First impressions after Pharmageddon Europe 2025 in Amsterdam

I went to Pharmageddon in Amsterdam to speak about the state of Digital Health. What was it like? Well, I can give some perspective and feeling on how it went.

First, it was hyped as something different. It kind of was. The marketing around it, the way people waited for it and teased it felt really fresh.

Second, the show. Paul was a great MC (as always). Full of analogy in this context, the Titanic. I just felt it was a bit over-dramatising the industry, as it's always easier to smash the ones with the biggest pockets, but we tend to forget it's a really complicated ecosystem. The agenda was well put together, the different stakeholders represented as usual (payers, patients, professionals...), but it kind of felt like we're missing something in the conversations: where future top-line revenues will come from and be dictated by? I would have loved to talk about emerging markets vs. established markets, as this impacts LCM (life cycle management) and launch execution of new molecules. I would have loved to talk more about new business models where we sell services that truly monitor the impact of drugs and not just sell ex-factory products. You can't talk about everything, I get that, but still. Something to discuss at the coffee pause for sure.

Where is R&D with pipeline shrinking, M&A on the rise and more challenges to differentiate on the IP side? It was focused on commercial ops, so that's great, but I felt the mission was really bigger than 1/3 of the companies' representation, which were mostly medical, marketing and sales (with some digital people).

Other than my own expectations, of course, the crowd was nice. Familiar faces and new ones, which is great. These events always give a pulse on where the industry is, and either for venture capital or consultancy work, it tells you where the wind is going next. Surprisingly, you could hear a lot of lay-offs and people looking for their next gig as well, and even more interesting, the event didn't attract that many senior leadership. This is not Pharmageddon's fault; it is a trend I haven't seen since 5-6 years C-suite in there, as they prefer the WEF, Davos, and Forbes events to recharge on leadership I guess.

Overall, do I recommend? Yes, it was entertaining, loved the workshop creativity and the table conversation made for the information you wished were discussed in the panel. It confirmed that digital health isn't the new kid anymore, and AI is replacing it as the buzzword. It was everywhere, and not sure if people were attracted or scared by it, perhaps a bit of both, like a grey rhino running onto you.

Is it replacing other events? Not really, and not sure this is the goal here, just a very different experience on the format and delivery, thanks to Paul Simms.