Commercial, medical affairs, and market access are different departments that shape the strategy of pharmaceutical companies. And understanding their differences helps a lot in identifying the problems and solving them at the root. Though the rise of Artificial Intelligence technology threatens the working process among these departments with the risk of AI-replacement for some professions, as a cost-minimization. Artificial intelligence replacement is considered a crucial threat to most professions. But for human soft skills-based professions, they may not have a major threat. But we can’t deny the fast evolution of this technology and ask critical questions like: what if AI is a replacement for some professional and how we can solve the unemployment, how to adopt and use AI technology properly with any abuse or even for human soft skills-based professionals, will the AI be able to replace them in the near future through mimic some soft-skills such as presenting complex data and interpreting them or what if that our lack of awareness for how to use this tool is the big problem,…etc. Many more questions are provoking the human mind, which needs to be reconsidered for the future.
Dr Samuel Dyer in his last article issued in July 2025 titled “Is Medical Affairs About to Become Obsolete as a Result of AI?” has discussed how medical affairs is impacted by AI and showed us some interesting results considering AI magnitude effect on some medical affairs roles[1]. In a nutshell, it showed that AI affects automated technicalities, such as literature review, content creation, more than human soft skills-based technicalities, such as KOL engagement, negotiation. That’s why medical information specialists are more likely to be replaced with AI than Field MSL/Medical advisor. But there was no clear answer for how it could affect managerial/ leadership positions [1].
AI technology was more noticed when the digitalization of medical affairs rose in the COVID-19 pandemic era, because there was a change in thinking for digitalization and online work. This needs adaptation and a change of mind [2]. This gave me the motivation to ask a critical question, which is how the AI technology could affect the internal communication between the medical affairs team, commercial team, and market access team. This question was answered using three different AI platforms (Gemini AI, ChatGPT, DeepSeek) and trying to conceptualize their answers. The prompt used for this question was: “Do you think that the impact of AI may neglect the internal interactions between the Medical Affairs team, commercial team and Market Access team, and how this will affect leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry?” Despite different AI algorithms for each platform and used model, their answers were similarly comprehensive the same that AI isn’t a replacement, it is an efficient tool for any automated task that could be made based on a built-in model, such as literature review, data mining, dossier drafting, Omnichannel Orchestration, or giving suggestions for next best actions or comparing pricing model. But AI technology can’t manage the human side, such as emotional intelligence, empathy, negotiations, clinical judgement, exchanging scientific information and building trust. In Table.1, Gemini-AI has summarized AI effects for each department and compares old trends and future ones.
Table 1, generated by Gemini-ai, the effect of AI on three different departments [3]).
| Function | Old Collaboration Focus (Manual/Reactive) | New Collaboration Focus (AI-Augmented/Proactive) |
| Medical Affairs (MA) | Providing reactive, generic data/slides to Commercial/MAx. | Generating Proactive Insights: Using AI to analyze vast Real-World Data (RWD) and social sentiment to identify unmet needs, which MA then shares as actionable, compliant insights for Commercial strategy. |
| Commercial | Asking MA/MAx for basic information and then interpreting it for messaging. | Executing Hyper-Personalization: Receiving AI-driven, real-time “Next Best Action” recommendations, which are co-created with MA (for scientific accuracy) and MAx (for value messaging). |
| Market Access (MAx) | Creating rigid, one-size-fits-all value dossiers. | Dynamic Value Storytelling: Using AI to model patient and payer sub-segments and then working with Commercial to deliver customized value propositions and evidence (generated by MA) that speak directly to local payer needs. |
Also, AI has some limitations like bias, ethical and legal considerations for data privacy, data duplication if each department is using AI solely. That’s why it is recommended for pharmaceutical companies to develop their own shared AI system, by which all departments (Medical affairs, Market access, commercial) could share their insights and data freely.
The leadership would be redefined from being a functional one into being an integrative and strategic one, which would be needed to avoid making each department work solely, increasing the fragmentation, resulting in working perfectly individually while missing out as a team.
In summary, AI technology is a fact that can’t be ignored anymore. It requires a high level of leadership with integrative and strategic vision to encourage others to start using AI- technology as tool instead of a replacement, and this will allow them to focus on other skills such as interpreting complex AI-generated data, a high level of soft skills, and having a different strategic vision. Thus, AI-human adoption would create new opportunities while diminishing others, such as the medical information role. That’s why it is needed to find solutions for diminished roles by offering them building capacity training, which helps them to strengthen their skills and start using AI as a tool.
Figure1, “Beyond Obsolete: AI Automates the Tasks, Humans Command the Strategy” [3]).
References:
- Dyer, S., MD PhD. (2025, July 23). Is medical affairs about to become obsolete as a result of AI? – THE MSL. THE MSL. https://themsljournal.com/article/is-medical-affairs-about-to-become-obsolete-as-a-result-of-ai/
- Furtner, D., Shinde, S. P., Singh, M., Wong, C. H., & Setia, S. (2021). Digital Transformation in Medical Affairs Sparked by the Pandemic: Insights and Learnings from COVID-19 Era and Beyond. Pharmaceutical Medicine, 36(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40290-021-00412-w
- Google. (2025). Generative AI conversation (Gemini) [Large language model]. Date of access (October 17).
About the author:
Zeinab Khaled Awad
Zeinab Khaled Awad is an Oncology Pharmacist at the Health Insurance Nasr City Cancer Center (Cairo) and a Research Assistant at the German University in Cairo (GUC), specializing in the synthesis of novel immunomodulatory anti-cancer agents. With a strong foundation in Medical Affairs and MSL technical skills (CPD UK-certified), she has fundamentals in KOL engagement, scientific communication, and clinical research since she is aspiring MSL role in her region.
Zeinab is pursuing an M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Chemistry Synthesis (GUC) 2025 and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Pharmaco-economics. She co-authored a systematic review in BMC Pediatrics (2024) and won second place in an ASHP-published research competition. She authored an article titled Professional Development for MSLs in the Middle East issued July 2025 in the journal of MSL society. Her expertise spans pharmacovigilance, clinical trial appraisal, and biostatistics, further enhanced by training from King’s College London and the Arab Pharmaceutical Affairs Academy.
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