AI to revolutionize pharma industry, says expert

KARACHI: Artificial intelligence is poised to redefine Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector, turning conventional manufacturing into a predictive, data-driven engine that boosts speed, quality, and patient safety, according to a senior industry executive. Speaking to Business Recorder , Ijlal Jafri, group chief information officer at Martin Dow Group, highlighted that while AI is accelerating drug discovery and elevating healthcare efficiency globally, it offered Pakistan a significant opportunity to boost productivity, improve decision-making, and extract business insights from complex datasets to respond effectively to evolving healthcare needs without compromising quality standards. Jafri noted that because Pakistan’s pharmaceutical sector focused primarily on drug formulation rather than full-scale research and development, the most immediate value lay in smart manufacturing, which formed the foundation of Industry 4.0. According to Jafri, adopting Pharma 4.0 (the local implementation of the global ISPE framework) upgrades traditional manufacturing by integrating AI, the internet of things, and cloud computing. This also supports the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan’s push for contemporaneous and attributable quality records via digital platforms. Specifically, this digital integration enables real-time production monitoring through smart sensors, predictive maintenance to minimize downtime, AI-driven demand forecasting, and digital quality management with electronic batch records. Furthermore, integrating AI into a company’s portfolio improves tracking systems, analyzes supply disruptions, and detects anomalies. It automates compliance audit trails for DRAP and international regulatory requirements, shifting production from historical demand to predictive analytics that anticipate market trends and deliver medicines on time. Jafri said that Martin Dow Group recently deployed SAP S/4HANA as a single digital core, integrating finance, manufacturing, supply chain, human resources, and commercial operations to ensure speed, accuracy, and confidence. This empowers the group to serve patients and partners more effectively. To widen access and foster learning, the group also hosted Tech Day, a first-of-its-kind event featuring experts from SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft, and PwC to address ethical AI, security, customer experience, boosting productivity, and fintech. However, Jafri emphasized that technology must act as an enabler rather than a replacement for human expertise. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026