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The Four Hidden Risks of “Data-Driven” DTC Audiences: Solving the Data Lag Dilemma in DTC Audience Segmentation

March 25, 2025 0

Data is at the heart of pharma marketing—and the key to unlocking “right time, right place, right patient” strategies. In today’s highly competitive consumer landscape, it’s not enough to rely on broad demographics, lookalikes, cookies, or other generalized audience approaches. That’s why pharma brands and their agency partners look to real-world medical claims and other available data to build their audience lists for DTC campaigns based on brand eligibility criteria, past prescriptions, and more.

But many marketers overlook (or have come to accept) a key limitation: the inherent data lag in many common sources. For example, real-world claims data can take up to three months to become available. That means your audience segmentations and priorities may not reflect a true picture of the patient landscape at campaign kickoff. This opens the door to four hidden risks that could derail your campaign success.

Risk 1: Patient Journey Misalignment 

Pharma companies often design their marketing strategies to reach patients during specific stages of their healthcare journey—whether it’s raising awareness at the onset of symptoms, targeting those who are newly diagnosed, or providing options as patients seek new treatments for chronic conditions. When audience data is stale, marketing efforts are most likely directed toward the wrong audience at the wrong time, reducing impact and conversion.

Risk 2: Missed Eligibility Windows 

In fast-moving therapeutic areas like oncology, cardiology, or rare diseases, delayed outreach leads to missed opportunities to engage with patients when they are actively seeking or are receptive to treatment options. Patients who could benefit from earlier intervention may have already moved on to other therapies or, worse, the communication may come too late—when they may no longer be eligible for a potentially life-changing treatment.

Risk 3: Competitive Loss 

With multiple pharma brands often vying for the same pool of patients, failing to find and reach qualified patients in a timely way can cost brands the chance to convert patients in immediate need of treatment, and opens the door for competitors to step in.

Risk 4: Reduced Commercial Impact 

Mistimed or misdirected marketing doesn’t just lower NRx rates, but also can result in fewer prescriptions attributed to marketing activity. While outside perception is that pharma marketing budgets are unlimited, the reality is that media spending continues to be heavily scrutinized, and less-than-efficient marketing can threaten future budget allocations.

And these risks aren’t just to your marketing metrics. Failing to connect with your eligible patients, when they have the opportunity to convert to your brand, means marketers miss the chance to educate and empower patients as they navigate an increasingly complex healthcare landscape. And it bears repeating, it also means that patients may miss out on potentially life-changing therapies. But thanks to a combination of human ingenuity, a passion for better health, and yes, AI, there’s a safe and better way to target DTC programs. It’s called an adaptive audience.

What Are Adaptive Audiences?

Adaptive DTC audiences are audiences that automatically prioritize consumer segments throughout a campaign, based on the current volumes of brand-eligible patients. That means they stay fresh in a way that conventional approaches can’t. Instead of “dated” data, adaptive audiences use artificial intelligence, predictive analytics, and human guidance to anticipate when patients are approaching brand eligibility and upcoming care visits.

As a result, media is always optimized to reach the segments with the greatest opportunity for brand conversion. It’s a dynamic approach that reflects patients’ evolving care needs. Here’s how adaptive audiences work:

  • Defining the Ideal Patient Profile: Like standard audience approaches, the first step in an adaptive audience is defining the target population— their conditions and comorbidities, current line of therapy, recent tests and lab values, their treating care team/specialties, and other clinical factors. But alongside standard features like specific ICD10 and NDC codes, it’s also critical to expand your viewpoint to include often-overlooked socioeconomic, behavioral, and media consumption data. After all, despite a common diagnosis, medication history, or clinical profile, every patient is an individual, shaped by their unique experiences.
  • Building a Predictive AI Model: Most conventional audiences stop after the first step – using their patient profile to “find” qualified individuals at campaign start, then prioritizing the segments with the greatest number of patients. Adaptive audiences take a different approach, turning the patient profile into a predictive model. By drawing on many of the same data resources, today’s AI-driven models can accurately predict patients’ future care milestones and upcoming HCP visits.
  • Linking Brand Signals to Hyper-Local Geographies: Once the predictive model is live, it constantly looks for brand eligibility signals, and links those signals to hyper-local geographies comprised of the 35M+ available zip-9s. Based on the desired refresh cadence, marketers can then prioritize the zip-9s with the greatest concentration of signals throughout the course of the campaign. This means media is always focused on the populations with the greatest opportunity for brand conversion—and the greatest treatment need. Because all data is de-identified, and the technology provides just the right amount of strategic “noise” in and around the zip-9, it’s a privacy-safe, compliant approach that doesn’t compromise precision.
  • Personalizing the Media Mix: Every consumer has their own media consumption habits. Rather than relying on demographic generalizations, adaptive audiences look at the preferred channel mix within each “activated” zip-9, then automatically select the most effective tactics from the available options. Again, AI plays a key role—allowing for channel selection to be optimized at scale, while personalized for consumer habits.
  • Ongoing Optimization: Because adaptive audiences are built with embedded AI and machine learning technology, they automatically grow “smarter” over time: refining the predictive model, signal identification, and media deployment based on the data generated from the campaign.

