CROs/HCIT: AI Adoption & Biotech Market Demand Realty Checks; Industry Conference Takeaways

Research evidence excerpt

CROs/HCIT: AI Adoption & Biotech Market Demand Realty Checks; Industry Conference Takeaways

Truist Securities

Equity Research Report May 17, 2026

HEALTHCARE: Contract Research

Organizations CROs/HCIT: AI Adoption & Biotech

HEALTHCARE: HCIT Market Demand Realty Checks; Industry

Conference Takeaways

Jailendra Singh Last week, we attended the Fierce Biotech conference in Boston. During the

212-401-4406 conference, we engaged with CROs, pharma sponsors, and tech vendors to

Jailendra.Singh@truist.com

better understand evolving demand trends, AI disruption risks, and shifts in clinical

development models. In this note, we outline key takeaways from select sessions, along

Payton Engdahl with insights gathered from our 1x1 and small group discussions with company execs.

212-319-5476

Payton.Engdahl@truist.com

AI in Drug Development: Incremental Progress, No Disruption (Yet). AI was a major

Eduardo Ron focus, but the overall tone remained pragmatic. Most discussions suggested that AI is

212-326-3152 helping improve efficiency in specific areas - such as drug property prediction, regulatory

Eduardo.Ron@truist.com documents, and routine workflows - rather than fundamentally changing how drug

development works. Speakers emphasized that key challenges, like predicting whether

17 Page Document a drug will be safe and effective in humans, are still unsolved. In many cases, the real

limitation is not computing power, but gaps in biological understanding. Importantly,

most current use cases are designed to support experts and make their work faster and

Reasons for this report easier, rather than replace clinical or regulatory professionals.

✓ Industry Conference Takeaways Clinical Development Evolution: Toward Integrated Data-Driven Models. AI is