Wiley and IQVIA have released Scientific Discovery & AI: The Science-to-Patient Journey, a cross-sector intelligence report drawing on candid dialogue among more than 25 senior leaders from pharma R&D, academic medicine, health systems, AI and technology, publishing and learned societies.
The report summarises insights from The Summit – an invitation-only, two-day working session co-hosted by Wiley and IQVIA in May 2026. The session opened with a forward-looking perspective on AI and organisational change from Ethan Mollick, Wharton professor, NYT bestselling author of Co-Intelligence and the forthcoming Co-Existence (October 2026), which set the tone for the dynamic days of discussion. Participants included senior leaders from organisations such as Novo Nordisk, Microsoft, Amazon, Salesforce, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), American Heart Association, JAMA Network, Johns Hopkins University, University of Michigan, Mapúa University, South Dakota State University, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), BMJ Group, Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute and Turbine.
A key focus of the report is the gap between AI’s technical capability and the health system’s ability to absorb it. AI is accelerating every stage of the journey from scientific discovery to patient benefit – but acceleration at one stage can create fracture at the next. Examining each stage of the science-to-patient value chain, participants identified five high-potential directions for the ecosystem:
- Decision-first discovery: Embracing AI for large-scale exploration to support wet lab target identification and validation
- Structured negative data: Sharing vetted failed experiments to avoid unnecessary repetition
- AI agents for patients: Deploying patient-facing AI to help them navigate health systems
- Curated aggregation: Combining the scholarly record and real-world data as a trusted alternative to general-purpose AI search
- Continuous learning loop: Feeding real-world evidence back into trial design, clinical guidelines and upstream research
“For AI to deliver its full promise in healthcare and science, all parts of the system must be engaged. AI has vastly increased the speed at which we can resolve molecular identities and surface new candidates – but if the publishing model, clinical development infrastructure and real-world adoption don’t keep pace, those discoveries won’t reach patients as quickly as they should,” said Armughan Rafat, Wiley SVP, Chief AI & Data Analytics Officer. “That’s the conversation Wiley and IQVIA have convened. We didn’t set out to produce consensus, but rather to surface an honest diagnosis.”
“AI is already reshaping every stage of the healthcare value chain, but the real opportunity lies in connecting those stages into a continuous learning system. What emerged from The Summit is a clear need to move beyond isolated innovation toward integrated evidence ecosystems – where clinical research, real-world data and advanced analytics work in unison. By closing the loop between discovery, development and real-world outcomes, we can accelerate not just insight generation, but meaningful impact for patients,” said Rob Kotchie, IQVIA President, Real World Evidence & Clinical Technology Solutions.
The report is also candid about identifying existing structural limits. A consistent finding across every stage of the value chain is that incentives are an impediment: the system rewards behaviors that don’t always optimise for science, patients or long-term progress. Addressing such misalignment requires collaboration across actors and structural change.
Scientific Discovery & AI: The Science-to-Patient Journey is available now.
