Surveying the Industry

Nicholas Saraceno

Although the year isn’t quite over, the October issue of Pharmaceutical Commerce represents one step closer to 2026, as we’ve now officially entered Q4.

As I mentioned to our editorial advisory board during the most recent meeting, this year has represented a combination of both growth and innovation for the publication in various ways—from our PC Academy series to microlearning offerings.

And over the summer, Pharma Commerce introduced its inaugural “State of the Industry Survey,” which welcomed the feedback of executives and industry experts on the biggest challenges shaping pharma today, from drug pricing pressures and access barriers, to supply chain shifts, digital adoption, and evolving patient-centered care strategies.

The goal of the 20-plus-question survey was to serve as an all-encompassing collection of top-of-mind pressing issues, and I think the feedback was successful in providing the editorial team with quite a few helpful conclusions—or at least, valuable clarity on potential directions.

One of which is the US administration’s push for a most-favored nation (MFN) pricing model—how would implementation of such a model impact an organization’s drug pricing strategy? As most are aware, the MFN model is part of an executive order that would require US drug prices to be less than or equal to the product’s lowest price in other nations as a way of establishing fairness. In July, President Trump sent letters to 17 Big Pharma companies that explained what he looks to accomplish from the MFN order (with a date of Sept. 29 to provide plans for compliance). Pfizer's recent deal with the administration around MFN was likely the first of more to come.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that nearly one-fourth of our survey respondents (23.81%) were optimistic in noting the potential of the MFN model to create new opportunities for pricing innovation or value-based contracting.

Another eye-grabbing realization from the survey involved a query on current or potential global tariffs and their impact on pharma operations. Overall, 17.65% of respondents noted that such actions are forcing a reassessment of global procurement or production strategy (by reshoring, for example), while 35.29% described them as causing supply chain disruptions or delays.

I invite you to explore all the survey highlights. On behalf of Pharma Commerce, thank you so much for the valuable feedback.

Nicholas Saraceno is Pharmaceutical Commerce's Editor. He can be reached at [email protected].