What We Heard at PDA Week 2026: A Data-Driven Session Analysis

A short analysis of the sessions attended by George Kwiecinski and Zephaniah Odidika at PDA Week 2026 in Denver, CO, March 22-27, 2026.

Purpose

George and Zeph attended PDA Week 2026 focused specifically on AI and quality-adjacent sessions, to assess how well industry conversation aligns with what we are building at KeyPedia and GKS.

Methods

We took the text descriptions of each session we attended at PDA Week and ran keyword frequency and cluster analysis across them. No transcripts, recordings, or slides, only session abstracts as a clean, unbiased signal of what topics were on the table at the Parenteral Drug Association's premier annual event.

Results

Keyword frequency across attended sessions (n=23), grouped by thematic domain.

Topic cluster analysis of attended sessions via TF-IDF, PCA, and K-Means (k=6) -- six distinct thematic groupings across 23 sessions.

As confirmed, our session selection aligned tightly with our interests. AI, Quality, and Regulatory were by far the most cited terms across everything we attended. Three things stand out from the data:

• Frequency followed an exponential decay curve. AI and Quality dominated heavily, with a long tail of supporting concepts including Data Integrity, GMP, and Supply Chain Risk.
• Digital transformation and AI terms clustered tightly. "Data," "analytics," "automation," and "digital" moved together, confirming these are no longer separate conversations in pharma quality.
• Human factors showed up more than expected. Behavioral science, training, workforce, and culture surfaced as a meaningful secondary cluster, reflecting the industry's recognition that technology alone does not drive compliance.

Discussion

We will post our full session notes and takeaways in the near term. Three takeaways are already clear:

1. The maturity curve on AI in pharma has shifted. Education, case studies, and honest reflection around AI projects has substantially increased. The conversation has moved from "should we?" to "how do we govern it responsibly?" PDA Technical Reports, including TR80 on Data Integrity and TR84 on Manufacturing Data Integrity, provide useful context as the regulatory framework continues to evolve.

2. The PDA Whiteboard is worth watching. This new PDA program lets practitioners rate and surface what matters most in the document review landscape. Continuous advancement driven by practitioners, not just institutions, is exactly what the industry needs.

3. It is exciting to see PDA adopting mediums beyond the traditional lecture format. Posters, workshops, and working groups are exactly what continued advancement in pharma AI and quality systems requires, and PDA Week 2026 showed real momentum in that direction.

What's Next

Full notes and session takeaways coming shortly. In the meantime, explore KeyPedia, our AI-powered regulatory intelligence platform, or read our peer-reviewed research on FDA GMP inspection trends, published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Innovation (Springer Nature, 2026).

You can also browse KeyPedia Lite for free access to our regulatory data, or request a demo to see the full platform.

Follow GKS on LinkedIn for the full PDA Week debrief.

Note: This analysis reflects only the sessions attended by George and Zeph. It is not a full-conference analysis. Session selection was intentional and focused on AI and quality-adjacent tracks at PDA Week 2026.