How Does 6x Script Lift Sound?

Taking an adaptive approach offers DTC marketers significant benefits, including increased media efficiency, greater audience penetration, and reduced impression waste. One under-diagnosed neurology brand saw a 75% boost in the number of qualified patients reached and a 92% jump in patient engagement.

But marketing impact is measured in new prescriptions (NRx), and it’s here that the difference is clear. Adaptive audiences drive an average of six times higher script lift than conventional, fixed audience segmentations. By automatically optimizing every media touchpoint for brand conversion, adaptive audiences help brands and consumers thrive in the ever-evolving treatment landscape. More patients receive care-relevant information aligned with their treatment needs, and pharma marketers can demonstrate greater commercial and revenue impact. That’s what we call a win-win, and the right way to be data-driven.

Learn more about OptimizeRx’s adaptive DTC audiences, powered by our Dynamic Audience Activation Platform and Micro-Neighborhood® Targeting technology.

 

 

 

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

The Case for More Drug Advertising: Are FDA Rules Holding Patients Back?

March 18, 2025 0

I recently came across a compelling article by Dr. John Goodman, a renowned economist and healthcare scholar, in Forbes (11/24), titled “What the FDA Gets Wrong About Drug Ads”. In it, Dr. Goodman argues for expanding drug advertising—without the mandatory listing of side effects in commercials.

His reasoning? Underutilization of prescription drugs is leading to widespread undertreatment of serious conditions like diabetes and hypertension. He asserts that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising plays a critical role in patient awareness, prompting people to ask their doctors about potential treatment options. So, if drug ads effectively drive doctor-patient conversations, why not focus on promoting benefits and leave discussions about risks and side effects to the professionals?

The real threat to public health isn’t excessive drug advertising—it’s the overly restrictive regulations that limit the promotion of valuable treatment options.

Dr. Goodman is particularly critical of the FDA’s new requirements (implemented 11/24), which mandate that TV drug ads include supers (on-screen text) matching the voiceover. He argues that this information overload makes it harder for consumers to absorb key messages. Instead, he suggests eliminating side effect disclosures in commercials altogether, allowing pharmaceutical companies to advertise more freely and increase public awareness of treatment options.

The Real Risk? Over-Regulation, Not Overexposure

According to Dr. Goodman, the real threat to public health isn’t excessive drug advertising—it’s the overly restrictive regulations that limit the promotion of valuable treatment options. He also criticizes the FDA’s strict stance on off-label drug advertising, despite the fact that many doctors already prescribe medications for off-label uses.

I completely support Dr. Goodman’s proposal. No other industry is forced to dedicate 50% of ad time to potential risks. Alcohol, fast food, high-speed cars, risky investments, and even over-the-counter medications all have risks—but none are subject to the same regulatory burdens as prescription drugs. Yes, medications can have side effects, but if the goal is to increase treatment adherence and improve public health, then drug companies should be allowed to communicate more freely about their products.

A Sensible Compromise

The FDA is unlikely to completely eliminate fair balance requirements, but a middle ground could be reached. Why not permit simple ads that encourage consumers to ask their doctor if a specific drug is right for their condition? A 15-second ad mentioning a drug and the condition it treats—without an exhaustive list of risks—wouldn’t endanger public health. Instead, these brand-and-condition ads could direct consumers to a website for full safety details.

This approach aligns with the “common sense” messaging that has resonated politically in recent years. The FDA should take a similar view when it comes to drug advertising. If the ultimate goal is to get more Americans treated and adhering to their medications, then allowing pharmaceutical companies to better promote their solutions just makes sense.

Do I think the FDA will move toward deregulation, given Mr. Kennedy’s views? No. But Kennedy is wrong about the negatives of drug advertising. We need to shift the conversation to the positives—because ultimately, more awareness and access to treatment could help make America healthier.

