Gen Z worries, AI search shake-ups, and social media trust issues are driving major marketing shifts across all fronts.
Patients want medication clarity and cost help earlier—pharma brands can step up with timely info, not just ads.
Regulatory crackdowns, digital dominance, and AI adoption forced marketers to rethink strategy, spend, and compliance across the year.
Pharma, startups, and the federal government piled into virtual care with new platforms and partnerships.
Wegovy pill offers a needle-free, lower-cost option that could broaden patient access.
The White House issued an executive order reclassifying cannabis from a Schedule I to a Schedule III controlled substance—a lower-risk category that puts it on the same plane as some controlled prescription medications. The US legal cannabis industry is worth $35 billion and served by at least 800 FIs. Even if Congress follows through as cannabis is reclassified as a lower-risk substance, banks will likely be slow to get involved. Enhanced due diligence and reporting requirements are in force until further notice, and being in the cannabis business has a stigma among banks regardless.
23% now say it’s in crisis—the highest share in 30 years—with affordability fears at the core.
Pharma companies see pricing concessions as the lesser of two evils, as the price cuts grant exemption from Trump’s tariffs on US drug imports.
As AI moves into decision-making support, the next challenge is helping patients trust how it fits into their care.
But pharma companies are missing the mark with their digital UX—doctor’s satisfaction ratings are dropping as they use digital to reach pharma more.
35 state attorneys general are pushing Meta for tighter enforcement of its advertising policies amid a “surge of misleading marketing for weight loss products” on Facebook and Instagram. The state AGs’ letter will surely get the attention of the FDA, meaning telehealth marketers must ensure they aren’t specifically promoting GLP-1s to people who don’t meet the clinical criteria or using messaging that body shames. Meanwhile, social media companies and advertising platforms need to strictly enforce transparency disclosures on AI-generated ads while closely reviewing all weight loss drug promotions, given the risks of misleading claims and unrealistic expectations.
Nearly half of US adults say TV and streaming drug commercials feel out of touch and downplay serious side effects.
Lilly and Novo gear up to market oral obesity drugs, expected to reshape the growing market with a less-invasive way to meet weight loss demand in pharma.
Over one-third of Gen Z (39%) and millennials (34%) who have used genAI tools to check symptoms report that they would put off seeing a doctor if the AI told them their issue was low-risk, according to an October 2025 poll from The Mesothelioma Center at Asbestos.com conducted by SurveyMonkey. Overrelying on AI for medical guidance carries real risk, especially as models are still maturing and sometimes produce faulty information. AI companies should add explicit in-chat disclaimers against being used as a replacement for medical care and strengthen guardrails to block unvetted or potentially harmful health advice.
The FDA sent warning letters to four major retailers that continued to sell baby formula linked to a botulism outbreak after the products were recalled in early November. As retailers move deeper into health and wellness, their daily operations need to support the image they’re trying to build.
Prominent clinicians and healthcare experts report a growing trend of bad actors using AI to impersonate them online and push unsafe products or unreliable medical information, according to a recent New York Times article. AI deepfakes may further discourage doctors from having their images and voices online. Social platforms must reassure healthcare creators about how they detect AI-driven scammers, enforce impersonation policies, and respond swiftly to deepfake reports.
Digital health company Noom is rolling out a new program that will combine microdoses of GLP-1 medications with at-home testing. With brand-name GLP-1 prices dropping, telehealth players in the weight loss drug space need a new strategy to attract and retain members. The GLP-1 microdosing wave gives them that opportunity, opening access to far more patients beyond those who are overweight and obese. With similar capabilities now offered by D2C healthcare companies like Hims, Noom, Ro, and WeightWatchers, differentiation will hinge on cost and accessible coaching/support—especially guidance through untested areas like microdosing weight loss drugs.
Healthcare AI startup OpenEvidence is aiming to raise $250 million in equity funding, amping its valuation to $12 billion, which doubled from just two months ago, per The Information. OpenEvidence’s surge in valuation underscores physicians’ growing demand for AI tools that surface credible, peer-reviewed information.
AI scribe tools that transcribe doctors’ notes save doctors only a minimal amount of time, according to a recent UCLA Health study. Healthcare AI scribe developers already face high provider churn due to a crowded market and the ease of switching between competing products. They must now prove their product's value extends beyond time savings (modest or significant) to include areas like improving patient care, enhancing the patient experience to drive retention, or ensuring more accurate clinical notes for billing and coding.
EHR giant Epic is being sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who alleges the company blocks competition and restricts access to patient health data. The lawsuit adds to recent public and private sector signals that call for hospitals and patients to have better access to health data. While Paxton might have political motives outside of the health tech realm the lawsuit’s outcome could open the market to more Big Tech and digital health/AI players to create solutions that strengthen consumers’ and providers’ ability to access and share medical data across entities.