IQVIA Holdings Inc.

Market position and competition · Competitive pressure and market share loss

The biopharmaceutical services industry is highly competitive and our business could be materially impacted if we do not compete effectively or rapidly adapt to technological change. Our business often competes with other biopharmaceutical services companies, internal discovery departments, development departments, sales and marketing departments, information technology departments and other departments within our clients.

Strategic execution · Joint venture and partnership risks

We believe the risk of loss or delay of multiple contracts potentially has greater effect where we are party to broader partnering arrangements with global biopharmaceutical companies. Our existing or future relationships with our biopharmaceutical clients may therefore deter other biopharmaceutical clients from using our services or may result in our clients seeking to place limits on our ability to serve other biopharmaceutical industry participants.

Market position and competition · Pricing pressure and margin compression

Increased competition has led to price and other forms of competition, such as acceptance of less favorable contract terms, that could adversely affect our operating results. The emergence of the use of Real World Evidence and the advancements in new approaches such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI)... may cause even greater price competition and/or reduce the perceived differentiation of certain of our information, analytics and insight-based offerings.

Customer and revenue · Revenue concentration in specific products or segments

We may be adversely affected by client or therapeutic concentration. Additionally, conducting multiple clinical trials for different clients in a single therapeutic class involving drugs with the same or similar chemical action has in the past and may in the future adversely affect our business if some or all of the clinical trials are canceled because of new scientific information or regulatory judgments that affect the drugs as a class.

Innovation and product development · Intellectual property protection and infringement

Our success depends, in part, upon our ability to develop, use and protect our proprietary methodologies, analytics, systems, technologies and other intellectual property. We rely upon a combination of trade secrets, confidentiality policies, nondisclosure, invention assignment and other contractual arrangements, and patent, copyright and trademark laws, to protect our intellectual property rights.

Human capital and workforce · Talent acquisition and retention

If we lose the services of key personnel or experience sustained labor shortages and are unable to recruit additional qualified personnel, or we are required to substantially increase wage rates to attract or retain employees, our business could be adversely affected. There is significant and increasing competition for qualified personnel, particularly those with higher educational degrees, such as a medical degree, a Ph.D. or an equivalent degree, cutting-edge skillsets, such as AI and machine learning.

Project and contract management · Project execution and delivery risks

Our financial results may be adversely affected if we underprice our contracts, overrun our cost estimates or fail to receive approval for or experience delays in documenting change orders. Most of our Research & Development Solutions contracts are either fee for service contracts or fixed-fee contracts.

Geopolitical and trade · Regulatory and policy uncertainty

Due to the global nature of our business we are subject to international economic, political and other risks that could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition. The United States or foreign countries have and could continue to enact legislation or impose regulations or other restrictions, including unfavorable labor regulations, tax policies, trade barriers, tariffs, or economic sanctions.

Natural and catastrophic events · Climate change and environmental impact

Environmental events may have an impact on our business. While we have determined that, at this time, environmental events do not present a material risk to our business given the nature of our activities, we continue to evaluate and mitigate our business risks associated with environmental events, and we recognize that there are inherent climate-related risks wherever business is conducted.

Geopolitical and trade · International conflicts and tensions

Natural disasters, public health emergencies and pandemics, or international conflict, such as the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, or terrorist acts, could interrupt our services, endanger our personnel, lower patient visits and increase patient drop-out rates, cause delays in recruitment of new patients.

Economic and market conditions · Credit market conditions

Disruptions in the credit and capital markets and unfavorable general economic conditions could negatively affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Although we are unable to quantify the impact it has had on us, we are aware of a limited number of instances in our Research & Development Solutions business during the past several years where cancellations, changes in scope and failure to pay timely were attributable, at least in part, to difficulty in our clients' ability to obtain financing.

Cybersecurity and data protection · Insider threats and access controls

The size and complexity of our IT and information security systems, and those of our vendors (and the large amounts of confidential information that is present on them), make such systems potentially vulnerable to service interruptions or to security breaches from inadvertent or intentional actions including, but not limited to, by our employees, contingent workers, service providers, business partners, customers or malicious attackers.

Digital transformation and innovation · Artificial intelligence and automation

We are investing significantly in our AI strategy by launching AI-enabled solutions across our business units, developing AI agents for internal use and external offerings, and developing relationships with key strategic partners across the health-tech sector. The development, deployment, and commercialization of certain AI-enabled offerings and services involve significant uncertainty, including risks that models may not perform as intended, may produce incomplete, misleading, or biased outputs, or may not be adopted by customers at the pace or scale we expect.

Information management · Information systems and reporting

We have continued to undertake significant programs to optimize business processes with respect to our services. Our inability to effectively manage the implementation and adapt to new processes designed into new or upgraded systems in a timely and cost-effective manner may result in disruption to our business and negatively affect our operations.

Cybersecurity and data protection · Third party data security and vendors

Some of our vendors have significant responsibility for the security of certain of our data centers and computer-based platforms or Software-as-a-Service ('SaaS') applications upon which our businesses rely to host or process data or to perform various functions. These third parties face risks relating to cyber security similar to ours, which could disrupt their businesses and therefore materially impact ours.

International and currency · Foreign exchange and currency exposure

Because a large portion of our revenues and expenses are denominated in currencies other than the United States dollar and our financial statements are reported in United States dollars, changes in foreign currency exchange rates could significantly affect our results of operations and financial condition.

International and currency · International operations and emerging markets

Our business is subject to international economic, political and other risks that could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition. We have significant operations in countries that may require complex arrangements to deliver services throughout the world for our clients.

Tax and financial reporting · Tax compliance and changes in tax law

Our effective income tax rate may fluctuate for a variety of reasons, which may adversely affect our operations, earnings and earnings per share. Our effective income tax rate is influenced by our projected profitability in the various taxing jurisdictions in which we operate.

Data and privacy · Regulatory investigations and penalties

If we fail to perform our services in accordance with contractual requirements, regulatory standards and ethical considerations, we could be subject to significant costs or liability. Regulatory agencies may take action against us for failure to comply with applicable regulations governing clinical trials or sales and marketing practices. Such actions may include sanctions, such as injunctions or failure of such regulatory authorities to grant marketing approval of products, delay, suspension or withdrawal of approvals, license revocation, product seizures or recalls, operational restrictions, civil or criminal penalties or prosecutions.

Reputation and brand · Corporate social responsibility

The expectations and requirements of regulators and other key stakeholders on sustainability-related matters, continue to evolve and diverge, and our ability to meet these expectations and requirements could increase our costs, and inaction could harm our reputation and adversely impact our financial results.