Bob Ehrlich

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

DTC Can Impact Coverage

March 18, 2025 0

One of the effects of DTC advertising is its influence on healthcare providers and insurers. Consumers who see DTC ads, of course, ask their doctors about the advertised drugs. But what’s less discussed is how DTC advertising can influence the formulary decisions made by health insurance companies. Insurers—both private and government-controlled—don’t like DTC ads.

Consumers can be a pesky bunch. Insurers don’t want the public pressuring them to cover more expensive drugs. In some cases, they argue that older drugs are just as effective and much cheaper. In others, they insist that newer drugs need more long-term study before widespread adoption. At the end of the day, insurers and the government want to control which drugs are utilized.

DTC creates awareness of new treatments. Consumers want the best options available and hate being told that the latest drug isn’t on formulary. Those consumers then complain to their elected representatives, who in turn criticize insurers for restricting access. The insurers get painted as callous and greedy. That doesn’t let drug makers off the hook either—they’re criticized for high prices.

DTC creates awareness of new treatments. Consumers want the best options available and hate being told that the latest drug isn’t on formulary.

Weight Loss Drugs: A Case Study in DTC Pressure

A great example of this DTC-driven formulary pressure is the new GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound. Health experts say these drugs could help combat the obesity epidemic. DTC ads for both highlight significant weight loss results. But insurers hate covering these medications, which cost over $1,000 a month. Consumers, meanwhile, are frustrated that only the wealthy can afford them out of pocket. Thanks to DTC, demand has skyrocketed, and the pressure is mounting on insurers to expand coverage.

The Doctor-Patient Dynamic and the Role of DTC

One of the usual criticisms of DTC advertising is that it creates friction between patients and doctors—that patients, uninformed and swayed by marketing, shouldn’t be pressuring doctors to prescribe specific drugs. But there’s another side to this. DTC can also help doctors advocate for coverage when they believe an expensive drug is the best choice for a patient.

DTC as a Consumer Voice in Healthcare

Our healthcare system is a complicated beast, and critics of DTC rarely acknowledge how consumers actually benefit from its influence. The reality is that DTC can help push insurers to cover new treatments faster. Weight loss drugs, for example, will likely see broader coverage sooner rather than later, thanks to the hundreds of millions spent on DTC. At the same time, Lilly and Novo Nordisk will need to lower prices over time to expand access.

We all like to believe that patient care is the top priority when it comes to healthcare coverage. But we know that private insurer profits, government budgets, and drug company pricing all play a role. DTC advertising is one of the few ways consumers can make their voices heard in that equation.

Bob Ehrlich

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From Products to People: Transforming Pharma with Customer-Centricity

March 17, 2025 0

Pharmaceutical companies stand at the crossroads of a transformative era. Traditional product-centric approaches, once the cornerstone of most of pharma’s commercial strategies, are rapidly becoming obsolete. With the imminent patent cliff threatening revenues (The Healthcare Technology Report), fewer blockbusters projected to hit the market (MM&M Online)​, and intensified competition (Fierce Pharma)​, companies recognize the need to put customers front and center. Delivering a superior customer experience can significantly differentiate market leaders from laggards. This transformation isn’t merely a trend but a strategic imperative and a profound opportunity to create more value for all stakeholders. Here’s how we can seize this moment and redefine customer experience across the entire pharma value chain.

It Starts with Defining the Customer

In pharma, the definition of “customer” is multifaceted. Unlike other industries where the customer is the end consumer, pharma faces a unique challenge in identifying its primary customer. Is it healthcare providers, patients, regulators, payers, other stakeholders, or perhaps all of them? The primary customer definition varies significantly depending on the context. Companies must navigate this complex web of stakeholders, each with unique needs, expectations, and roles in the ecosystem. Therefore, a successful transition from product-centric to customer-centric strategies demands a new approach to customer engagement—one focused on enhancing the customer experience by intimately understanding the customer and addressing their nuanced needs.

Core Tenets of Superior Customer Experience

Once we’ve clearly identified our customer, connecting with them authentically to optimize their experience with the company is crucial. This requires embracing the core tenets of customer experience to craft unique engagement journeys for each customer.

  1. Shift in Mindset: Customer experience is not new to pharma; however, with the traditional brand/product silos, customer experience still remains confined within the same product/brand silos. To create a genuinely differentiating experience, we need to break down the silos and elevate experience to the enterprise level. An enterprise is a sum of its portfolio brands. While there may be brand-specific strategies, from the customer’s perspective, in addition to the brand, they’re also interacting with the enterprise as a whole. Therefore, it’s imperative to think of customer experience holistically across all brands. Enterprise-level focus can organically leverage the halo from one brand to another and create a consistent and superior experience. This decoupling and shift in mindset is particularly relevant for multiproduct companies that engage with the same customer across different brands.
  2. Understanding the Customer: A product-centric approach typically aims to ramp up engagement by simply adding more touchpoints across channels rather than optimizing the experience. In contrast, a customer-centric approach aiming to enhance experience focuses on customer journeys rather than disparate touchpoints to deeply understand customers. Companies must adopt an “outside-in” approach to truly grasp what matters. For example, in the case of an HCP, this involves putting the HCP’s needs and experiences at the forefront rather than focusing solely on the brand plan. The objective is to gain a deep understanding of the pivotal moments in the HCP’s journey that influence their overall experience, positive or negative. If the experience was poor, understanding the root cause will help develop an action plan.
    In a recent client engagement, we found that some of the top prescribers in the category weren’t prescribing the client’s drug. The company had categorized them as “skeptics,” averse to prescribing the drug class in general. However, upon probing with a series of “why” questions through personal and digital channels, the root cause was found to be lack of accessible, patient-friendly educational material about the drug and patients’ previous negative experiences with drug switches. With this information uncovered, immediate steps were taken to develop patient-friendly materials, conduct educational webinars, offer targeted patient support and counseling, and connect patients to other patients that had switched. Within months, these prescribers were welcoming reps, requesting samples, and prescribing the drug, as the client had displayed an intent to address a genuine pain point in their practices. Therefore, by identifying and addressing these pivotal moments, we can create authentically meaningful solutions for each physician and enhance their experience with the company and the brand.
  3. Create an Engagement Ecosystem: An authentic customer focus is built on an engagement ecosystem of personal and non-personal channels, with clear understanding of the relative impact of each channel on customer experience. The emphasis should be on creating an “ecosystem” where each channel works in concert with others along with seamless information feedback loops to deliver enhanced customer experience. An engagement ecosystem should decentralize customer ownership where reps are no longer expected to be the ultimate owner of customer relationships. Headquarter roles managing other channels in the ecosystem can own parts of the customer journey. This approach redefines the role of the most expensive channel, i.e., sales reps, so that reps focus on activities that they can uniquely add value to—building trust and relationships by effectively managing customer journeys. Currently, reps handle many low-value tasks that other channels can absorb. Tasks such as basic product information, samples/brochures/promotional materials management, routine HCP enquiries, educational updates, administrative and routine follow-ups, etc., can be handled by lower-cost personnel or non-personal promotion. Thus, leveraging omnichannel strategically to manage customer journeys with reps as key “experience orchestrators” signals customer centricity. Additionally, a lot of contextual client intelligence lies with reps. Tech solutions should be leveraged to capture the invaluable, unstructured intelligence residing with reps and integrate it with intelligence gathered across other channels to create holistic customer views and journeys.
  4. Harmonization Trumps Optimization: The success of any engagement ecosystem depends on carefully crafted omnichannel strategies. While we inevitably lean towards omnichannel today, far too many commercial teams are stuck optimizing touchpoints and customer experiences within a channel. Harmonization suggests that we pay more attention to an individual’s behavioral evolution occurring throughout the engagement ecosystem rather than being fixated on the acute performance of a specific channel. Harmonization cultivates the sustained and cumulative effect of an omnichannel experience, whereas optimization subjugates the experience to the iterative and incremental retooling of a channel. This isn’t to say optimization isn’t important—rather it is simply overweighted relative to harmonization, which runs the risk of creating high-performance touchpoints within a dull, disconnected, ineffective experience.
  5. Create Customer-Centric Metrics: Finally, for any customer-centric strategy to succeed, success KPIs must shift from product metrics such as sales, product volumes, product adoption, etc., to more customer-centric metrics such as customer experience, customer satisfaction, and patient outcomes. While product metrics should remain within the performance calculus, they should be assessed in the context of customer metrics and the larger customer journey.

Strategic Execution

Many companies falter when it comes to the execution of a customer-centric strategy. The transition from strategy to implementation requires a holistic approach:

  1. Break Down Silos: Cross-functional collaboration is essential. Sales, marketing, medical, and account teams must work together with a singular focus on creating a cohesive and unified customer experience.​​
  2. Cultural and Structural Transformation: Adopting a customer-centric mindset requires changes at all levels of the organization. This shift includes upskilling employees, fostering cross-functional collaboration, and realigning incentives to focus on customer outcomes rather than sales metrics​​. A cultural movement towards customer-centricity must be championed at all levels of the organization.​​
  3. Invest in Technology and Analytics: Advanced analytics and AI are table stakes for understanding customer journeys at scale and harmonizing omnichannel to deliver on the customer experience promise. Investing in technology, advanced data integration and management platforms, robust CRM systems, marketing automation tools, etc., is crucial for implementing these capabilities at scale.
  4. Co-Creation with Customers: Engaging customers in developing solutions ensures that their needs are met more accurately. Throughout the process, customers can be involved in participatory design sessions, pilot-testing prototypes, and iterative feedback loops to refine offerings​​.

Putting customers first isn’t just a theoretical idea, it’s a practical necessity. By fostering a customer-first mindset and prioritizing customer experience and satisfaction, pharma companies can drive sustainable growth and catalyze better outcomes for patients, HCPs, and other stakeholders.

Vipul Shrivastava

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A Matter of Trust-Health Information in the Age of Social Media: Who Do Consumers Turn to—and Trust?

March 7, 2025 0

A Shifting Landscape

This morning, you woke up with a mysterious rash. You inspect it, assess your symptoms, ponder it, and then, if you’re like the vast majority of Americans … you Google it. With the internet at your fingertips, information comes at you fast and furious. And with the rise of user-created content on social media platforms served up in bite-sized portions, that information is more accessible—and influential—than ever.

But despite this wellspring of wellness content, many consumers remain wary of misinformation from social influencers. And doctors agree that it’s wise to think twice before you like and subscribe: For example, a 2024 study in Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery found that “most nonmedical influencer-posted TikTok videos about sinusitis are inaccurate, despite being portrayed as medical advice/educational.”

WebMD and The Harris Poll engaged 2,005 U.S. adults in an online survey in April 2024 to learn more about their attitudes toward the health information they get online and via social media platforms. This data can guide best practices for marketers seeking to understand the key question: Who do consumers gravitate toward and hold in high regard for medical advice?

The bottom line: Reliability, transparency, privacy, and trust guide consumers’ clicks when it comes to health content.

1 in 4 Adults Say They Trust Health Information Less Over the Past Year

Searched the Internet for Health-Related Information in the Past 12 Months

88% Total Adults

96% *Pharma Info Seekers

Mean: 11 Times

*Consumers who have sought information on over-the-counter medication, prescription medication, disease symptoms, or immunizations/vaccines on a website.

Trust Trends

Poll data shows that compared to last year, more pharma info seekers frequently rely on health information from health-related and news sites than social media platforms. Overall trust in online health information has dropped, primarily driven by misinformation on social. What specifically is eroding pharma info seekers’ trust?

35% say anyone can post content and claim to be a professional, even if they aren’t.

33% say they don’t know if people are telling the truth or being paid to promote things.

30% say it’s hard to determine what’s true and what’s false.

Privacy concerns are also paramount. As new state privacy regulations continue to take
effect, consumers have increasingly questioned influencers’ and social media platforms’
ability to protect their personal information. For many, opening the door to targeted ads
that concentrate on their chronic condition, for example, is a turnoff.

Privacy Concerns Also Aligned With ​Perceptions Around Ad Targeting

Attitude Among Pharma Info Seekers Toward Health-Related Advertisements​

Top 2 Box % Somewhat/Strongly Agree

75% “When I’m on social media, I don’t want to see ads reminding me of my health conditions.”

68% “I would prefer a random ad not based on my personal or demographic data.”​

Under the Influence

Despite the deluge of health and wellness content, pharma info seekers are much more likely
to follow food, exercise, lifestyle, gaming, and travel accounts than those with a medical focus.
Only 15% of pharma info seekers follow medical professionals, while only 12% follow accounts for special health conditions.

The creators they trust enough to follow attract them with three characteristics:

  • They’re a medical professional.
  • They’re a real expert in the field.
  • They include references and citations.

Clickers are picky for a reason:

68% of pharma info seekers say they often encounter claims that appear to lack medical or scientific review or are from someone with no true credentials.

Most Say Influencers And Creators Are Unreliable Sources of Health-Related Information

Attitude Among Pharma Info Seekers Toward Health-Related Advertisements​

Top 2 Box % Somewhat/Strongly Agree​

85% “Social media influencers/creators are not reliable sources of health-related information.”​

76% “I am skeptical of a brand or product if a social media influencer/creator is endorsing it.”​

Embrace Evolution + Keep Facts at the Forefront

Where We Are:

Social media platforms aren’t going anywhere. Neither are consumers’ desires to seek out advice and education about their chronic conditions. And people want trustworthy, discreet, sound information from experts as they scroll. Despite the rise of health information circulated in social media platforms and from influencers, pharma info seekers are relying more on health websites as a trusted source of health information, with a trust level 3 times higher than social media platforms or influencers. Context is critical for pharma messaging. Pharma info seekers don’t like to be reminded about their conditions when on social media platforms and are averse to being targeted by brands using their personal data.

Health websites have a trust level 3 times higher than social media platforms or influencers.

Where We Go From Here:

Leverage the platforms in use in the language of the user without compromising sound science, says WebMD Chief Medical Officer John Whyte, MD, MPH.

“Less is more. Too often, content providers overwhelm patients with too much information. Instead, they need to focus on nuggets of information. The most successful influencers often create content that is brief in nature, given the attention span of users in those platforms. They then build a following, where people come back to learn more.”

The research was conducted online in the U.S. by The Harris Poll on behalf of WebMD Corporation among 2,005 adults ages 18 and over who reside in the U.S. The survey was conducted April 11–22, 2024.

Data are weighted where necessary by age by gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, employment, household income, and political party affiliation to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within ± 2.6 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

Congress Acts on Telemedicine Drug Advertising Regulation

March 4, 2025 0

The unbalanced playing field between pharmaceutical manufacturers and telemedicine sites selling versions of approved drugs is finally being addressed in Congress. Congress acts on telemedicine drug advertising as senators push for FDA oversight. A number of large telemedicine direct sell sites have emerged in recent years. These sites diagnose, prescribe, and ship versions of popular drugs. When they advertise, they are not currently held to the same regulation as pharmaceutical companies.

Sites like Hims & Hers advertise compounded drugs or the forms of drugs without fair balance requirements. Frequently prescribed categories are weight loss, antidepressants, insomnia, and erectile dysfunction. They are not currently regulated by FDA even though they are manufacturing drugs and advertising them.

Senators Durbin (D-IL) and Marshall (R-KS) are co-sponsoring a bill to require FDA regulation of advertising from these telemedicine sellers.  Pharmaceutical companies have been at a competitive disadvantage because these sites often use compounded versions or created combinations of drugs. Drug companies lose sales because these telemedicine drugs often are priced lower.

Telemedicine sites have made diagnosis, prescription, and fulfillment easy for consumers. The problem is they can make efficacy claims without risk and warning information. Drug makers are held to a much higher standard and therefore have an unfair competitive landscape. These direct sale companies are offering a great perceived benefit for consumers. Answer a few medical questions, get prescribed, and receive the drug by mail. I imagine few consumers are turned down from getting prescriptions under the telemedicine process.

Telemedicine sites have made diagnosis, prescription, and fulfillment easy—but without the same regulatory standards as pharmaceutical companies, is it fair competition?

Congress is worried about inappropriate prescribing and the overpromise of efficacy without fair balance, prompting action on telemedicine drug advertising. Drug makers are concerned that compounders are violating patents and creating versions of their drugs which are not going through rigorous quality controls.

While DTC drug advertising receives lots of criticism, it is the most heavily regulated advertising category. Hopefully, that rigorous regulation will now apply to the burgeoning telemedicine industry.

Bob Ehrlich

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Navigating a Cookieless Future: What Pharma Marketers Need to Know

February 28, 2025 0

Although Google delayed the full phase-out of third-party cookies in Chrome, the digital marketing landscape is still evolving toward a cookieless future. Pharma marketers should utilize this time to refocus on first-party data activation as third-party cookies become less relevant and less reliable.

The 2024 Adobe Cookieless Research Report found that nearly half of the potential market already resides in cookieless environments. However, many marketers remain unprepared.

With Safari and Firefox blocking cookies, pharma marketers must adapt. Here are a few ideas on how:

  • Implement Server-Side Tracking Workarounds
    • Use server-side tracking methods, such as Meta’s first-party server-side solution, to bypass cookie-blocking and directly collect and share data.
  • Double Down on First-Party and Zero-Party Data
    • Leverage zero- and first-party data from sources like patient portals, surveys, and HCP platforms (e.g., Doximity and VuMedi). This data is opt-in and more reliable for personalized marketing efforts.
  • Leverage Google’s Cookieless Tools
    • Take advantage of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Privacy Sandbox, and Tracking Protection to gather insights and serve relevant, privacy-compliant ads.
  • Push Vendors for Cookieless Solutions
    • Ensure third-party vendors, such as ad tech providers, offer privacy-compliant solutions like Unified ID 2.0 and consent management platforms (CMPs) for collecting and storing consent.
  • Shift to Contextual Targeting
    • Adopt contextual targeting to serve ads based on content relevance, bypassing cookies and addressing privacy concerns. It’s more cost-effective and less intrusive.
  • Test and Optimize New Tools
    • Use the remaining months with cookies to experiment with alternative methods like contextual targeting and emerging tools from Google. Optimize for interoperability across platforms.
  • Utilize AI and Cross-Platform Data Modeling
    • Use AI to improve cross-platform data modeling and real-time adjustments, even without cookies. This will help pharma marketers track engagement and make better decisions faster.
  • Prepare for Attribution Changes
    • Explore incrementality testing and multi-touch attribution models to understand the full impact of your campaigns on long patient or HCP journeys.
  • Build Trust and Focus on Privacy
    • Emphasize privacy transparency in your marketing efforts. With health-related data being extremely sensitive, building trust with patients and healthcare professionals through responsible data handling is key.
  • Leverage Real-World Evidence (RWE)
    • As third-party data becomes harder to collect, turn to real-world evidence (RWE)—patient and provider data that offer actionable insights into patient behavior, treatment patterns, and outcomes.

As the digital landscape shifts, pharma marketers must use this time to adapt. This is the time to embrace change, build trust, and continue delivering targeted, compliant healthcare marketing.

 

Mike D’Orazio

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

Exploring the Possible

February 20, 2025 0

One of the things we do at DTC Perspectives is speculate on the future of DTC. No time in DTC history has been as uncertain as now with the Kennedy confirmation. One thing we have learned about the second Trump term is nothing can be ruled out.  The idea of incrementalism in policy adjustments is not how he operates.

In past new administrations, we would have been contemplating some possible new DTC guidance tweaking requirements for fair balance. I am afraid we may face a lot more than that under the Kennedy HHS.

Let’s contemplate alternate futures for DTC and the odds of them happening:

  1. Total DTC advertising ban

This would include no promotion of prescription drugs to consumers in any medium. Websites for drugs might be allowed but no promotion, just label information. Of course, this raises constitutional issues, but we have seen the Trump playbook is to act and let the courts rule later. One thing we need to understand is the drug industry could “voluntarily” accept a ban because of other business considerations. Price and drug approval can be used by HHS as pressure points to get drug makers to curtail DTC. The total spending for DTC is low in proportion to total drug sales so how far will drug makers go to protect that minor spending.

No time in DTC history has been as uncertain as now with the Kennedy confirmation.

  1. Partial ban: no branded television

This is what Kennedy would probably be content doing. Many in Congress, insurance payers, and most medical associations would like to see TV banned. I can see DTC television limited to disease education with no brand mention. Again, this is limiting speech, but would drug companies really fight to keep it? Television is about $5 billion in ad spending or only about 1% of drug sales. Drug companies want their drugs approved and not price-controlled, and that is a big stick HHS wields. DTC expenditures would likely be reallocated to other media such as digital, print, point of care, disease education, and PR programs. There are no shortages of companies who are ready to sell non-TV media.

  1. Status quo

The media, ad agencies, and drug companies have lots of influence. They are surely lobbying Congress and The White House not to ban DTC. They can make a strong case that DTC does not cause any public harm and in fact Rx drugs lead to cheaper solutions in disease management. Status quo means there is still a good chance of increased HHS demands for more fair balance and stricter enforcement.

My odds? Total advertising ban: 10%; TV ban: 40%; and status quo: 50%. Why is status quo my highest odds? Kennedy has a lot on his plate to Make America Healthy Again (MAHA). He will need to pick his battles and fighting free speech might be just too much to take on. The $10 billion in DTC is a pittance in America’s $1.4 trillion healthcare system. I think status quo with modifications to make DTC harder to execute is still the most likely approach. The next few months will tell the direction we are heading and make interesting times for all of us DTC practitioners.

Bob Ehrlich

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

Super Ads?

February 14, 2025 0

Pharmaceuticals joined the big advertising game in New Orleans, running two :60 spots. They were not ads for a particular brand but were corporate type messaging. Novartis focused on breast cancer in what was a unique creative montage of showing breasts in a myriad of situations both real life and in art. This ad was certainly 180 degrees different from what would be expected in a drug company breast cancer awareness ad. For about 40 of the 60 seconds the theme was just look at the breasts with a musical background saying “I know you are looking.” Actress Hailee Steinfeld was part of the montage.

