Why Pharma Transformations Stall—and How to Fix Them

Published 3 August 2026

Author(s): Dale Stafford, Anna Cochemé, Kai Grass, & Fabio La Mola

Pharma hasn’t had to be good at change, and the window to build that muscle is narrowing fast.

For 30 years, the economics rewarded companies for moving with caution. Wide US margins meant that even a slow-moving, process-heavy organization generated enough of a return to make wholesale redesign hard to justify. The industry's transformation track record reflects it. Only 11% of healthcare and life sciences transformation programs fully achieve their targets. Another 83% (vs. 75% across all industries) settle for less and land somewhere between halfway and the finish line.

That margin protection is now eroding on two fronts at once: US pricing pressure and the unbundling of markets by geography and therapeutic area. Meanwhile, AI is reshaping how work gets done faster than most organizations can absorb. A company that hasn’t built the capacity to change is suddenly being asked to change everything. But the strategy is the easy part. What will separate the companies that pull ahead is a standing muscle for execution, one built to adapt to continuous change.