The Key Life Sciences Trends Set to Transform Healthcare

With a new year upon us, it’s time to introduce our first Life Sciences Affects Us All newsletter of 2025.?

After recently discussing some major Life Sciences themes and highlights of 2024 – including talks of Ozempic, multiple drug approvals and key clinical trial results – it’s time to share our thoughts on what to expect for the first half of 2025.?

The J. P. Morgan Healthcare Conference that took place earlier this month has certainly set the tone for what’s coming up, especially with the recent change of government in the US. Here are our predictions on what H1 might bring.

AI-Driven Innovation in Drug Development and Personalized Medicine

AI and drug development have gone hand in hand for years, with AI propelling some of the most incredible research and drugs into the spotlight. ‘Household’ devices such as smart watches and rings (Oura, Apple Watch) through to AI-Driven Radiology and Pathology are just some of the ways that AI has influenced drug development and personalized medicine.?

So, what’s in store for 2025? We anticipate that there is going to be even more growth in the world of AI. In fact, there is speculation that AI drug discovery and personalized medicine will become ‘the norm’ in less than 10 years. Its ability to reduce the drug development process from over a decade in length to just a few years is nothing short of incredible.?

A great example of this is Google-backed Isomorphic, who are set to have drugs going to trial by 2026. Quartz reported:?

“The four-year-old Isomorphic Labs was spun off from DeepMind in 2021 as a stand-alone subsidiary under Alphabet. In July, it announced deals to work on research with Eli Lilly & Co. and Novartis to leverage its AI technology — namely AlphaFold, its model that predicts a protein’s 3D structure — to discover therapeutics against multiple targets.

We’re looking at oncology, cardiovascular, neurodegeneration, all the big disease areas, and I think by the end of this year (2025), we’ll have our first drug,’ Hassabis told The Financial Times.”

Gibson Dunn produced a compelling report on the state of Life Sciences in 2025, with AI being a key highlight. They explained that due to the successes (and additional predicted successes), AI investments are also projected to rise, ‘with nearly 60% of executives planning increased spending on AI-enabled solutions’.??

Use cases such as generative AI for molecule design, AI-enabled trial monitoring, and patient stratification are also expected to see broader implementation.

Shifts in Healthcare Policy, Pricing Transparency and Healthcare Equity

Pricing transparency and changes in healthcare policy have been underway for a number of years, and on a global scale. The Inflation Reduction Act (2022) in the USA and Value Based Agreements in the EU (1990) and the USA (2014) are just some of the ways that Pharma companies are being held accountable. Patients have an appetite to know where their money is going, and ultimately if they’re being charged fairly for the healthcare they’re receiving.?

This means that Pharma, Biotech, and Medical Device organizations will need to be competitive and fair with pricing to ensure that their devices and drugs are used, especially with global benchmarking happening. Unfortunately, the rising global cost of living means that a lot of patients are shouldering the majority of costs, which then raises the question: are these organizations, insurance companies, and hospitals patient-centric, or are they on the cusp of compromising ethics???

Stat News released an article at the beginning of 2025 detailing the federal rules for hospitals in the USA, stating “The new year ushered in a final slate of updates to the federal rules for how hospitals have to disclose their prices, and experts are optimistic the changes will make the data more helpful in identifying less expensive providers.? ?

The updates are straightforward. The government is requiring hospitals to include additional pieces of data to improve their consistency and make it easier to compare across hospitals. Jan. 1 was the deadline for hospitals to make the changes to their files.” It will be interesting to see how this change will impact patients and ultimately pricing transparency across the board. ?

Finally, a notable mention for Jill Biden, who attended the J.P. Morgan conference and highlighted the importance of research and development particularly in the field of women’s health. Although there are some incredible organizations doing meaningful work for women and girls alike, more needs to be done in the long term to achieve true health equity (and equality). For example, more women must be included in clinical trials to both improve data quality and account for the conditions that affect men and women differently.

Cross-Industry Collaboration?

Aside from Mergers and Acquisitions promoting collaboration, the importance of cross-industry collaboration was highlighted at the J.P Morgan conference too, with a particularly huge focus on partnerships in Digital Health. Advisory reported, “Several companies, including Transcarent, H1, and Health Catalyst, strategically announced deals both before and during the conferences. Other companies, such as Talkspace and GE Healthcare, said they plan to look for more acquisition opportunities in the near future.?

Some companies were focused on partnerships rather than M&A. For example, Nvidia announced partnerships with Mayo Clinic, Iqivia, and Illumina during the conference. Teladoc also announced plans to join Amazon's Health Benefits Connector.”?

Keeping in theme with partnerships, Advisory also highlighted that health systems are forming partnerships with technology companies to propel clinical trials forward. It feels as though 2025 is the year of collaboration, and industries, regardless of how ‘relevant’ they once were, are now putting their hands up and wanting to get involved.?

This level of collaboration doesn't just open up the world of Life Sciences to be even more multifaceted than before - but it also enables organizations to hire more fluidly and flexibly due to the level of skills that will be developed cross-functionally.??

Mergers and Acquisitions?

J.P. Morgan already set the tone for this year at their annual Healthcare Conference, and in their eyes, it’s all about Biotech. New drug launches rooted in innovation are going to be looked upon favorably, and therapeutic areas such as Oncology, Cardio, Renal & Metabolism, and Inflammation & Immunology are ones to watch. Despite there being fewer deals done in 2024 for Biotech’s, there are still expectations that 2025 will exceed this, perhaps even double it! We have already seen examples of this with the Eli Lilly acquisition of Morphic in 2024 as well as Novartis’ acquisition of Mariana Oncology.??

It looks as though acquisitions started strong in 2025, with Labiotech reporting that “At the J.P. Morgan conference, J&J struck a deal worth $14.6 billion to buy neuroscience drugmaker Intra-Cellular Therapies, GSK agreed to acquire oncology drug developer IDRx in a $1.1 billion deal, and Eli Lilly made a $2.5 billion deal to buy Scorpion Therapeutics, another oncology company.” ?

From a hiring perspective, it will be interesting to see how candidates respond to the surge in Biotech interest and how this will affect the movement of talent in 2025. Deals exceeding $18.5 billion were announced at the conference, so perhaps J.P. Morgan has set the tone for a promising year. Other factors, such as fluctuating valuations, global politics, and regulatory needs can all impact the success or potential downfall of an M&A. However, it does feel like 2025 is going to be a healthier environment for mergers and acquisitions to happen – so let’s see.?

The start of a new year always brings excitement and wonder, and the prospect of ‘making an impact’ and ‘inciting change’ are rolling off the tongues of investors, business owners, and employees alike. We’re looking forward to seeing how these big changes are going to create a ripple effect across the industry, and how it will influence change management and most importantly, hiring and retention.?

We'd love to collaborate with you to shape our future newsletters. Just comment below the topics you’re itching to read about, and we’ll make it happen. Thank you for being an integral part of this industry and a valued member of our Meet community! ?

Speak soon, The Meet Team