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Asembia 2025 

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Articles

Sometimes the loss of revenue from a branded drug can outweigh the royalty stream from an authorized generic.

Your Patent is About to Expire: What Now?

 podcast, Jennifer Butler, chief commercial officer of Pleio, discusses:

The threat of misinformation to public health and how emotional appeal plays a part.

Where patients are turning for trustworthy health information.

Strategies that can be used to verify information.

Pharma's role in helping to ensure patients have access to health insights they can trust.

Why the industry is turning to peer-to-patient platforms, trusted patient communities, and pharmacies to educate patients.

What kind of role regulatory agencies should play in the battle against misinformation.

Podcasts

Jennifer Butler, chief commercial officer of Pleio, discusses misinformation's threat to public health, where patients are turning for trustworthy health information, the industry's pivot to peer-to-patient strategies to educate patients, and more.

The Misinformation Maze: Navigating Public Health in the Digital Age

 Podcast, CEO and Founder of Sooth, Ian Baer, is back to discuss:

Why people trust friends and influencers over companies

Ian Baer, Founder and CEO of Sooth, discusses how the growing distrust in social media will impact industry marketing strategies and the relationships between pharmaceutical companies and the patients they aim to serve. He also explains dark social, how to combat misinformation, closing the trust gap, and more.

Navigating Distrust: Pharma in the Age of Social Media

Despite steady innovation and solid new drug approvals, the first half of 2025 was marked by a break from historical norms in financing, stock performance, and M&A for the pharma and biotech sectors.

Navigating Divergent Currents: Biopharma Review and Outlook

Health plans face challenges in risk arrangements for orphan drugs, but increasing competition may open doors for innovative pricing strategies.

Risk Contracting When Orphan Disease Space is Crowded

Access inequity is a multitude of smaller, interconnected operational and bureaucratic challenges.

Preventing Suffering Through Access: A Strategic Imperative for Global Pharmaceutical Growth

The Regeneron litigation highlights that donations routed through independent entities are not immune from challenge, especially if the government believes they are effectively covering a patient’s co-pay for a specific product.

Why Every Pharma Executive Should Be Watching the Regeneron Kickback Case

The 15% tariff on pharmaceutical imports from the European Union is not a short term inconvenience, it represents a structural shift in the economics of the US pharmaceutical market.

How Can Pharma Leadership Prepare for the Current Tariff Environment and Potential Changes in 2026?

What the Emrelis Approval Means for Pharma and Biotech ADC Strategies

, Neha Anand, Analyst, Biopharma Intelligence Services, Citeline, discussed how AbbVie’s newly approved antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), Emrelis, differentiates itself in a rapidly evolving oncology landscape. With rising competition in the ADC field—particularly in solid tumors—Anand highlighted Emrelis’ unique target, mechanism of action, and strategic positioning as key factors that set it apart. She also provided insight into what the approval signals about the FDA’s current regulatory posture, the potential impact on investor interest, and what a successful Phase III trial could mean for AbbVie’s long-term growth in precision oncology.

Pharmaceutical Executive: How could this approval influence investor and R&D interest in the ADC field, especially among large pharmas versus biotechs?

 The approval of Emrelis has accelerated both investor and R&D interest in the ADC space. While interest was already building, this milestone validates the potential of biomarker-driven ADCs in solid tumors. For large pharma, it signals an opportunity to diversify their pipelines with precision oncology assets that can compete with existing small molecule inhibitors and immunotherapies. It may also lead to more partnerships, acquisitions, or in-house ADC development programs—particularly those targeting underexplored antigens such as c-MET or other biomarkers linked to solid tumors.

From a biotech perspective, Emrelis' success shows that a focus on differentiated targets and innovative ADC design can translate into regulatory success. This could drive increased venture funding and more collaboration opportunities. Additionally, the approval reinforces the viability of ADCs that use established payloads like MMAE when combined with precision-targeting strategies.

Overall, the Emrelis approval is likely to spur a wave of strategic investments and competitive R&D efforts, as both pharma and biotech companies aim to replicate—or even improve upon—this success in the ADC field.

