Deloitte Survey Reveals Sharp Divide for This Year’s Outlook

By Bio-IT World Staff 

February 19, 2026 | During the Clinical Trial Venture, Innovation, and Partnering event at this year’s SCOPE, Deloitte Consulting’s 2026 Life Sciences Executive Outlook revealed in a presentation that 75% of 280 surveyed C-suite executives across pharma and medtech expressed a positive or cautiously positive outlook. Yet beneath that headline lies a sharp transatlantic divide. While 90% of executives outside the U.S. reported optimism, only 60% of U.S.-based leaders did. In biopharma specifically, positivity among U.S. executives fell to 56%. 

The divergence appears closely tied to policy exposure. The survey was conducted shortly after Most Favored Nation pricing letters were distributed to drugmakers, a move that could affect U.S. revenue streams. U.S. executives reported only 71% positive financial outlook compared to their international peers at 90%. For biotech firms dependent on premium pricing to recoup high development costs, pricing uncertainty directly pressures capital allocation and pipeline strategy. 

Regulatory and policy concerns topped the list of strategic challenges. U.S. respondents cited government agency restructuring within the FDA and HHS, while global executives flagged frameworks such as the EU AI Act and China’s Volume-Based Procurement Program. According to Andy Bolt, leader of Deloitte’s Life Sciences R&D Practice, rising tensions between countries are playing out in real time. 

That strain is visible in Deloitte’s 15-year tracking of internal rates of return on late-stage pipelines, which remain stuck in the low single digits. With average development timelines stretching toward a decade and costs approaching $2 billion per asset, firms pursuing smaller specialty and rare disease indications face diminishing peak sales. Although blockbuster obesity therapies and GLP-1 drugs have nudged returns upward—from 4.3% to 5.9%—structural inefficiencies in clinical development continue to erode value. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the central strategic lever. About 48% of executives cite accelerated digital transformation as a major driver of impact, up from 36% last year. Around 78% view AI as both a cost reducer and growth engine, particularly within clinical development and regulatory operations. Companies are shifting from pilot programs to platform-based, end-to-end AI integration designed to streamline data flow and modernize legacy R&D workflows. 

To read the full story written by Allison Proffitt, visit Clinical Research News.