Servier is an independent pharmaceutical group with approximately €7 billion in revenue and 20,000 employees around the world. Operating in over 130 countries, Servier helps to drive therapeutic progress by investing close to 20% of their revenue from brand-name medicines in R&D each year. Servier’s particular focus is on two therapeutic areas: the cardiovascular and metabolic markets, alongside innovative treatments for rare diseases in oncology and neurology.

To drive progress in these fields, Servier relies on its team of about 6,000 medical representatives to educate doctors and help them choose the right medication for the right patient. These representatives, who are often trained pharmacists or scientists, prioritize scientific support and information sharing over traditional promotion. This ability to build a relationship of trust with healthcare professionals is what truly sets Servier apart in the market.

Challenge: Maximizing the impact of medical visits and optimizing training

Establishing this relationship of trust with healthcare professionals is essential, yet doctors have increasingly less time for medical representatives, often limiting visits to a brief window of one to five minutes. Within this short timeframe, representatives must concisely explain complex medical concepts while navigating an expanding product portfolio and growing competitive pressure.

To succeed, representatives need practice. Yet, traditional role-playing and training methods are constrained by limited resources and a lack of manager availability. Representatives spend about 85% of their time working alone in the field and receive only a few refresher training sessions each year. Consequently, they receive infrequent feedback and lack the highly personalized, practical role-play scenarios necessary to perfect their pitches.

Solution: MedtrAIner, a GenAI-powered platform for immersive training and coaching

To overcome these barriers, Servier partnered with Artefact and Google to design MedtrAIner, an interactive training & coaching platform where representatives role-play medical visits with an AI avatar. Originating from a Servier hackathon in November 2025, the team accelerated their innovation process to deliver an operational prototype in just eight weeks.

MedtrAIner allows representatives to engage in highly immersive, customizable training with a range of doctor profiles and products, closely simulating the dynamics of a medical visit. The role-play scenarios are rooted in Servier’s real-world data and training practices.

The platform leverages a robust, low-latency technological stack to ensure a seamless real-time experience:

  • Audio processing: the rep’s voice is processed, and the avatar’s response generated, using Gemini Native Audio combined with the LiveKit to minimize latency.
  • Video generation: a lifelike virtual doctor is generated synchronously using the HeyGen avatar provider, with lip-sync matched to the generated audio
  • Context management: The AI is fine-tuned on Servier’s own medical terminology, so interactions stay natural instead of sounding “overtrained.”

“It truly puts AI at the service of employees, helping them grow and advance their careers.” – Paul de Balincourt, Healthcare Partner at Artefact

Results: Enhanced skills, scalable personalization, and continuous feedback

MedtrAIner gives representatives a way to practice on demand, at their own pace, with instant, detailed feedback. After each session, AI-driven evaluation scores performance across two dimensions:

  • Hard skills: product knowledge and messaging
  • Soft skills: ability to handle various reactions from healthcare professionals

Servier’s strategic ambition is to develop its business by developing its talent. By aiming to provide six times more targeted practice per representative, the solution aims to reinforce patient and healthcare provider engagement, ultimately driving sales growth.

Currently in pilot testing across two countries, the target vision for 2027 is to deploy the solution at scale to over 6,000 medical representatives across more than 50 affiliates.

“We use AI to enhance human capabilities; we use AI to create AI applications faster. This allows us to accelerate innovation at every level.” – Maryia Touzet, Head of Data & AI Product HCP & Patient Engagement at Servier