Consumer health giant Haleon has tapped Microsoft to incorporate AI across its operations, joining a growing wave of healthcare and life sciences heavyweights turning to Big Tech to execute enterprise-wide digital overhauls.
Under a new five-year agreement, Haleon plans wider adoption of AI-powered tools to help employees “automate routine tasks, collaborate more effectively and focus on higher-value work,” the London-based company said in a July 1 announcement days after Microsoft revealed the deal. The Advil maker already used Microsoft 365 Copilot before the latest relationship upgrade.
Haleon will apply Microsoft’s AI to several business functions, including consumer insights, innovation, supply chain and commercial execution.
“This will ultimately enable Haleon to deliver better everyday health to consumers globally, for example, through faster scientific research and clinical content development, enhanced marketing content creation and personalization, and improved forecasting and decision-making across the business,” the company said.
Through Microsoft’s agentic AI, security and identify capabilities, Haleon hopes to strengthen its infrastructure in a secure and responsible manner. Pointing to Microsoft Azure and Copilot, Haleon expects to benefit from “strengthened identity, governance and threat protection to help safeguard data, systems and AI-powered workflows.”
“By combining Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities with Haleon’s deep consumer health expertise, we’re accelerating our AI progress—simplifying how we work, unlocking more value from our data, accelerating innovation and helping our teams make faster, smarter decisions to benefit our consumers,” Claire Dickson, Haleon’s chief digital and technology officer, said in a statement.
As part of a “Win as One” strategy unveiled in May 2025, Haleon aims to serve a billion more consumers by 2030, on top of the 1.4 billion it has already reached.
Under that initiative, the GSK spinoff reorganized its regional structure into six operating units this year. It also created a new chief growth officer role with broad responsibility across existing commercialization and strategy functions, and appointed a new chief transformation officer to coordinate the restructuring across business processes, operating model and technology changes.
Haleon’s collaboration with Microsoft marks the latest example of a multinational health giant overhauling its operating model for the AI era. It follows similar deals across the biopharma sector, including Bristol Myers Squibb’s partnership with Anthropic, Merck & Co.’s potential $1 billion enterprise AI pact with Google, Novo Nordisk’s tie-up with OpenAI, and Eli Lilly’s and Roche’s AI infrastructure collaborations with Nvidia.