PMRC 2026 Recap: AI, Optimism, and a Newark Airport Tradition Unlike Any Other

If there was one word to describe this year’s PMRC East, it would be energetic. This conference was livelier than any industry event in recent memory. The energy was up, the conversations were candid, and perhaps what was most refreshing was that there was a real sense of optimism about where our industry is headed.

And yes, this energy was present in early February at the Newark Airport Marriott, where the annual pilgrimage is made.

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AI Is Still Front and Center but With More Maturity

Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the agenda. What felt different this year, though, was the tone. The industry seems to be moving past the extreme, neither blind hype nor outright skepticism, and toward a growing consensus. The future isn’t AI or humans. It’s AI plus human insight.

AI is proving to be an incredibly powerful means — but not the end. As researchers, we’re still the ones responsible for interpretation, judgment, and context. The fundamentals of what we do haven’t changed, even if the tools have evolved dramatically.

Indrajit Mitra’s opening remarks captured this perfectly. He pushed back on the idea that AI can do it all noting that while AI is getting smarter and much more opinionated it still can’t replace what humans bring to the table. Things like:

• Hesitation in a respondent’s voice
• Discrepancies between stated and revealed attributes
• Knowing whether an analytical framework actually makes sense

His analogy was spot on. Embrace innovation, advanced analytics, and AI, but manage them the way you’d manage a golden retriever. Eager, energetic, incredibly helpful… and fully capable of toppling the furniture if you don’t keep an eye on it.

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Taking a Look on What the IRA Has – or More Accurately Has Not Accomplished

AI aside, the session that stood out most for me was PhMRA’s Sarah Snyder Rayel’s keynote: “The Inflation Reduction Act: What We’ve Learned and What Could Come Next.”

In a conference heavy on AI, this was a rare non-AI presentation and dare I say, a breath of fresh air. Sarah made a compelling case that the IRA has turned out to be “more price setting than negotiation.” These downstream effects are hard to ignore:

• Part D insurers are offering fewer plan choices, now at the lowest level since the program began, a drop of more than 50%
• Reduced flexibility for beneficiaries, with the impact even more severe for lower-income patients
• The vast majority of patients still face prior authorizations or step-edits, often beyond what the FDA recommends
• Enrollment premiums have increased by 32% over the past year
• Average out-of-pocket costs are also up 32% for medicines that are now price-set in 2026

Much of this ties back to a shift toward coinsurance and the fact that everything is based on list prices — completely ignoring the real-world discounts negotiated through payers and PBMs.

The bottom line? The IRA isn’t working. And arguably, it was never designed in a way that truly could.

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Getting Back to Fundamentals — with More Optimism than Before

If PMRC made anything clear, it’s that AI is here to stay, but it’s not a 1:1 substitute for good research. It’s an accelerant, not a replacement. The real opportunity lies in pairing advanced tools with strong methodology, critical thinking, and human judgment. That combination is what made this year feel different.

A huge thanks to the PMRC organizers for putting together another fantastic event. It was the same place, the same time, the same worn carpeting at the Newark Airport Marriott, but what makes the difference is the colleagues, new and old, who help to motivate us all to get a jump start on the year.