Article Highlights
Alphanumeric Systems is using human-led, AI-powered solutions to help pharma and biotech clients respond to tighter budgets, faster timelines and regulatory complexity.
The company supports clients across the life sciences value chain, including patient services, commercialization readiness, medical communications, regulatory support and KOL engagement.
Its Research Triangle headquarters provides access to a strong biotech, life sciences and technology talent ecosystem, while global smart-shoring expands delivery capabilities.
CEO Randy Trice emphasizes that AI should enhance productivity, quality and insight while preserving human judgment, empathy and accountability.
If you would like to watch the interview with the Triangle Business Journal: https://bit.ly/4wBGigu
The below article was created and distributed by the Triangle Business Journal.
While the pharmaceutical industry contends with major challenges this year, Raleigh-based Alphanumeric Systems is using AI-powered solutions to help clients through times of disruption. “We use AI-powered solutions to help clients respond to the pressures shaping 2026, including tighter budgets, faster timelines, regulatory complexity and the need to do more with less,” says Randy Trice, CEO of Alphanumeric Systems. “Our focus is on practical use cases that allow us to improve productivity, enhance the decision-making process and streamline service delivery across the life sciences value chain. The goal is not AI for its own sake. It is AI that helps move clients faster, improves quality for the company and stays competitive in this fast-moving world.”
The pharmaceutical industry is contending with significant disruption this year, driven by expiring patents of major blockbuster drugs, expanded government price negotiations, and U.S. tariff pressures.
For companies launching a new therapy, expanding access programs or supporting patients though ongoing care, Alphanumeric Systems provides a bridge to healthcare providers, patients, caregivers and consumers through tailored communication solutions to support every phase of a product’s lifecycle.
Being headquartered in the Research Triangle, which consistently ranks as a top four hub for biotech and life sciences, gives Alphanumeric access to one of the strongest life sciences and technology talent ecosystems in the country, Trice says.
“The region’s concentration of pharma, biotech, digital health and AI expertise makes it easier to recruit people who understand the complexity of our clients’ environment,” he says. “It also creates natural adjacencies to innovation partners, universities, startups and established global life sciences companies, which strengthens our ability to collaborate and grow.”
The challenge in the region is competition for highly specialized talent, especially AI talent. “Competition is fierce and it’s a competitive market. We work very hard on developing people with the right training and right culture giving them career growth, so they see a long-term vision with Alphanumeric.”
Part of Alphanumeric Systems’ growth strategy is the adoption of AI tools to aid in delivering a full spectrum of life sciences and healthcare communication services, including medical and scientific communications, regulatory support, contact center services, KOL engagement and facilities management. “From early-stage biotech companies to those who are all the way through to commercialization, we can help those companies reach their goals,” Trice says.
That assistance includes giving clients scalable support across patient services, commercialization readiness, technology enablement and global process design. “We understand that these companies need flexibility – particularly the smaller ones – and they need speed and they need cost discipline. We tailor solutions to that end, not just to their industry.”
AI-powered tools can help with those goals, Trice says, but that hardly means AI tools are overtaking work that is best done by people. “Human-led, AI-powered means technology should enhance, not replace the human experience,” Trice says. “As the CEO of Alphanumeric, I see my role as making sure AI improves speed, consistency and insight while our people continue to provide judgement, empathy and accountability. That type of culture is very high-touch from the leaders within Alphanumeric. We believe in that wholeheartedly. We treat AI as a force multiplier for our people, not as a substitute to our people.”
Finding the right balance between what’s best handled by AI and what’s best handled by people is a balance that most businesses will be weighing for some time, he says.
Another part of Alphanumeric System’s growth strategy is expanding its footprint with additional global locations with local oversight. The company is headquartered in Raleigh with offices in Pennsylvania and around the world in Canada, Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Trice says the company is especially interested in locations that support a smart global delivery model. “It’s in a country that has natural talent within that country,” Trice says. “We focus very hard on the people we bring into our business locations and them managing it because they know that society and geography better than anybody else. We try a homegrown approach to expansion in those regions.”
Such smart-shoring allows for global scale with agile and culturally proximate oversight. “We think smart-shoring differentiates us because it blends global scale with local oversight and accountability. Instead of treating outsourcing as a one-size-fits-all model, we match the right work to the right location, to the right leadership structure, and that’s what we think gives the best results to our clients.”
Heading into the second half of the year, Trice says he expects the business to deliver additional solutions to strengthen engagement with clients. “We’re focused on building offerings where the market is headed, not where it is today, especially in AI-enabled service delivery and commercialization support,” Trice says. “Clients and broader communities should expect continued innovation coming from Alphanumeric but with that human-centered approach that defines our brand.”
Learn more about how we can guide you through your unique set of needs @ Alphanumeric.com