At NEXT Pharma Australia 2025, healthcare and life sciences leaders gathered to answer one defining question: How do we integrate artificial intelligence into pharma in a way that’s safe and ethical?
This year’s event marked a historic milestone – the first time NEXT Pharma was hosted in Australia, bringing together leading voices from across the global pharmaceutical and digital health sectors.
As a Gold Sponsor of NEXT Pharma Australia, RxPx was proud to support and help lead this pivotal discussion on the future of AI in pharma.
During a panel hosted by Monisha Nair (RxPx), Professor Michael Barnett, Neurologist and Director at the Sydney Neuroimaging Analysis Centre (SNAC), and Peta McCarthy, Medical Information Lead at Eli Lilly ANZ, explored how AI is already reshaping patient programs, clinical workflows, and pharma operations.
AI That’s Already Changing Care
For Professor Barnett, AI is not a promise for the future – it’s part of his everyday clinical toolkit.
“As a clinician, AI has become all-pervasive,” he shared. “I use it four or five times a day – from dictation and document scanning to decision support and image analysis.”
In multiple sclerosis care, Barnett’s team uses AI-powered tools to analyze thousands of MRI images in seconds – revealing subtle disease changes invisible to the human eye. These advancements are not just improving precision; they’re helping clinicians focus on what matters most: patients.
“If AI can summarize product information or monitor therapy risks accurately,” he added, “it’s not just a time-saver – it can be a lifesaver.”
Pairing Technology with Empathy
For Peta McCarthy, AI’s real value lies in how it supports safety, efficiency, and empowerment.
“Medicines today come with diagnostics and monitoring,” she explained. “Using technology to keep patients and clinicians informed is how we deliver better outcomes.”
From AI chatbots in patient support to natural language processing in medical information, the industry is already leveraging technology to improve engagement – while balancing privacy and trust. McCarthy emphasized that AI works best when all the right stakeholders are involved, ensuring protections and ethical guardrails are firmly in place.
Balancing Innovation and Trust
The panelists agreed: as AI scales across pharma, governance and transparency must scale with it.
They discussed how frameworks that validate outputs against trusted medical sources – and solutions like private-cloud AI – can help overcome the industry’s biggest challenges around data privacy and accuracy.
It’s a balance of speed and safety, one that requires collaboration between pharma, clinicians, and regulators.
Human in the Loop: The Future of Work in Pharma
Both speakers underscored that AI is not replacing people – it’s redefining their roles. Automation can reduce burnout, streamline workflows, and give experts more time to focus on patient care, empathy, and innovation.
AI, they concluded, will enhance – not erase – the human touch in healthcare.
See a clip of the conversation below…
This panel was more than a conversation about technology – it was a vision for a more connected, efficient, and compassionate future in healthcare.
Watch the full discussion to see how AI is already transforming pharma, not tomorrow, but today.
