Pharma procurement is no longer being framed as a narrow cost-control function. In 2026, leaders in the field say it is increasingly being asked to shape how companies work with agencies, influence value creation and help commercial teams move faster in an industry under intense pressure to launch, adapt and prove impact.
That shift has altered the relationship between procurement, marketers and agencies. Helen Thompson, a pharma procurement leader and director of Helen Thompso...
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n Consulting, describes procurement as a bridge between business demand and what the market can supply. But the role, she argues, has expanded well beyond negotiation and compliance. The aim now is to build relationships that can last, not simply squeeze rates.
“Hopefully we’re all aligned around wanting the best quality that we can have, but at a cost point that we can afford , and one that allows our agencies to have a sustainable business model,” Thompson says.
The tension in that equation is clear. Marketers want strong creative, reliable partners and evidence that every pound or dollar spent is working hard. Agencies want room to do their best work and to be paid in ways that reflect the value they create. Procurement, meanwhile, has traditionally been measured on savings. Several leaders say that model is no longer sufficient for a market shaped by AI, faster launches and more complex stakeholder demands.
Annabelle Sandeman, chief growth officer at Publicis Health, says procurement in healthcare now has to manage agency models, governance, compliance, supplier diversity and innovation expectations from across the organisation, including the boardroom, brand teams, medical affairs, market access and R&D. She helped launch the Healthcare Procurement Alliance, an initiative intended to encourage a more collaborative approach across the sector. Yet, she says, procurement is still not always treated as a strategic partner by either side of the table.
Agency leaders say they have seen the change, even if it has been uneven. Christianna Gorin, chief growth officer at Ogilvy Health Group, says procurement’s role has become more central to helping pharma companies find partners who can help them move faster, adopt AI responsibly and extract more value from each investment.
“It’s less about how much does this cost, and now more about how do you help us create greater value out of every dollar we invest? It’s become about measuring that value creation,” she says.
Artificial intelligence is also changing the maths. If an agency uses AI to complete work more efficiently, the old time-and-materials logic starts to look less convincing. Gorin says calendar-based or hourly pricing is likely to matter less as pricing models evolve around output, speed and value rather than time spent.
At the same time, some of the old habits remain stubbornly in place. Gorin says there was a period when she heard procurement teams stop referring to agencies as vendors, only for the language to return as the industry has come under greater pressure. Companies are being pushed to launch faster, respond to shifting market conditions and show results more quickly. In that environment, one-off projects can crowd out deeper partnerships.
Thompson says agencies are under pressure too, especially as the broader holding-company landscape shifts and the sector remains difficult. That makes it even more important, she argues, for procurement to help protect long-term agency relationships. For pharma companies, the logic is simple: if agencies are expected to deliver sustainable value, they need sustainable businesses themselves.
The biggest weakness, several leaders say, is still a lack of transparency. Too often, marketers, procurement and agencies are not aligned from the outset on what success looks like, what the budget allows or what trade-offs may be required.
Gorin recalls a more adversarial approach in which procurement focused heavily on cost and agencies were asked to provide their best price without much clarity on the commercial or strategic consequences of going lower. That model, she suggests, left too little room to discuss how spending choices affected the quality or scope of the work.
What is emerging instead is a more collaborative mindset. Gorin says there is now a “groundswell” of feeling that companies need to meet agencies in the middle and build trust if they want better outcomes. She says that is especially important where transparency is needed around AI or media inventory.
Thompson goes further, arguing that the three-way relationship only works when there is emotional and psychological safety, so that difficult discussions can happen honestly rather than defensively. She says that is already more visible in consumer marketing, and pharma is beginning to follow.
“If you don’t have a partnership where you have that level of trust established, it’s very difficult to have those hard conversations with agencies,” she says.
For procurement leaders, the message is increasingly clear: the job is no longer just to save money. It is to help build a structure in which marketers get value, agencies can survive and innovate, and the business can move with the speed the market now demands.
Source: Noah Wire Services
