pharmaphorum Podcast

Following his return from San Francisco and the JP Morgan Healthcare conference last month, editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock sat down with pharmaphorum web editor Nicole Raleigh to discuss what he heard and learned on the ground in California.

2026 marked the 44th year of the annual meeting: Comstock shares his top insights, goes into the details from the panel he moderated at the Informa Biotech Showcase, and suggests his key takeaway from this year’s conference.

You can listen to episode 245 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

The rising cost of drugs in 2025 was driven by several factors, including inflation, supply chain issues, and the demand for specialty drugs – straining already overburdened health systems.

In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Jeff Harper, head of product at IntelliGuard, about these pressing issues and what hospitals can expect as we progress further into 2026.

The conversation also explores the role digital health technologies like RFID and predictive analytics could play in addressing drug waste and ensuring access, as well as why hospital CFOs and pharmacy leaders are reframing medication management as a strategic priority, not just an operational one

You can listen to episode 244 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

The term "omnichannel engagement" has become embedded in today’s healthcare conversations. Yet the biopharmaceutical industry often approaches it superficially – treating it as a trendy buzzword instead of a meaningful strategy for connecting with the sector's two most vital audiences: patients and healthcare providers (HCPs).

In this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast, developed in partnership with Reverba Global, editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock sits down with Cheryl Lubbert, co-founder and CEO of Reverba Global, and Carolyn Whiting, SVP of clinical and medical client services, to discuss how a thoughtfully executed omnichannel strategy can empower scientific experts to become effective communicators.

Today's patients actively seek scientifically robust, yet accessible, information about their health conditions, and a well-integrated medical affairs strategy can help deliver that knowledge through the HCPs they trust most.

However, bringing this vision to life requires forward-thinking strategies that build authentic connections, challenge conventional approaches, and dismantle the communication silos that frequently exist in healthcare organisations.

Throughout the episode, Lubbert and Whiting share Reverba Global's methodology for authentic omnichannel engagement with patients and physicians, offering real-world examples and practical perspectives on navigating obstacles and establishing this evolved model.

You can listen to this episode of the pharmaphorum podcast using the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

Outdated training and behaviours impact patient outcomes and can lead to patient risk.

In a new pharmaphorum podcast, web editor Nicole Raleigh speaks with Lisa Sims, executive director of learning strategy & operations at Novartis, for a conversation on modern training for pharma and how AI and data – quality data – can help personalise learning at scale.

You can listen to episode 243 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.

At the JP Morgan Healthcare conference this year, a lot of the discourse around AI drug discovery focused on making the leap from purely in silico drug discovery operations to real-world operations that are able to incorporate wet lab data in an iterative way.

This is easily said, but to do it requires innovating new processes and infrastructures. On the sidelines of the show, pharmaphorum’s Jonah Comstock caught up with Yann Gaston-Mathe, founder and CEO of Iktos, an AI drug discovery company that just signed a billion euro deal with Servier to put this technology into action.

In this quick dispatch from JPM (and we apologise for the shaky audio), Gaston-Mathe describes this shift in AI drug discovery, why it needs to happen, and what it takes, as well as giving some insights on why Servier and Iktos are a good fit as partners.

“You need to think about how effective you are in the transition between the in vitro world and the in silico world,” Gaston-Mathe says. “Building on the data which is available is not enough.”

You can listen to episode 242 of the pharmaphorum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it - and subscribe to the rest of the series – on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Podbean, and pretty much wherever else you download your other podcasts from.