What are the key growth drivers for life sciences firms in 2025?

Heading into 2025, healthcare and life science companies will need to view patients as a whole person in order to better compete in the market, according to a recent report from Deloitte.

Released this week, the life sciences and healthcare 2025 outlook examined trends expected to dominate the industry next year.

Kulleni Gebreyes, U.S. life sciences and healthcare industry lead at Deloitte, pointed out that about a quarter of consumers don’t believe they have access to high-quality healthcare, resulting in almost half of them skipping treatment or care in the last year.

As a result, many healthcare consumers have “grown accustomed” to gaps in their care, she wrote. 

One major factor preventing them from access is the high cost of healthcare and medical devices, while another is the rising costs of pharmaceutical drugs.

Looking ahead to next year, filling those gaps will require healthcare and life sciences companies to view consumers as more than just patients. Also, the report suggested that these firms will need to engage in strategic partnerships, tap into women’s health as a growth opportunity and rely on consumers as “catalysts for change.”

Patients are also more likely to seek medications directly from the manufacturer than before, which means direct-to-consumer (DTC) communications will become even more important in 2025.

“Organizations that understand consumers’ preferences and prioritize consumer choices are likely to be better positioned to adjust their business strategy and capture market share in the coming year,” Gebreyes said in a statement. “[O]rganizations that are unable to harness the growing wave of consumerism and convergence risk losing market share and margin.”

Here are some of the main takeaways from the Deloitte outlook for 2025.

Consumers are more than patients

The notion of the empowered patient is nothing new. People are more exposed to health content online than ever before and often come armed with information — good or bad — to their doctor appointments.

How healthcare and life science companies view those patients continues to change rapidly, according to Gebreyes.

“They are more than just enrollees of a health plan,” she wrote. “They are more than just users of a medical device or prescription drug. We are all human beings who sometimes need healthcare services, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.”

She encouraged life sciences companies to instead view patients as consumers who are looking beyond traditional care models to meet their specific needs. 

For example, past Deloitte data found that 24% of consumers are ready to switch doctors if they don’t offer virtual visits.

Other consumers have already made the switch to compounding pharmacies, or cheaper alternatives, amid ongoing drug shortages. Some consumers have been resourceful in reusing old medical devices to avoid shelling out more money for new ones.

The empowered patient is a catalyst for the industry, Gebreyes pointed out, as several pharma and medical device manufacturers — namely Eli Lilly and Pfizer — have launched their own direct-to-consumer platforms to make it easier for patients to receive their care.

“As convenient, affordable and consumer-focused products and services become more prevalent, incumbent life sciences and healthcare organizations could lose margin if they are unable to meet consumers where they are,” Gebreyes wrote.

In line with that, Gebreyes expects more DTC efforts to flourish next year, underscoring the potential for Lilly’s LillyDirect platform and Pfizer’s PfizerForAll offering.

Convergence

Industry convergence will also be a key trend in 2025.

Healthcare startups, for example, have already begun to bridge the gap between what consumers want and what the life sciences industry currently offers.

This could prove to be a lucrative market, the report suggested, as consumers are increasingly spending more money on non-traditional healthcare products and services. Between 2021 and 2024, they spent up to $550 billion on them, according to Deloitte data.

Some recent examples of convergence in healthcare include Atrium Health partnering with Best Buy to boost its hospital-at-home services.

“Consumers appear to be investing in their health,” Gebreyes said in a statement. “Opportunities to connect organizations within and outside of traditional life sciences and healthcare with our industry incumbents can make healthcare more affordable, more accessible, more equitable and more reflective of the experiences consumers deserve and need to live longer, healthier lives.”

Opportunities in women’s health

In recent years, brands have been paying more attention to women’s health — and recognizing the financial power that women increasingly hold as consumers.

That’s why Gebreyes believes in 2025, women’s health will continue to be a growth opportunity. 

Life sciences and healthcare leaders should move away from one-size-fits-all models of care, which have historically been founded on data from men in clinical trials.

It’s also another area where consumers appear to be pushing back against the status quo, she noted. 

“I am seeing changes in consumer products as well as in research and development… and the momentum appears to be growing,” she wrote.