Medical Affairs & AI shaping the future

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic buzzword – it is actively reshaping how we work in Medical Affairs today. In a recent shqa academy webinar, Dr. Nina Reichert, Sr. Medical Director at Amgen Switzerland, shared her expertise and personal experiences on how AI can serve as a powerful co-pilot for professionals navigating the increasing complexity of healthcare. Her core message: AI will not replace Medical Affairs - it will augment it.

From Molecule to Medicine: AI Along the Value Chain

AI is already integrated throughout the pharmaceutical value chain. From accelerating drug discovery using tools like DeepMind’s AlphaFold, to optimizing clinical trial enrollment with predictive analytics, to AI-powered manufacturing sites ensuring efficiency and quality - AI has become indispensable. According to Accenture in Switzerland a productivity increases in time in % healthcare and science processes (healthcare 9 – 16%, science 14 – 21%) could soon be impacted by AI, unlocking major productivity gains.

For local Medical Affairs teams, this means opportunities to leverage AI-driven insights, streamline workflows, and better serve both healthcare providers and patients.

The Inflection Point: Why Now?

We stand at a hinge moment where biology meets technology. With petabytes of genomic and clinical data now available, traditional methods alone cannot keep pace. AI provides the necessary horsepower to transform data into actionable knowledge. But this shift also brings responsibility: Medical Affairs professionals must ensure that AI-generated outputs are accurate, referenced and ethically applied.

As Nina Reichert emphasized, “AI is not here to replace us - it is here to empower us. Human expertise remains at the center.”

Making AI Work: From Readiness to Real Impact

Successfully integrating AI is not about deploying a tool and expecting instant results. Adoption follows stages:

1. Exploration – Playfully experimenting with tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity to understand their potential.
2. Strategic Integration – Using AI for complex tasks such as summarizing publications or clustering insights from KOL interactions.
3. Scaling – Embedding AI into corporate culture, where it supports decision-making and fosters creativity.

This phased approach allows teams to build confidence and competence gradually, ensuring sustainable impact.
 

 AI in Action: Practical Use Cases for Medical Affairs

Nina Reichert illustrated how AI is already transforming everyday tasks:

• Insight Generation: Turning fragmented KOL feedback into structured, actionable intelligence that informs strategy.
• Medical Review: Building customized GPTs trained on Swiss regulations to accelerate compliance checks while keeping the human expert in the loop.
• Prompted AI Collaboration: Using AI as a conversational partner in planning processes, enabling teams to co-create strategies more effectively.

Her personal tip: use AI like a “junior colleague fresh from university.” Give it clear instructions, challenge its answers, and refine together. The goal is co-intelligence, not blind acceptance.

Future-Proofing Medical Affairs

The road ahead is clear: Medical Affairs must embrace AI with curiosity, critical thinking and ethical rigor. Transparency, data protection and human oversight remain non-negotiable. At the same time, professionals should not hesitate to experiment and explore - whether through meta-prompting, voice-to-text reporting, or building tailored AI assistants for specific tasks.

As Nina Reichert concluded, the future of Medical Affairs is not about humans versus machines, but humans with machines. By treating AI as a supportive partner rather than a threat, we can enhance our impact, drive innovation and ultimately improve patient outcomes.