 Emrelis stands out in the crowded antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) space by targeting a highly specific biomarker—C-MET overexpression in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)—rather than pursuing broader tumor indications. Unlike ADCs such as those targeting HER2 or TROP2, which are used in breast or gastric cancers, Emrelis is designed for a niche patient subgroup with high C-MET protein levels but without MET gene mutations, a population with limited treatment options. This precision-targeting approach, combined with the use of the MMAE payload via a cleavable linker (which disrupts microtubules rather than causing DNA damage like some other ADCs), sets Emrelis apart both clinically and mechanistically.

The FDA’s accelerated approval of Emrelis signals a growing willingness to support biomarker-driven ADCs in solid tumors, particularly when addressing unmet needs. It reflects confidence in ADC safety and efficacy profiles and aligns with broader trends favoring precision medicine.

Emrelis is especially well-positioned to serve NSCLC patients representing roughly 25% of EGFR wild-type cases who overexpress C-MET but lack actionable mutations. While NSCLC remains the primary focus, success here could pave the way for expansion into other C-MET–driven solid tumors.

From an industry perspective, Emrelis’ approval is likely to fuel both investor enthusiasm and R&D momentum. For large pharmaceutical companies, it offers a blueprint to diversify oncology pipelines beyond traditional small molecules or immunotherapies. For biotechs, it validates the potential of novel ADC designs targeting underexplored antigens.

If Phase III trials meet their endpoints, Emrelis could become a new standard of care in C-MET high NSCLC and mark a strategic shift for AbbVie, establishing its credibility in solid tumor oncology and reinforcing its in-house ADC capabilities amidst rising competition from companies like Daiichi Sankyo and ImmunoGen.

Videos

Neha Anand, Analyst, Biopharma Intelligence Services, Citeline, explains how the approval of Emrelis is accelerating investor interest, validating biomarker-driven ADCs, and shaping distinct strategic paths for pharma and biotech in the evolving precision oncology landscape.

Video Series

LaShell Robinson, Head of Global Feasibility and Trial Equity at Takeda, discusses strategies to address underrepresentation in clinical trials, particularly in phase III psoriasis trials.

Addressing Disproportionate Underrepresentation of Racial & Ethnic Groups in Psoriasis Trials

 video interview, LaShell Robinson, head of global feasibility and trial equity at Takeda, discusses strategies to address underrepresentation in clinical trials, particularly in phase III psoriasis trials. Robinson also discusses the company's partnerships with community stakeholders like Inside Edge, Black Health Matters, and Hispanic Communication Global Network to improve engagement, address operational barriers, and prioritize sites with diverse patient demographics. Takeda also enhanced investigator diversity through multilingual toolkits and educational sessions, and aims to expand these efforts globally by adapting strategies to regional needs.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What specific strategies is Takeda implementing to address the disproportionate underrepresentation of racial and ethnic groups in clinical trials, particularly in its Phase III psoriasis trials and beyond?

As the head for global feasibility and trial equity, my day-to-day job is focused on making sure that all of our trials have the representation of patients that reflect the real world, including these psoriasis trials. It goes without saying that our ambition from the very beginning was to ensure that our phase III trials for psoriasis had better reflection of the real-world patient population, because we did see a gap. When we were looking at the real-world data, we noticed that things like under diagnosis, longer treatment paradigms, or longer pathways to diagnosis also impacted the people that were represented in our clinical trials. We wanted to ensure that from the very beginning, we were really thinking about this and implementing our tested, tried and true PAVE strategy, which is our strategy to make sure that underrepresented and underserved populations are included in our trial.

First, our P is partnering with community stakeholders. We partnered with organizations such as Inside Edge, Black Health Matters, and Hispanic Communication Global Network to ensure that we have better engagement with communities that were underrepresented and underserved, specifically for psoriasis. These organizations have tried and true relationships, and we were able to leverage that to connect with patients in a more authentic manner, not only educating them about psoriasis, but also around the importance of them participating in clinical research and how that helps contribute to better science.

