In today's rapidly evolving technology landscape, organizations must evolve systems and processes to fully harness the power and potential of AI. This session will explore the transformative journey toward real-time, AI-powered end-to-end planning and forecasting for portfolio and program management through automation, process, and system evolution. Attendees will gain valuable insights into strategies that can streamline operations, enhance data-driven decision-making, and create the foundation required to embrace an AI future.

Does your organization make project and program decisions in silos? Are the process and responsibilites for decision making unclear? Is risk management an afterthought? By distinguishing governance, focused on accountability and strategic alignment, from risk management, centered on identifying and mitigating uncertainties, leaders can create a structured approach for informed, proactive decisions. Attendees will gain insights and real-world examples empowering them to drive smarter, risk-aware confident decision making. 

We will review how we managed the project, the challenges we faced and how we resolved them. Then, we will look at the resulting process and new tools (going from a "5R" concept  to a pragmatic "6R" for scoring and (operational as well as strategic) prioritization). We will finish by navigating the outcomes of the implementation and integration of this new method into our day to day project management and decision making. We will wrap-up the session with the lessons learned and next steps.

A common challenge facing many development portfolio frameworks is how to maintain a level playing field for projects at different stages. Financial metrics like NPV disproportionately favor later stage projects that are closer to launch, and this is exacerbated when adding the “e” element of risk. This typically leads to either phase-specific comparisons or a greater reliance on multivariate comparisons. What then happens when you try to incorporate the research portfolio into the equation? How to connect decision making about candidate optimization and selection, strategic platform priorities, and qualitative and quantitative throughput targets with clinical development priorities? And how to balance investment across R&D, early and late? This discussion will review some important considerations for managing tradeoffs and getting the balance right.

Lilly’s Portfolio and Project Management team runs an annual process to evaluate opportunities to reallocate funds from late phase approved programs to fund new investment requests. The intent is to not tangibly impact the value commitment of the approved assets while enabling new investment requests to be funded. This helps internal governance have optionality for funding new investments that they view more favorably than previously approved investments.

Target Product Profiles (TPPs) and Target Label Profiles (TLPs) are critical tools in biopharmaceutical portfolio management, aligning clinical development with regulatory and commercial objectives. This session explores how structured use of TPPs and TLPs drives informed decision-making, improves cross-functional alignment, and supports early identification of risks and opportunities. By clearly defining desired product outcomes and anticipated label claims, teams can prioritize assets, allocate resources effectively, and ensure development efforts focus on creating differentiated, reimbursable therapies that meet market and patient needs—ultimately maximizing the value and impact of the R&D portfolio.

An overview of how Pioneering Medicines, a Flagship Pioneering company, transformed its program and portfolio management processes from fragmented systems into a structured, insight-driven framework using innovative tools and strategic process improvements. We will share how we redesigned foundational systems, streamlined workflows, and enhanced cross-functional visibility to support portfolio growth and efficient program management. Attendees will gain insights into scalable methodologies for operational excellence, decision-enabling analytics, and R&D program execution.

NPV and eNPV estimates are the cornerstone of financial modeling for many portfolio teams.  The simplicity is alluring.  All the complexity of a program gets distilled in one number, making it an easy way to compare and prioritize programs.  But when and why should NPVs not drive decision making?  During this talk, we’ll discuss when certain forecasts and NPVs can lead to unideal investment decisions and how to make program and portfolio forecasting enablers of strong decision making.

Biopharma companies have embraced the use of KPIs to identify issues with project performance, but often companies focus on indicators that lack context or are not optimized for decision-makers. In this session, we will review a case study where a small biopharma created KPIs for clinical trials, visualized these KPIs using automated and interactive dashboards, and utilized the dashboards with decision-makers to monitor project progress and intervene when necessary. We will review lessons learned for each of these aspects.

Biopharmaceutical firms face critical strategic choices when sourcing external R&D projects, balancing potential value, risk, and strategic positioning. This research explores how firms match sourcing modes with project characteristics. Findings suggest licensing is preferred for high-value but uncertain projects, asset acquisitions for high-value projects with high probability of success, and M&A for low-value projects. M&A reduces termination likelihood for risky, low value projects and serves as a key entry mechanism into new therapeutic areas. By uncovering systematic patterns in external R&D sourcing, this study advances understanding of risk management, capability acquisition, and strategic decision-making in biopharmaceutical innovation.