AI, Apple, and ancient wisdom: what’s on my summer reading list…

As I head to the Bavarian foothills for a little downtime (and a few long flights), I’m bringing along a short stack of books that reflect where my head’s been lately: deep in the tech rabbit hole. AI isn’t just another trend, it’s moving faster than we think and I want to stay ahead of it.

In this post, I share a few titles that stood out to me including Mary Meeker’s latest trend report, two very different takes on Sam Altman and OpenAI, a revealing look at Apple’s entanglement with China, and one book on Socrates to help make sense of it all.

If you’re looking for thoughtful, timely reading this summer, maybe something here will resonate with you too.

Cheers,
Harry

P.S. And Terry Pappy shares a classic sleeper movie you should check out. (Read more below)

Terry’s summer movie pick

Robot & Frank foretells a future we could be experiencing very soon

With all the hub-bub about AI, robotics, and sentient AI fears, there’s nothing more real than a story that will touch your heart and resonate on multiple levels. Even if the supporting character is…a robot.

At least that’s what Robot & Frank did for me when I first saw the movie in 2012. I recently re-watched this classic sleeper and it took on a whole new meaning. With what we’ve been seeing with the implementation of AI in healthcare discoveries around diagnosis, treatment planning, drug discovery, research and the early detection of chronic illness (see below), Robot & Frank made me think about the life challenges of dementia and Alzheimer’s in a more hopeful way.

These applications are where I have the greatest anticipation for breakthroughs that help humanity. Not just how it’s changing the workplace and our overall efficiencies, but how it can truly bring about advances in medicine and wellness we can all benefit from.

Watch the trailer for Robot & Frank and catch it as a rental on Apple TV or stream on Starz. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did, and a second time if you’ve already seen it. It’s worth it.

—Terry

Medical breakthroughs advanced with AI

AI in healthcare: recent breakthroughs that will shape the future of diagnosis and treatment

As AI reshapes every industry, these recent healthcare applications highlight its real-world impact from risk prediction and diagnostics to workflow optimization and documentation.

• FDA clears first AI tool to predict 5‑year breast cancer risk from mammograms. The FDA authorized an AI-powered mammography platform that predicts a woman’s five-year breast cancer risk based on imaging alone, an early intervention tool for proactive care.

• Circadian AI app detects early signs of heart failure in 7 seconds.

  A 14-year-old innovator developed Circadian AI, a smartphone-based pre-screening tool that analyzes heart sounds via microphone and cloud AI to identify heart failure and valve issues.

• FDA completes first AI-assisted scientific drug review. The FDA piloted generative AI tools to speed up internal drug evaluations—cutting tasks that previously took days down to minutes. The agency plans a full rollout by June 30, 2025.

• “Elsa:” FDA launches agency-wide AI assistant for efficiency. The FDA internally introduced “Elsa,” a generative AI assistant for reviewers to investigators to streamline workflows and enhance agency effectiveness.

• Multimodal AI enhances personalized cancer treatment.
  Researchers at the University Hospital Essen and partners developed an AI model that integrates medical history, labs, imaging, and genetics to tailor cancer therapy. By analyzing 350 data points, the system supports precision decisions in oncology.

• AI test predicts which men benefit from prostate cancer drug. A collaborative AI tool developed by US, UK, and Swiss researchers helps identify prostate cancer patients most likely to respond to abiraterone. In a trial with 1,000+ men, it reduced five-year mortality risk from 17% to 9% in biomarker-positive patients—with no benefit seen in others

These applications showcase AI’s expanding role in healthcare breakthroughs from early warning systems and precision therapeutics to optimized drug utilization. They offer a clear path to improved patient outcomes, smarter prescribing, and better resource allocation.

Yes, even conferences are on summer break

We’re into the full swing of summer and there aren’t many specialty pharmacy and related industry conferences until we get back to the fall and year-end conference season. The only conference we have on our event calendar is the NACDS Total Store Expo happening August 23-25 in San Diego, CA. Click here to learn more and register.

September revs things back up with PBMI, NASP Annual, and the PCMA Annual Meeting. But the RxRoundtable Member Events are still happening throughout the summer.

Summer RxRoundtable Member events

What’s on tap for our upcoming summer RxRoundtable Member-only events:

• RxRoundtable Hot Topic 🔥 June 11, 2025 4-5PM EST—This month’s Hot Topic will be a RxRoundtable Professional Member panel comprised of Nancy Hedlund, Doug Safford, and David Hummel, with special guest John Boos, facilitated by Harry Travis. The discussion will focus on AI and how you can use it to increase your AI IQ.

• Thursday RxRoundtable Session June 19, 2025 4-5PM EST—The CEO of TheracosBio, Brian Connelly, will share how TheracosBio launched the lowest cost oral type 2 diabetes medication (SGLT2 Inhibitor) Brenzavvy. You will want to hear how they are trying to burst the gross-to-net bubble and showcase how we can help.

• Tuesday RxRoundtable Session July 1, 2025 4-5PM EST—Today, Ema Product’s Anshul Gupta will showcase how Ema “AI workers” take the pain out of pharmacy operations. Think of Ema as a control-room that taps into 100+ AI models and 200+ ready-made helper agents, so it can work fast, stay accurate, while guarding your data like Fort Knox​.

More to come in July including the state of prescription digital therapeutics with Michael Pace and an overview of Iluria Health with Co. Founder & CEO Hagay Levy.

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