We have the A, which is addressing operational barriers that impede patient access. This is where we spend a lot of time around planning, operations, and looking at the protocol. One of the things that we did immediately was incorporate multicultural imagery. We know that most of the imagery for plaque psoriasis is of patients that are white. The impact that has is it creates a longer diagnosis pathway, we see gaps in the teaching around dermatology, etc. We wanted to make sure that we had multi-racial and multiethnic imagery with skin-of-color and multiple images represented so that we could start closing that gap. We also did careful site selection, where we prioritized sites that had a broader reach and patient representation in our feasibility process. We even went so far as to ask our sites to tell us about the demographics of their patients so we could prioritize the selection.

Then V is verifying that any goal we had around representation was truly reflective of the patient data. One of the things we saw at the very beginning is even though psoriasis is one of the most common skin disorders, there's a lack of epidemiology data that is specific to race, ethnicity, and gender breakdown. One of the other elements that we did in addition to looking at literature review and epidemiology was ask our sites what their real-world patient population is and used that to actually develop a goal that we felt was more reflective of the patients with psoriasis.

Then finally E was enhancing the diversity of our investigative sites. This is where we really deepen the education and sharing the best practices to support more accurate diagnosis of psoriasis in skin-of-color at the very beginning. We offered sites multilingual toolkits where they could actually discuss what the general sense of clinical research is, and how it transmits to our particular trial. We even had an investigator do a session at  an investigator meeting. This is where we pull all of our sites and those participating together to really educate them on the protocol, give them the opportunity to ask questions, and use the opportunity to share best practices around diagnosing skin-of-color. In fact, we had two sessions that were dedicated to that, so that at the end of the day our sites were very well prepared. We're also thinking a bit differently around how they could connect patients that are traditionally left out of research.

LaShell Robinson, head of global feasibility and trial equity at Takeda, discusses strategies to address underrepresentation in clinical trials, particularly in phase III psoriasis trials.

Addressing Underrepresentation of Racial & Ethnic Groups in Psoriasis Trials

Kimberley Chiang, vice president of biopharma commercial solutions at CoverMyMeds, explores practical steps pharmaceutical executives can take to foster better collaboration within their organizations, as well as with external partners like providers and pharmacies.

Practical Steps for Better Cross-Functional Collaboration

 video interview, Kimberley Chiang, vice president of biopharma commercial solutions at CoverMyMeds, discusses "The 2025 Medication Access Report." She highlights gaps in data-sharing and cross-functional collaboration as major bottlenecks that cause delays, rework, and increased patient burden. Chiang shares that only 3% of patients utilize support programs due to a lack of awareness. A large majority of the report's respondents plan to expand funding for patient support programs within the next 5 years due to large number of new therapies expected to come to market.

Pharmaceutical Executive: The report emphasizes the need for cross-functional collaboration. What practical steps can pharmaceutical executives take to foster better collaboration between different departments within their organizations, as well as with external partners like providers and pharmacies?


 Within pharma, we don’t have standardized data protocols. That makes it difficult to talk the same language amongst our groups. Programs, physicians & healthcare records, and pharmacies all have different data standards. The ability for us to communicate effectively is inhibited by the nature of interoperability. Providers and pharmacists have a knowledge gap about what’s available and whether they should invest in interoperability solutions.

There are solutions out there, with more coming to market with more sophistication that would more broadly solve the problems we’re facing today. Because there’s not a broad awareness of this, however, there’s still prevailing confusion and unwillingness to spend money towards interoperability.

Everybody understands the potential benefit down the road, especially for the patient. If we could link these solutions together, we would logically see the benefit. But, how do pharma companies make decisions about investing?

When we asked pharmacists and providers if they would be willing to invest in interoperability, 46% of pharmacists and 52% of providers said that they were not aware of what’s out to make that decision for investment. The knowledge gap seems to be creating a delay in adoption for some of these systems even though we all agree that if we could get together and bring interoperability across the ecosystem, everyone benefits. The provider spends less time working through or searching for things. The pharmacy also benefits at the point of sale because they can treat the patient and dispense with all of the information right at their fingertips. Frankly, the patient benefits because they get on their medications faster and have better health outcomes.

The benefit for the industry is being able to link the data and be able to make better and faster decisions proactively. We can use predictive analytics, bringing all of the data across the ecosystem, to make better plans, programs, and funding-and-asset resource decisions. This is at the heart of answering where someone in pharma who has $5 billion is going to spend it.

