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Accelerating successful digital health startup-pharma partnerships
PharmStars is the pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups, dedicated to driving digital health adoption to improve patient outcomes. We educate and mentor digital health startups seeking engagement with pharma and biotech firms. We are supported by our pharma members who are committed to working with startups that graduate from our accelerator.
PharmStars’ mission is to facilitate and accelerate successful partnerships between digital health startups and pharma, leading to greater success for each and faster adoption of digital health to improve patient outcomes.
9
Cohorts
completed
102
Startups
graduated
99%
Graduation
rate
$950M+
Cumulative
funding
raised by alumni
100+
Pharma Deals
Among first 35 graduates
Digital health has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry and the patient experience. Digital health and pharma firms are eager to engage with one another. Yet both have found it challenging to create successful partnerships.
PharmStars is the only digital health accelerator aimed at bridging the pharma-startup gap to drive greater adoption of digital health. Our 10-week accelerator is designed to prepare startups for more productive engagements with pharma, teaching them how drugs are developed, how pharma is organized, and about the biopharma industry. The program culminates with the Startup Showcase. Startups present their solutions to our pharma members and then have the opportunity to meet individually with them.
Our next cohort is about to launch! Digital health startups with market-ready solutions in our theme area and interested in engaging with pharma, are encouraged to apply. Please refer to our Accelerator Terms for the detailed requirements.
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Across the pharmaceutical industry, firms are focused on improving their efficiency. Pharmas are continually striving to speed up drug development and reduce costs across the entire drug development value chain, from discovery through commercialization. However, these operational enhancements are not the sole objective. Rather, they are the foundation for achieving the pharma industry’s mission: to deliver superior scientific and clinical outcomes to patients and healthcare providers.
The current age of digital innovation and artificial intelligence (AI) provides pharma the opportunity to achieve this dual mandate. Digital solutions offer the ability to address longstanding operational bottlenecks, enabling biopharma firms to create novel therapies faster, cheaper, and with greater clinical impact than ever before. Digital innovations are now also powering enhanced scientific discoveries and patient outcomes.
The PharmStars Spring 2026 cohort theme is “Digital Innovations in Operations and Outcomes.” Applications are welcome from startups with technology that improves pharma’s operational productivity or clinical or scientific results. Startups with digital solutions to enhance drug development efficiency, reduce costs, or deliver improved scientific and clinical outcomes are welcome to apply. Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
Operational Innovations
Outcomes Innovations
Digital health startups with a product or prototype addressing any aspect of the theme are invited to apply by January 25, 2026. For more details and program requirements, please refer to the Accelerator Terms.
December 8
January 25
February 25
March 11-12
March 16 - May 7
Mid-May 2026
The centerpiece of the PharmStars accelerator is PharmaU: a unique, comprehensive educational program. Its three components are a curriculum for startups, mentoring for startups, and "Executive Ed" programming for pharma leadership. PharmaU’s courses are developed and led by PharmStars’ experienced team of former pharma executives with deep expertise in digital health, innovation, and startups.
Courses for startups about how to engage pharma successfully include topics such as:
Individualized coaching from our PharmStars staff on how startups can successfully engage pharma. We guide startups on applying their PharmaU education, from building a compelling value proposition through crafting an effective pharma-oriented pitch.
Workshops and seminars for pharma members, providing insight and peer-to-peer discussions on digital health innovation and startup partnerships.
