Pharma Talks

Elaine Gamble, customer engagement leader, omnichannel strategist, and former executive at Merck, Novartis, Otsuka, and other leading pharmaceutical companies, joins Nataliya Andreychuk on Pharma Talks to explore why stronger collaboration between Commercial and Medical has become essential for delivering connected, compliant, and customer-centric engagement.

In Part 1, Elaine explains why silos still exist despite years of digital transformation—and why technology isn't the biggest barrier.

Key takeaways:

• Commercial and Medical teams often share the same goals but operate through transactional relationships instead of true collaboration.
• Leadership, culture, and shared initiatives — not incentives alone — are the foundation of effective cross-functional alignment.
• MSL insights remain one of pharma's most underutilized assets and can significantly improve commercial engagement when shared appropriately.
• AI, orchestration, and omnichannel capabilities already exist to support collaboration — but many organizations are still underusing them.
• The future of customer engagement depends on seeing one healthcare professional through one connected customer journey.
• Discover how leading pharma organizations can move beyond silos and build stronger Commercial and Medical partnerships that create more meaningful healthcare professional experiences.

Explore why pharma needs stronger Commercial and Medical collaboration to deliver connected, compliant, and customer-centric engagement.

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🔗 Follow & Connect:

🎙️ Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

🎙️ Elaine Gamble → https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainegamble/

Part 2 of this Pharma Talks conversation with Matteo Colonna picks up where strategy meets execution — moving from the "why" of omnichannel and AI to the practical realities of making it work inside pharma organizations.

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🎙️ Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

🎙️ Matteo Colonna → https://www.linkedin.com/in/colonnamatteo/

Matteo Colonna, an omnichannel transformation practitioner with a background in theoretical physics from Sapienza University in Rome and experience across consulting, digital agencies, and two major pharma companies, joins Nataliya Andreychuk on Pharma Talks to unpack why omnichannel and AI have moved from "nice to have" to business necessity.

Key takeaways:

• Customer behavior and expectations have fundamentally shifted — pharma companies can no longer design omnichannel experiences without first understanding what customers actually need and prefer.
• Technology should never be the starting point — the right approach begins with identifying the business or customer problem, then working backward to the technology that solves it.
• Omnichannel and AI transformation is no longer a technology project — it's a full business transformation that touches strategy, structure, and mindset.
• Real omnichannel execution requires bridging strategy and day-to-day operations, not just designing frameworks on paper.

Explore how pharma teams move from omnichannel strategies to execution and where AI creates real value across content, insights, and engagement.

📲 Enjoyed this episode?

👉 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 to never miss a Pharma Talks episode

👉 Want to be a guest? Plan your recording with Nataliya Andreychuk

🔗 Follow & Connect:

🎙️ Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

🎙️ Matteo Colonna → https://www.linkedin.com/in/colonnamatteo/

Karol Wolak, Director and Global Omnichannel Excellence Lead at Merck, joins Nataliya Andreychuk on Pharma Talks to tackle a question on everyone's mind: is AI coming for pharma jobs? His perspective is grounded in hands-on work across customer engagement and digital transformation at one of the industry's largest organizations.

Views shared are Karol Wolak's own and do not represent an official position of Merck.

Key takeaways:

• AI isn't replacing pharma roles anytime soon — it's better positioned to absorb repetitive back-office work like content tagging, MLR approval, and data collection.
• Human qualities — context, ethics, judgment, empathy — remain outside what AI can deliver, especially in a highly regulated industry.
• The environmental cost of AI, from data storage to energy consumption, is a factor the industry rarely puts on the table.
• Patient-centricity stays the anchor point for every engagement decision, regardless of which technology sits behind it.
• Staying engaged and experimenting with AI beats waiting on the sidelines — but balance matters more than volume.

Chapters: 0:00 Cold open — "AI will not replace us, at least not now" 0:51 Karol Wolak on the shift from multichannel to omnichannel at Merck 1:49 Why patients are the real center of pharma engagement 3:33 Does AI take our jobs? The blunt answer 5:02 Resource optimization: where AI actually helps pharma teams 7:14 The environmental cost of AI no one talks about 9:18 Finding the balance between innovation and human survival 13:06 Advice for listeners: don't wait on the sidelines

📲 Enjoyed this episode? 👉 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 to never miss a Pharma Talks episode 👉 Want to be a guest? Plan your recording with Nataliya Andreychuk at NEXT Pharma Summit (Dubrovnik)

🔗 Follow & Connect: 🎙️ Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/ 🎙️ Karol Wolak → https://www.linkedin.com/in/karolwolak/

Agentic AI has moved pharma from answering questions to autonomously orchestrating entire workflows — but most organisations are still building the foundations it needs to run well. In this episode, Nataliya Andreychuk talks with Michal Dojlidko about what agentic AI actually requires in practice: the right data, the right guardrails, continuous upskilling, and a clear-eyed view of where humans still belong in the loop.

Key topics

Evolution of AI in pharma from answering questions to autonomous workflows

Importance of trust and data foundations in AI adoption

Regulatory considerations and human oversight in agentic AI

Future roles of humans as strategists and overseers of AI

Technological advancements enabling secure, scalable AI solutions

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Agentic AI in Pharma Marketing

00:55 Evolution of AI in Pharma

02:34 The Shift to Autonomous AI

03:49 Reimagining Workflows with AI

05:10 Building Trust in AI

06:23 Data Foundations for AI Success

07:47 Continuous Learning and AI Literacy

09:31 The Future Role of Humans in AI

12:19 Security and Compliance in AI

14:11 Human Oversight in Regulated Industries

15:56 Hot or Not: AI Statements

23:45 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Discover more platforms to listen to this podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pharma-talks/

***

Follow Viseven, Nataliya, and Michal in social media:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/2907491

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdojlidko/

Michael Kirzhner, Omnichannel Platforms and Capabilities Leader at AbbVie, joins Nataliya Andreychuk to discuss the real state of omnichannel in pharma — what the industry has built, what's still missing, and where the next evolution lies.

