The healthcare solutions company is combining artificial intelligence, data analytics, and smarter pharmaceutical logistics to help medicines reach patients faster while improving supply chain efficiency
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, 13 October 2026 – Getting the right medicine to a patient at the right time involves much more than manufacturing and delivery. Pharmaceutical companies, distributors, hospitals, pharmacies, and healthcare professionals must work together to ensure that medicines reach the people who need them. Cencora, a global pharmaceutical services company, is using artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics to improve these connections and make patient access more reliable.
Cencora generated $321.3 billion in revenue during fiscal 2025 and supports activities spanning pharmaceutical distribution, clinical development, and patient access. Its network moves millions of pharmaceutical products daily, making accurate forecasting, inventory management, and delivery planning essential to its operations. At this scale, even small improvements can make a significant difference.
Pawan Verma, Executive Vice President and Chief Data and Information Officer at Cencora, leads the company’s technology, data, and analytics strategy. His responsibilities include maintaining reliable systems, improving access to information, and identifying opportunities where AI can create measurable business and patient benefits.
Cencora manages more than 200 terabytes of healthcare and pharmaceutical data. Making this information useful requires accurate records, connected systems, secure platforms, and well-designed workflows. Without these foundations, AI tools may struggle to deliver dependable results. The company therefore considers data quality and technology infrastructure essential to its digital transformation.
Rather than introducing AI simply to follow a technology trend, Cencora focuses on applications that address practical challenges. Its approach combines company-wide priorities with opportunities for employees to explore how AI can improve their daily work. The aim is to encourage innovation while ensuring that new tools contribute to clear business goals.
One important application is pharmaceutical supply chain management. Hospitals, pharmacies, and specialist clinics need reliable access to medicines, including treatments that require strict temperature control. A delayed shipment can disrupt a patient’s treatment schedule, making accurate planning especially important.
AI-powered demand forecasting and inventory optimisation can help companies anticipate medicine requirements, identify potential shortages, and position products closer to where they are needed. If an unexpected event disrupts transportation, better supply chain visibility can also help teams identify alternative delivery routes and reduce delays.
Cencora sees further opportunities in specialty medicines, including oncology treatments, biosimilars, and gene therapies. AI may also support clinical trials and drug discovery by helping researchers analyse information, identify patterns, and investigate potential safety concerns. These applications could improve certain stages of pharmaceutical development, although clinical expertise and human oversight remain essential.
The company is also exploring AI agents that assist employees with meeting preparation, communication, time management, and tracking commitments. These tools can reduce routine administrative work and give employees more time to focus on complex decisions, customer relationships, and operational improvements.
However, introducing AI across a large organisation requires more than deploying new software. Employees must understand how the technology affects their responsibilities, while leaders need to establish clear priorities and maintain accountability. Cencora evaluates AI initiatives based on their impact on patients, customer experience, profitability, and long-term value.
Trust is equally important in healthcare. AI systems must operate with reliable information, appropriate oversight, and transparency, particularly when their outputs influence decisions involving medicines and patient care.
Cencora’s approach reflects a growing shift in healthcare technology towards practical outcomes rather than experimentation alone. By combining artificial intelligence, healthcare data analytics, and pharmaceutical distribution expertise, the company aims to improve operational efficiency and strengthen patient access to essential medicines.
