AI Guide for R&D Excellence in Pharma

The Decision Desk · R&D Excellence Guide · AI in Pharma · September 2026 Edition
Eleven Decisions

The AI Impact Guidefor R&D Excellence Leaders.

Most R&D AI roadmaps fund the exciting use case first and the highest-leverage one last. This guide gives you the right order, a ranked, sourced priority sequence across Discovery and Clinical Development, with the dollar, time, and probability-of-success impact behind each.

Takes 30 seconds. No spam, just The Decision Desk, weekly.
What's inside the guide
01Strategy: what should R&D AI actually optimise for?
02Sequencing: how should we sequence R&D AI investment?
03Discovery & preclinical: where should these teams start?
04Clinical development: where should these teams start?
05Data foundation: what does R&D AI require?
06Build, buy, partner: what goes where?
07Governance: how should it differ by risk tier?
08Operating model: centralised or federated?
09People: what happens as AI scales?
10Upskilling: how do we adopt without stalling?
11Compounding value: how do we know it's working?
R&D Excellence Guide to AI in Pharma, book mockup
Two sequencing lenses When to fund a use case, by lever and proof speed, and whether it has earned funding at all, by opportunity and capture readiness.
A ranked, sourced priority list Separate final sequences for Discovery & Preclinical and Clinical Development, with speed, probability-of-success and cost impact cited to named research.
A 12-month agenda Plus the target R&D AI stack, one connected brain instead of ten point tools, with a role-by-role change plan.
“

Traditional drug development costs $2.6 to 2.8B and takes 10 to 15 years per approved drug, with failure rates exceeding 90%.

Industry drug-development research, 2026 · cited in the guide

Part of a 5-week series · Week 4 of 5

This is Week 4 of DecisionX's September series on Decision AI in Pharma, covering the CEO agenda, the CDO/CAIO architecture, Commercial Excellence, this R&D Excellence guide, and Manufacturing Excellence, closing with a case study on what this actually returns.

Follow on LinkedIn
R&D Excellence Guide to AI in Pharma
The Decision Desk · R&D Excellence Guide

R&D Excellence Guide for AI in Pharma

Eleven questions. Two functions. One sourced sequence. Free, no spam, no sales pitch first.

Backed by peer-reviewed research and FDA guidance

The Decision Desk

Get the guide in your inbox

Fill in your details below and we'll send the guide straight to your email.

You're set. The guide is on its way to your inbox.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.