The news: Two thirds (67%) of people with chronic health conditions take action after seeing pharma advertising for treatments, per a recent Swoop survey. Swoop surveyed 902 patients with chronic conditions who are members of MyHealthTeam communities from March-July 2025.

Digging into the data: Pharma ads played a key role in helping patients discover and research health information.

• 83% of survey respondents agree that pharma ads about treatments are beneficial.
• 66% think the main benefit of pharma ads is helping them get a better understanding of treatment options.
• In another survey, 63% of patients said they wouldn’t have known about a health condition if they hadn’t seen a pharma ad, per a Magna and DeepIntent October 2024 report.

Zooming out: The majority (78%) of patients see pharma advertising every week, and 67% take some kind of action after seeing them, per Swoop.

• 32% asked their doctor about treatments to consider, while 30% asked about a specific drug after seeing an ad.
• 15% of patients visited a pharma company website after seeing ads, while 9% switched or started on a new medication.

Why it matters: The Trump administration recently began a coordinated effort to pushback on pharma direct-to-consumer (D2C) ads, starting with stricter enforcement of current regulations.

The FDA sent 100 warning letters—40 specific to TV ads—alleging they contain false or misleading information. The FDA also plans to revert to pre-1997 pharma TV ad regulations and force marketers to show a complete list of risks, which would force longer, and more expensive, TV commercials.

Our take: Patients are active, informed pharma consumers. But federal efforts to limit TV and social media ads could shrink drugmakers’ reach. Marketers should lean into lower-profile digital touchpoints—like search and brand websites—where patients most often begin their health journeys.

Marketers and agencies also need to boost visibility in unpaid and earned media. They should consider bolstering their patient advocacy group efforts to tap into patients’ passion for helping others with similar health conditions. More than half (55%) of consumers in our 2025 Healthcare Consumer survey already engage online with patients who have a medical condition that they’re interested in—tap those valuable patient ambassadors to deliver information and build relationships.

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