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Pharma procurement teams are entering 2025 and 2026 with greater complexity, higher expectations, and tighter budgets. From managing supplier risk to adapting to cost volatility and rising compliance requirements, traditional approaches are no longer enough. Leading pharma companies are moving toward faster, AI-enabled models backed by industry expertise.
This article outlines five key challenges procurement teams are facing and how forward-looking firms are navigating them with smarter tools and streamlined strategies.
Five Key Challenges for 2025 and 2026
- Supplier Resilience and Redundancy
Supplier disruptions caused by quality failures, regulatory flags, and regional instability are now a regular occurrence. Many pharma companies have been too dependent on one or two suppliers per category. In response, leading procurement teams are adding 30 to 50 percent more qualified suppliers per strategic category. They are mapping tier-2 and tier-3 exposures and building alternate supplier pipelines proactively. This shift requires faster supplier discovery, automated filtering, and expert validation to ensure readiness for rapid onboarding. - Cost Volatility Across Direct and Indirect Spend
Price fluctuations of 12 to 25 percent have hit both direct and indirect categories. APIs, excipients, CMOs, facility services, and even packaging materials are now subject to unpredictable market shifts. Many contracts signed before 2023 are now due for renewal, often at significantly higher rates. Without timely market intelligence, procurement teams risk accepting unfavorable terms. Real-time price tracking, regional cost benchmarking, and early detection of demand surges are now critical capabilities. - Higher Compliance and Audit Expectations
Regulators are asking for more detailed documentation, cleaner audit trails, and proactive supplier governance. In 2024, over 40 percent of sourcing delays were linked to expired or incomplete supplier certifications. Pharma procurement teams must now track GMP, ISO, and ESG metrics actively. They need automated alerts, compliance dashboards, and rapid verification tools to identify red flags early and prevent disruptions during audits or supplier reviews. - Fragmented and Manual Sourcing Workflows
Despite growing complexity, many teams still rely on spreadsheets, email-based RFQs, and static supplier lists. This slows down supplier discovery and reduces responsiveness. For many companies, identifying and validating new suppliers can take four to six weeks. Leading teams have started to reduce this timeline by 50 to 70 percent by integrating AI-driven supplier scans, pre-filtering based on key criteria, and involving analysts only when high-quality leads are surfaced. - Growing Expectations with Limited Resources
Procurement teams are expected to deliver insights faster and act as strategic partners across R&D, manufacturing, and quality. However, most teams are working with the same or smaller budgets compared to 2022. Traditional research models are too slow and costly to meet today’s needs. There is now a clear push toward leaner, outcome-focused intelligence models that reduce turnaround time and improve decision-making at a lower cost per insight.
How Leading Teams Are Responding with Cognition
Procurement teams are working with Cognition to address these challenges using an AI-first model supported by pharma-trained analysts. Our proprietary tools scan thousands of suppliers, price points, certifications, and trend indicators in real time. This reduces early-stage research effort by 50 to 60 percent. Our analysts then validate the outputs, conduct interviews, and tailor recommendations to client priorities.
As a result, clients have reduced external research costs by up to 45 percent, cut time-to-decision by three to four weeks, and improved supplier onboarding outcomes across key categories. Cognition combines speed, accuracy, and pharma-specific expertise in one integrated support model.
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