Building Real AI Capability Across a Global Biopharma
A leading global pharma needed more than AI awareness across their teams. They needed people who could actually use it — function by function, market by market, across Europe and North America.
The challenge
The pressure to adopt AI was real and coming from multiple directions: leadership mandates, competitive anxiety, and a genuine sense among teams that the ground was shifting under their feet. What the company didn't want was another awareness session that left people feeling informed but no more capable.
The brief was specific: build genuine AI fluency across functions and geographies, with practical skills people could apply immediately. Not a one-size-fits-all training. Not theory. Real work, done better, with AI.
What we did
Vertical designed and delivered a multi-wave AI capability program — "Real-Life AI" — across nine distinct teams spanning global, regional, and country-level functions. Each program was tailored to the team's actual work: the questions they get asked, the documents they produce, the stakeholders they engage, the pressures they're under.
Teams trained included:
- Global Medical Community
- MSLs and Medical Affairs across major markets
- Local country affiliates
- Regional European medical teams
- Therapy area medical teams across multiple markets
- Therapy area leadership team in a major market
- Global Medical Leadership Team
- Patient Engagement global team
Beyond the training programs, Vertical also worked with the client on Medical Affairs 3.0 — a global vision for the future of the medical function — and developed an AI-powered MSL co-pilot to help field medicals prepare for high-stakes HCP engagements.
Each session was built around the specific tools, workflows, and challenges of that team. Content was culturally adapted for local markets. Exercises were drawn from real work scenarios, not hypotheticals.
What happened
408 people trained. 9.1/10 average participant rating. NPS +69.
But the numbers don't fully capture what changed. Across the program, participants consistently described the same shift: from AI as something abstract and slightly threatening, to AI as something they reach for naturally as part of how they work.
In their own words:
> "Not exaggerating — I put what you taught me into action and it's saving me an hour a day." > — Director of MSLs, March 2025
> "This was the first training in my career I didn't want to walk out from." > — Regional Sales Director, August 2025
> "I've been in 3 AI trainings before, but I've never seen anything like this. The content was inspiring and hands-on. The exercises were spot on and we'll take these learnings straight into use. I can't thank you enough — this wasn't 'just another training.'" > — National Marketing Director, January 2025
> "This is one of the best training sessions I have ever received. The facilitators were able to provide hands-on assistance, and the workshop part was extremely valuable." > — Head of Scientific Comms, July 2025
> "Thank you for being so easy to understand, and for pushing us through comfort zones. Thanks for waking up the AI interest in me." > — Regional Therapy Area Coordinator, September 2025
The program is ongoing, with additional teams in the planning stage.
Contact
Interested in building AI capability across your organization? Get in touch with Jason Hill (jason@vertical.vc).