Reimagining Chiesi’s early R&D for 2035

Early R&D is under pressure. AI is changing how targets are found. Human-relevant models and virtual patients are starting to challenge animal studies. Climate stress and inequity are reshaping respiratory and special care needs. Geopolitics is fragmenting data and supply chains.

As a mid-sized, B-Corp-minded pharma, Chiesi cannot simply outspend larger players. They wanted to stretch their thinking beyond linear trends and explore the evolving role of pharma in 2035 – not just as a drug supplier, but as a potential steward of systems, outcomes and resilience. They sought to understand what this implies for early R&D: innovation models, organization, future skills, and strategic partnerships.

The key question: How might early R&D need to work in 2035 for Chiesi to still create distinctive value – for patients, planet, people and prosperity?

We designed a foresight process that stretched Chiesi beyond its comfort zone while staying anchored in evidence and real decisions. Together, we mapped 80+ signals of change across the future of R&D. We spoke with external experts (including AI and data governance, diagnostics, microbiology, and health law and equity) to help challenge assumptions from outside pharma.

Together with the Chiesi team, we clustered and prioritized the most promising, risky and uncomfortable shifts, surfacing the uncertainties that truly matter. We developed three “extreme but plausible” 2035 scenarios, and synthesized five strategic directions of travel and no-regret moves.

For Chiesi, the value of the work is not only the scenarios themselves, but how they:

• De-risk long-term bets – by testing R&D strategy, platforms and partnerships against very different but plausible futures before committing resources.

• Align leadership around future skills and organization – using concrete futures and role archetypes to qualify capability and organizational decisions.

• Inform ecosystem strategy – clarifying where Chiesi needs to deepen relationships, and where absence would be risky.

• Support Chiesi’s B-Corp mindset – by making equity, climate resilience and vulnerable patients visible in R&D decisions, not only in access and communication.

The result was not a static report, but a shared map of change and actionable toolkit to support dialogue and decision-making across strategy, R&D and partnerships.