Michael has spent over a decade navigating the shift from field-centric models to digital-first orchestration inside one of the world's largest pharma companies.

In this episode:

Omnichannel fragmentation starts with departments, not technology — the coordination layer is what pharma hasn't built yet

Most companies are strong at functional execution but lack a central decisioning function that cuts across channels

Digital opinion leaders are outpacing traditional KOLs because they've mastered the channels pharma is still learning

Patient services is facing the same orchestration challenge commercial solved — and the stakes are higher

AI's real value isn't automation — it's closing the gaps in personalization, decisioning, and content throughput that were previously impossible at scale

📲 Enjoyed this episode?

👉 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 to never miss a Pharma Talks episode

👉 Want to be a guest? Plan your recording with Nataliya Andreychuk at NEXT Pharma Summit (Dubrovnik)

🔗 Follow & Connect:

🎙 Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

🎙 Michael Kirzhner → https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkirzhner/

In this episode of Pharma Talks, recorded live at NEXT Pharma Summit in Dubrovnik, Nataliya Andreychuk speaks with Jennifer Cleall, Global Head of Digital Transformation at Ferring Pharmaceuticals, on what it actually takes to align medical and commercial teams — and where AI fits into that picture.

Jennifer brings cross-industry perspective spanning pharma, med tech, and enterprise technology.

Key takeaways:

AI won't take our jobs — but being deliberate about where and why you apply it is what separates progress from noise

Before layering in AI, organizations need to simplify processes and systems first — technology won't fix broken foundations

AI can act as an enabler for medical-commercial alignment, but directional clarity on where you're headed has to come first

The goal hasn't changed: showing up with relevance and trust for HCPs to improve patient outcomes

Digitizing what exists today is not the destination — the real question is where pharma needs to be in five to ten years

📲 Enjoyed this episode?

👉 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 to never miss a Pharma Talks episode

👉 Want to be a guest? Plan your recording with Nataliya Andreychuk: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

In this episode Laragh De Bhulbh shares her expertise on breaking down silos within pharma organizations, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and implementing strategic frameworks to enhance medical affairs. Discover practical tips for leaders and the importance of trust, communication, and strategic alignment in driving patient impact.

Key topics:

- Cross-functional collaboration challenges in pharma

- The Catalyst framework for alignment

- Leadership strategies for medical affairs

- The role of trust and communication

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Laragh De Bhulbh and her expertise

01:24 Lara's background and motivation for improving pharma collaboration

02:21 The evolution of medical affairs and organizational alignment

03:27 Challenges in integrating medical and commercial functions

06:10 Overcoming silos: trust, safety, and open communication

10:04 The Catalyst framework: eight pillars for cross-functional success

12:42 The importance of omnichannel communication and rapid pivoting

15:59 Leadership tips for fostering collaboration and strategic clarity

17:43 Quick reactions: what is hot or not in pharma collaboration

19:18 Final thoughts: clarity and communication as game changers

Discover more platforms to listen to this podcast: https://rss.com/podcasts/pharma-talks/

***

Follow Viseven, Nataliya, and Laragh in social media:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/2907491

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ldeb/

In this episode of Pharma Talks, recorded live at NEXT Pharma Summit in Dubrovnik, Nataliya Andreychuk speaks with Michael Kurr, a global transformation leader with 15+ years building large-scale commercial and medical affairs operations at Novartis and Boehringer Ingelheim, on what delivery at scale actually looks like in the AI era.

Michael built content and delivery organizations of over 1,000 people — and he has some of the most direct takes on where pharma transformation is stalling.

Key takeaways:

• Modular content served its purpose as a scalability crutch — but well-trained AI models will eventually make it obsolete
• MLR is a bottleneck not just because of technology, but because of trust — local approvers carry legal liability and need confidence in what they sign off
• AI systems must become more explainable and deterministic before pharma can rely on AI-generated and AI-approved content
• The King Kong principle: having content is the easier part — getting the right content to the right customer at the right time, at scale, is the real challenge
• Staying relevant and staying current is the only viable strategy for individuals navigating AI-driven transformation

📲 Enjoyed this episode? 👉 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 to never miss a Pharma Talks episode 👉 Want to be a guest? Plan your recording with Nataliya Andreychuk at NEXT Pharma Summit (Dubrovnik)

🔗 Follow & Connect: 🎙️ Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/ 🎙️ Michael Kurr → https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelkurr/

In this episode of Pharma Talks, recorded live at NEXT Pharma Summit in Dubrovnik, Nataliya Andreychuk speaks with Lauren Leahy, who leads global and international medical capabilities operations, on what AI really means for the people working inside pharma today.

Lauren brings a medical affairs perspective to a conversation that's usually dominated by commercial voices.

Key takeaways:

• AI isn't eliminating jobs — but it is fundamentally changing how they're structured and what skills they demand
• In omnichannel, AI is actually increasing workload in the short term as teams redesign processes and upskill
• The real opportunity isn't just productivity gains — it's system-level change and improved output quality
• Medical and commercial functions need to work closer together around a single customer experience
• Staying curious and adaptable — at both individual and company level — is the core competency for navigating what's ahead

📲 Enjoyed this episode? 👉 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 to never miss a Pharma Talks episode 👉 Want to be a guest? Plan your recording with Nataliya Andreychuk

🔗 Follow & Connect: 🎙️ Nataliya Andreychuk → https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreychuk/