ZS named a Leader in 2026 IDC MarketScape for Life Sciences R&D RWD/Real-World Evidence

ZS has been has been named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Science R&D RWD/Real-World Evidence for Data Platforms, Technology Solutions, and Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment (August 2026, IDC # US54122226).

This recognition follows ZS’s recent recognition as a Leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Sciences R&D Strategic Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment (May 2026, IDC #US53009826). We believe recognition like this reinforces our position as a trusted partner helping life sciences organizations connect strategy, data, evidence, AI and technology across the R&D value chain.

SOURCE: IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Sciences R&D RWD/Real-World Evidence for Data Platforms, Technology Solutions and Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment, August 2026, IDC #US54122226.

IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures supplier product, go-to-market and business execution in the short-term. The Strategy score measures alignment of supplier strategies with customer requirements in a 3-5-year timeframe. Supplier market share is represented by the size of the icons.

Why ZS was named a Leader in the IDC MarketScape

IDC MarketScape notes these ZS key differentiators:

• ZS continues to scale its integrated Medical & Evidence practice that delivers connected medical, RWE, and HEOR strategies to accelerate decision-making.
• The vendor connects evidence generation to downstream dissemination, ensuring that the data that is generated supports publications, congress strategies, and field medical execution.
• ZS offers ZAIDYN Medical(its medical intelligence platform), which features OLI for Opinion Leader Intelligence, CGI for Care Gap Intelligence, SMI for Scientific Medical Intelligence, MCE for Medical Customer Engagement for medical science liaisons (MSLs), and POI for Patient Outcomes Impact analysis.
• ZS’s AI-enabled Patient Radar platform identifies hard-to-find rare-disease patients and physicians. ZS reports that it helped accurately diagnose 26 new patients in 12 months for a rare disease organization.
• In Europe, ZS Data Nexus is a proprietary, regulatory-grade RWD access platform, the first RWE solution to achieve Europrivacy certification.
• ZS reports 90% NPS and 97% retention for its RWD/RWE work.
• Its most differentiated asset is the digital Integrated Evidence Planning (IEP) capability, delivered through ZS Evidence Pro. With over 250 IEPs delivered, ZS reports that IEP development time was reduced from 4-5 months per IEP to generating over 30 IEPs in 10 weeks, with a 75% acceptance rate for over 20 protocol recommendations.
• ZS reports that it supported a rare disease biopharma with its end-to-end RWE strategy. Its multidisciplinary team worked across 10 ultra-rare immunology and neurology indications and published 10 manuscripts.
• ZS has partnerships for medtech regulatory strategy with the FDA-incubated not-for profit entity NESTcc, and for payer evidence co-creation with Arine, which uses its AI driven platform to unlock claims and outcomes data.
• Its flexible working model enables ZS to work as a strategic consulting advisor, a client capability builder, or an outsourcing partner, as needed.

“Life sciences organizations are looking for more connected approaches to evidence and decision-making across the product life cycle,” said Rohan Fernando, managing principal of ZS's life sciences R&D and medical practice. “As the industry seeks to generate greater value from real-world data, organizations need better ways to turn evidence into action. Through integrated evidence planning and connected evidence-generation capabilities, we help clients transform RWD into decision-grade insights that informs regulatory, medical and business decisions. We’re honored that IDC MarketScape recognized ZS as a Leader in the Life Sciences R&D RWD/RWE for Data Platforms, Technology Solutions, and Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment.”

ZS’s RWE experience

IDC MarketScape notes ZS “has been offering RWD/RWE solutions for the past two decades and serves about 250 RWD/RWE customers: two-thirds are pharma and over a fourth are medical device firms.”

ZS’s RWD and RWE team includes about 540 people, including 427 data scientists and 10 epidemiologists.

When to consider ZS

“ZS is best suited to organizations that want a single, cross-functional partner that offers industry experts, and platforms and technology solutions, to connect evidence strategy, HEOR, and regulatory RWE. It is particularly suited to those trying to mature their integrated evidence planning process or piloting agentic-AI-enabled evidence workflows. This capability is complemented by ZS’s portfolio of data partnerships, and key partnerships to scale medtech and payer evidence strategy.”

IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Sciences R&D RWD/Real-World Evidence for Data Platforms, Technology Solutions, and Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment (August 2026, IDC #US54122226)

Client perspectives from the IDC MarketScape

Leader of RWE/HEOR, of a global biopharma:

“ZS helped us assess our current data landscape. It performed a gap analysis across our current oncology portfolio, mapped the right data sources, and identified the RWD providers. I am generally very satisfied with the service that ZS has provided. Very agile, responsive, collaborative, very proactive in bringing new ideas. They are a mix of a traditional consulting org and more of an analysis type as well.”

VP of HEOR, of a global biotech:

“We wanted to launch a drug. We worked with them on claims, medical records, and registry data. Their upfront understanding of how to work with this type of data has definitely been their strength. They could recommend which data source would be perfect for our needs. They were responsive—we never had to make the same complaint twice. Bring in new resources quickly. They can work across the value chain. What worked well for us was that they felt like part of the team. They did the highest-quality work within the strategy that we were working on, and worked in a really collegial way.”

Read an excerpt of the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Life Sciences R&D RWD/Real-World Evidence for Data Platforms, Technology Solutions, and Consulting Services 2026 Vendor Assessment (August 2026, IDC #US54122226).