IQVIA – leveraging data in healthcare
As the world’s largest contract research organisation, IQVIA is a trusted partner to the pharmaceutical industry. Between 2016 and 2023, it was involved in the development of 73% of all medicines approved in the United States. Patient recruitment, site selection and regulatory submissions are all part of the service.
Although growth in the global pharma pipeline has ground to a halt, the pivot towards more advanced therapies means that demand for specialist providers is strong. That’s reflected in IQVIA’s record Research & Development Solutions orderbook, last reported at $34.2bn. Meanwhile, the complex and highly regulated nature of clinical trials creates high barriers to entry.
Data analytics is pivotal to IQVIA’s business model. Its real-world data sets span 1.2 billion patients and are the largest proprietary collection in the industry, something we see as a valuable asset. That enables the company to derive revenue streams from a greater part of the drug lifecycle, helping customers with their go-to-market strategies.
Commercial Solutions is now the fastest-growing part of the business. IQVIA’s data-rich activities lend themselves well to AI, promising to reduce drug development timelines and improve commercialisation. It’s also helping healthcare providers like the NHS improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.
IQVIA’s leaning hard into AI and is seeing widespread adoption of its newest innovations. We see this as an opportunity. However, in common with other industries, concerns about AI disruption have been weighing on investor sentiment, even while financial forecasts have been going up. We think this has been overplayed and see more opportunity than threat from AI. However, markets may remain sceptical and will need to see more evidence that IQVIA is moving with the times.
This article is original Hargreaves Lansdown content, published by Hargreaves Lansdown. It was correct as at the date of publication, and our views may have changed since then. Unless otherwise stated estimates, including prospective yields, are a consensus of analyst forecasts provided by LSEG. These estimates are not a reliable indicator of future performance. Past performance is not a guide to the future. Investments rise and fall in value so investors could make a loss. Yields are variable and not guaranteed.
This article is not advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any investment. No view is given on the present or future value or price of any investment, and investors should form their own view on any proposed investment.