Then, in the last 20 seconds, a more conventional looking appeal started for diagnosing breast cancer with comedian Wanda Sykes. She encouraged patients to get early detection and treatment. Clearly Novartis wanted to break the mold of the standard disease education ads. They did.

You can’t be boring, and Novartis and Pfizer certainly met that requirement.

Pfizer was also up to the creative task with its highly engaging cancer research ad. Showing a child in a hospital bed who then gets up and parades through the streets in a Rocky-like scene with boxing attire. A super appears saying to cancer that we are going to knock you out. Singer LL Cool J provides the background song. Then the ad closes with a super saying Pfizer is working on drugs for eight different cancer breakthroughs by 2030.

Both ads are excellent in getting the stopping power needed for a Super Bowl entry. You can’t be boring, and Novartis and Pfizer certainly met that requirement. Each ad left you guessing what the ad was for until its last third. This is in keeping with Super Bowl ads in general trying to hook you on a story before revealing the sponsoring brand or company.

Branded drug ads are just not going to work on the Super Bowl. Spending millions on an ad with half devoted to risks and side effects does not make sense. That brings us to a third drug ad, but not from a drug company. Hims & Hers, a direct seller in many drug categories, ran a provocative ad critical of the cost of drugs and saying the health care system is not working for us. The first part of the ad was on obesity disease education; fairly standard stuff. Then the ad tore into the weight loss industry for failed approaches and pharma for high prices. Then it turned to how Hims & Hers has affordable meds made in the USA.

Congress is concerned that companies like Hims & Hers are advertising drugs with no fair balance. Proposed legislation would treat these drug sellers similarly to pharmaceutical companies. After all, they are making drugs through compounding and are trying to diagnose and sell directly. Sounds like a drug maker. Why are they able to compete with drug companies but allowed to eschew fair balance? These compounded drugs carry risks and side effects similar to Wegovy or Zepbound. Hopefully Congress will impose reasonable requirements to add fair balance as these types of direct sellers are booming. The Hims & Hers ad was attention getting and tapped into the concerns consumers have about GLP prices. That said, it is ironic the only Super Bowl drug ad was not from a drug company.

 

Bob Ehrlich

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DTC-In-Perspective by Bob Ehrlich

Kennedy Will Be Confirmed.

February 11, 2025 0

Robert Kennedy Jr. was favorably voted out of the Senate committee 14-13 on 2/4 and will now go before the full Senate for confirmation. This was the key hurdle passing a divided committee where Sen. Cassidy was the Republican who was the swing vote. Cassidy is a physician who was troubled deeply by Kennedy’s vaccine stance. Yet he voted yes as he was assured that Kennedy will not ban any approved vaccines. Kennedy will almost certainly be confirmed, albeit it narrowly, in the full Senate.

I watched the two days of Kennedy hearings last week. Nothing he said allayed my fears about his feelings toward the pharmaceutical industry. The problem with Mr. Kennedy is his skepticism about many drug treatments. His public attacks mostly have been focused on vaccines but clearly his testimony was anti-prescription drugs.

His most alarming comment was to say prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death in the United States. I will not spend much time refuting this incendiary comment except to say it is grossly misleading. All drug treatment is a benefit / risk assessment and while true serious adverse events can kill people, the overwhelming evidence is benefits far outweighs risks.

He is right that diseases among children have increased the past few decades. No one in public health has objections to his goal of determining why autism, diabetes, food allergies, and ADHD have increased. Perhaps there is an explanation related to diet, food ingredients, pollution, or increased diagnoses. By all means we should allocate public funds to finding out. The problem with Mr. Kennedy is he seems to have already figured it out and his numerous books, speeches, and policy statements say things that are untrue, exaggerated, or based on scant evidence.

His most alarming comment was to say prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death in the United States.

After seeing the speed the Trump team is acting on many policy issues, would a Kennedy HHS be given the go ahead to remake our health care system at warp speed? Would DTC be a casualty of that tear it down approach from Kennedy? While I know we have constitutional protection for business free speech, will Kennedy act anyway to ban DTC and await court challenges?

We can only hope our industry lobbyists can make the case that banning or severely restricting DTC is a bad idea. There are many steps HHS can take short of a total ban including making television harder to execute through new guidances, finding more violative ads, slowing down pre-clearance reviews, and leveraging price negotiations to get companies to “voluntarily” restrict DTC.

I am not expecting Armageddon, but this time the threats feel different. I would be surprised if DTC is not affected in some negative way under the new Kennedy-led HHS.

Bob Ehrlich

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