For months now we’ve been hearing all about how artificial intelligence can change pharma and healthcare, from expediting R&D to diagnosing patients at home, and so for this month’s issue we thought that we’d take an in-depth look at what has to be the most exciting technological trend in the industry right now (p20).

But it’s important to remember the patient in amongst all this talk of machines. On p30 we ask whether pharma is truly walking the patient centric walk despite years of talking the talk, and if not, what it can do to get there. On that subject, we have exclusive comment from Dr Oleksandr Gorbenko, director, global patient affairs of ViiV (p45) reflecting on the company’s second year in a row at the top of the PatientView corporate reputation survey and how pharma can instil trust in an industry that has historically been out of favour with the public.

It’s an important year for the PharmaTimes competitions, as later this year we’ll be celebrating Marketer of the Year’s 25th anniversary. To mark this momentous milestone we catch up with some past winners and take a look at how pharma marketing has changed on p36. MOY and its sister competition Communications Team of the Year are both now open for entry, so don’t miss your chance to enter at pharmatimes.com/competitions. And don’t forget that tickets are on now sale for 2018’s International Clinical Researcher of the Year competition!