marriott Auditorium, a central theme was not just the use of AI, but the comprehensive integration of AI into daily operations.
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This also includes a new move towards agent AI, which is designed to perform tasks with minimal human intervention.
in a conversation with pharmaceutical technologyStefan Schmidt, Digital Capability Lead for Field Engagement at Bayer AG, pointed out that although agent AI holds great promise, the company has not yet been able to use AI to perform administrative tasks.
To accomplish this, Schmidt is considering focusing on augmented AI before adopting next-generation agent tools. The latter requires complete trust from the user and confirmation that the technology is “behaving appropriately and collecting the appropriate information when used autonomously.”
“I don’t think we should try to achieve everything at once. Instead, we should take this journey in stages, starting small with expansion and moving to agents over time,” Schmidt commented, adding that this for Bayer could take months at the earliest.
On the commercial front, Schmidt said Bayer is already developing an in-house AI-powered coaching agent. The tool is designed as an interactive educational tool for the newly approved non-hormonal menopause drug Lynkuet (erinzanetant) and works by pulling information from documentary evidence and allowing patients to ask specific questions about the drug.
Looking ahead, the German pharmaceutical company’s future vision for AI capabilities is centered around creating a “one-stop shop for field personnel” where users can perform all relevant tasks related to customer relationship management (CRM). “This could include topics around training, governance, and expenses. We want to create something that can actually support users in the field,” Schmidt said.
Increase productivity with agent AI
Schmidt’s opinion on agent AI was echoed by Philippe Luik, Veeva’s vice president of European commercial strategy, in his keynote speech on the first day of the conference. This follows Veeva’s recent efforts to integrate this technology into its core products. In his talk, Luik said that AI’s long-term success in this field requires “deep embedding.”
“As we enter the next wave of AI, we need to change our focus to achieve vertical productivity gains,” he commented.
During the session, Luik said that layering AI alone is no longer enough, which means the technology needs to be comprehensively integrated into a company’s daily activities “while respecting the same compliance tools and access controls.”
He also said that AI technology should be “future-proof”, meaning it can keep up with the “exponential” evolution of the universe.
