AXS25: Health Policy, Drug Costs, and AI Highlights From the Conference

This year, Asembia’s AXS25 Summit took place between April 27 and May 1, 2025, in Las Vegas. Nevada. More than 8000 attendees from over 1400 companies gathered to share perspectives and gain insights on key topics and trends impacting the pharmaceutical industry.

Asembia’s AXS25 Summit covered a variety of relevant topics in the pharmaceutical industry. | Image credit: Image credit: Right 3 - stock.adobe.com

Trump’s First 100 Days

In the first 100 days of President Donald J. Trump’s new administration, significant policy shifts have begun reshaping health care and federal governance, with a strong focus on tax cuts, immigration, and major workforce reductions—including 20,000 layoffs at HHS.¹ In the session, “The First 100 days: Key Insights on the New Administration and Congress,” policy experts highlighted how the administration has deprioritized health care reform compared with Trump's first term, instead emphasizing regulatory rollbacks, restructuring HHS, and executive actions reversing Biden-era policies.

“I think a lot of what we're learning is in public news reports [and] in anecdotal reports,” said Ashley Flint, a principal in the policy practice, Avalere Health. “I think that's going to be something that continues to unfold in the coming days, weeks, and months. The second piece that we alluded to, that I will call out, is the drug pricing executive order that we saw about 2 weeks ago. Now, I think this is really the first comprehensive opportunity we've seen the new administration put all of their ideas together in 1 place on drug pricing.”

Key health-related developments include an executive order on drug pricing aimed at enhancing Medicare negotiations and addressing anticompetitive practices, a Commerce Department–led investigation into pharmaceutical tariffs, and significant Medicaid reforms as part of a broader budget reconciliation strategy to cut spending and extend Trump-era tax cuts

Additionally, the administration is poised to influence the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, particularly in shaping Medicare drug price negotiations for 2026 through 2028, raising operational and access concerns for patients and providers.

AI’s Role in Pharmacy

Artificial intelligence (AI) played an overarching role in many of the topics of discussion at ASX25. In a session titled, “AI and Its Impact on Healthcare and Pharmacy - an Introduction,” Harry Travis, president of The Travis Group, shared how AI is poised to dramatically reshape the pharmacy landscape, with the potential to reduce pharmacy workloads by up to 75%.²

“Every prescription, regardless of how complicated it is or how simple it is, has to go through a set of steps to get from receipt of the prescription to the hands of the patient,” said Travis. “If you look at every one of those steps in the cold light of an engineering point of view, every step is a technician or a service rep answering questions, moving that file down the line.”

During a panel discussion, pharmacy leaders discussed the expanding role of telehealth and AI in meeting evolving patient needs.³ Panelists emphasized telehealth’s value in increasing access to timely care but noted that state regulations and administrative burdens still limit the full potential of such models. Looking ahead, the panel agreed that AI will be essential in streamlining health care delivery—enhancing decision-making, reducing administrative workloads, and supporting more personalized patient care.

Similarly, in a session titled, “How the ‘Patient-as-Payer’ Era Is Transforming Patient Access & Affordability,” panelists underscored the potential of AI and technology in addressing the growing burden patients face in a “patient-as-payer” system.⁴ As prescription costs soar and coverage becomes more restrictive, the need for tech-enabled, coordinated solutions is increasingly urgent.

Experts emphasized that technologies like AI can streamline patient support services, automate enrollment and consent processes, and create more seamless, retail-like experiences at the pharmacy counter. By integrating data across the health care ecosystem, these innovations can help identify gaps in care, personalize affordability support, and ensure patients stay on therapy.

"I've been really inspired by many of our partners and many of the CEOs, the innovators using not only AI, but other solutions as well,” said John Daly, head of North America patient support services, Sanofi. “How do we integrate this into physician workflow? How do we make this easier to enable the providers, RSQ [regulatory, scientific, and quality] partners, all across the chain? How do we make it easier in the workflow to make sure these solutions are at their fingertips and ultimately enable the patients to start and stay on therapy?”

References

1. Steinzor P. Trump’s first 100 Days: workforce cuts, drug pricing, and Medicaid reform. AJMC^®. April 29, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/trump-s-first-100-days-workforce-cuts-drug-pricing-and-medicaid-reform

2. Steinzor P. AI could cut pharmacy workloads by 75%, says Harry Travis. AJMC. April 29, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/ai-could-cut-pharmacy-workloads-by-75-says-harry-travis

3. Steinzor P. Pharmacy leaders discuss innovation and patient-centered care at Asembia’s AXS25 Summit. AJMC. April 29, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/pharmacy-leaders-discuss-innovation-and-patient-centered-care-at-asembia-s-axs25-summit

4. Steinzor P. Drug affordability challenges in the “patient as payer” era. AJMC. May 1, 2025. Accessed May 6, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/drug-affordability-challenges-in-the-patient-as-payer-era