Amiculum meets Paul Tunnah: Pharma’s adoption of AI in healthcare communications
March 26, 2026 | artificial intelligence
By Steve Wilson
Across pharma, the conversation around AI is shifting from possibility to practicality. Companies are ready to start using AI to speed up compliant content creation, improve medical accuracy, scale relevance across channels, and allow teams to save time on the mundane so they can focus on what matters most. Yet with so much noise around AI, it’s not always easy to focus on what’s genuinely useful.
That’s exactly why I was pleased to spend time talking with Paul Tunnah, CEO of VuuAI, during our ‘Amiculum meets’ session. Our discussion focused on where pharma really is on its AI journey and, crucially, where it should be focusing next.
Why is AI adoption now critical for pharma communications?
Whether we feel ready or not, AI is already embedded in how work gets done. The tools are improving rapidly, access is widespread and the efficiencies are no longer theoretical.
As Paul put it during our conversation, Pandora’s box is open. AI isn’t going away, and companies that delay adoption aren’t standing still, they’re falling behind. If one organization can create, adapt and approve high-quality compliant content in a fraction of the time, the engagement gap becomes significant, and that gap widens quickly when you consider the scale of content modern healthcare engagement demands.
Does AI threaten creativity in pharma marketing?
One of the most persistent anxieties around AI, especially in agencies and creative teams, is the fear that AI will replace human creativity. But AI isn’t capable of replacing strategic thinking, brand positioning or creative insight – those remain firmly human strengths.
Where AI does shine is in what happens next:
- Taking a core narrative and adapting it
- Translating strategy into scalable content
- Tailoring messages to channels, personas and moments
- Accelerating production cycles without compromising governance
Paul used a useful reference point that other sectors already operate like this. Retail platforms can surface the right message at the right time because their systems are built for personalized, dynamic content delivery. In pharma, we often aspire to that, but the reality of content development and elongated approval cycles makes it incredibly difficult. AI doesn’t magically solve that overnight, but it does unlock a route to scale that isn’t feasible through current manual workflows.
Where does AI make the biggest difference for brands?
It’s easy to see the benefit of AI for established brands that need a steady flow of digital content, but Paul made a valuable point about the value for launch brands as well.
The first year of a product launch often defines its long-term trajectory, yet it’s also a period of uncertainty, rapid learning and shifting priorities. When messaging needs to change quickly, traditional content development and approval timelines can become a real constraint, so AI introduces agility at precisely the moment it’s most valuable. When updates happen faster and decisions are aligned more quickly with insight, organizations can significantly improve overall performance.
Where should pharma start with AI adoption?
If you’re looking for a sensible entry point for AI adoption in pharma, compliance and particularly medical accuracy are hard to ignore. These processes are critical, but they consume enormous amounts of expert time. Much of that time is spent on repetitive checking of claims, references, consistency and alignment. It’s essential work, but it’s not where humans add the most value, so AI can act as a powerful assistant here. It doesn’t replace judgement or accountability, but it can dramatically reduce manual effort and improve consistency. Once that bottleneck starts to ease, everything else downstream benefits.
Technology matters, but workflow matters more
AI success isn’t just about choosing the right technology – usability and workflow integration are just as important. If a tool is hard to learn or disconnected from existing processes, adoption will stall no matter how advanced the technology is. The most effective AI solutions are intuitive, fit naturally into how teams already work and support gradual change rather than forcing full reinvention overnight.
Paul and I reflected on why so many AI initiatives struggle to move beyond pilots. In his experience, it’s rarely because the technology doesn’t work, but because scalability simply wasn’t considered early enough.
We discussed the importance of thinking beyond the first use case:
- How will this integrate with existing systems?
- Who needs to support it?
- How will people be trained?
- How do we manage change?
We also agreed that progress depends on bringing the right partners together. Successful adoption happens when focused technology and implementation providers work together with internal teams towards a shared outcome.
Final thoughts
It’s completely understandable to feel overwhelmed by the pace of change. Most teams are already stretched, and AI can feel like one more thing to deal with, but used properly, AI can break that cycle. It can give time back and allow people to focus on the work that really benefits from human judgement and creativity.
The answer isn’t to rush or to resist. It’s about leaning in thoughtfully: starting with real problems, measuring what matters and building from there.
AI is here. The opportunity now is to use it with purpose.
Watch the full interview with Paul on our blog page: Amiculum meets Paul Tunnah: Pharma’s adoption of AI in healthcare communications
This content was provided by Amiculum
Company Details
Latest Content from Amiculum
Joint Clinical Assessments: bureaucratic nightmare, AI opportunity, or both?
By Manca Povsic and Andrew Dobb
Eyes on the horizon: six (and a half) predictions for the future of healthcare communications
By Zoë van Helmond and Leyna Prince
AMICULUM: Activating science, transforming health
From 4 June 2024 AMICULUM is bringing together our family of agencies under the AMICULUM® brand. All of our agencies were founded and owned by AMICULUM and the business continues...
Do omnichannel approaches have a role in market access and payer discussions?
By Frank Fisher and Claire Woon
Early strategic planning: how to get ahead of the curve
By James Aird and Sarah Theobald
Enhancing the patient–HCP relationship in rare diseases
By Maggie Lai
AMICULUM® collaborates with the University of Dundee to develop a new Master’s course in Science and Health Communication
AMICULUM Limited is proud to announce its collaboration with the University of Dundee in developing a Master’s course in Science and Health Communication. The Master’s course was an idea conceived...