Where are the gaps most likely to occur in a particular therapeutic area or group of patients? If we look more broadly into the patients, what dimensions of social determinants of health could we also consider along the patient journey? If we could integrate all of that, imagine what we could do faster and more efficiently, which would take costs out of the system and bring patients the medications they much faster.

Artiva Biotherapeutics, CEO, Fred Aslan, MD, explains the strategic advantages of pursuing both a company-sponsored trial and an investigator-initiated trial simultaneously.

Dual Trial Strategy: Company-Sponsored and Investigator-Initiated

 video interview, Fred Aslan, MD, CEO of Artiva Biotherapeutics, discusses the company’s current trials for autoimmune indications in the US. The first is a company-sponsored trial focusing on lupus, while the second is an investigator-initiated trial exploring four conditions: lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, pemphigus vulgaris, and vasculitis. This second trial is uniquely being conducted in a community setting to assess the practicality of outpatient treatment.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What are the strategic advantages of pursuing both a company-sponsored trial and an investigator-initiated trial simultaneously, and how do they complement each other and differentiate AlloNK from autologous cell therapies or other existing treatments for these conditions?


In a company sponsored trial, you generally work with a CRO and open multiple different sites, sometimes in different countries. One of the advantages is that the data is often considered more robust because it’s not dependent on what is happening on one site. You can look across a variety of different sites with different patient populations in different countries. It's a powerful tool to give you more confidence on the signal that you're generating.

An investigator-initiated trial is very compelling because it can be a very efficient way to work with a site where there is already an investigator that's interested in generating data for you. One of the specific advantages of working in this investigator-initiated trial goes back to the notion that this is a community rheumatologist testing our drug. Today, a patient receiving auto CAR-T cannot get this done in a community setting and instead must go to a FACT-accredited center. There are approximately just 100 of these centers around the country. We have 1000s of different outpatient clinics where one can get treated today for an autoimmune disease.

Auto CAR-T needs to be done at these tertiary care centers because it is a more complicated procedure. They must perform apheresis on the patient and send them home while they manufacture the product. The patient must come back to be hospitalized. After they're treated and leave the hospital, they must hang around the center for at least 30 days in case they need to be rushed back.

A site like the one we're working with for this investigator-initiated trial is a community site. They would not have the capability to run an auto CAR-T trial. This specific trial gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that AlloNK can be used in an outpatient setting (assuming the trial goes as we expect). The physician at this site works independently as a strict rheumatology community practice and can treat his patients in his infusion chairs, send them home after they receive the therapy, and manage their outpatient therapy.

Part of our differentiation compared with autologous CAR-T cell is that we believe that our therapy can become accessible to a much larger population of autoimmune patients. The only way to get to that population is really to make this therapy available in community sites. The only way for community sites to be administering this drug is if it's something that they can handle as a site. Having a trial in a community site gives us a lot of insights as to the feasibility of getting this done with our product.

Artiva Biotherapeutics' CEO Fred Aslan, MD, explains the strategic advantages of pursuing both a company-sponsored trial and an investigator-initiated trial simultaneously. 

Peter Ax, Founder & CEO of UpScriptHealth, explores ways that digital health platforms can assist pharma companies seeking to maintain accessibility and manage cost pressures. 

Digital Health Platforms as Strategic Partners for Pharma Companies

 Video Interview, Peter Ax, Founder & CEO of UpScriptHealth, discusses the impact of tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry, highlighting that tariffs will initially affect pharmaceutical companies, particularly those dealing with branded medications and generics. He notes that tariffs could lead to strategic supply chain changes, including potential US manufacturing shifts. Digital health platforms like UpScriptHealth aim to reduce friction and costs in healthcare, potentially offsetting tariff impacts. Ax emphasizes the importance of telehealth in ensuring medication availability and the strategic partnerships between digital health platforms and pharma companies to improve patient care and access. He also praises Pfizer's approach to delivering comprehensive care rather than just selling medications.

How can digital health platforms become strategic partners for pharma companies seeking to maintain accessibility and manage cost pressures?

The light bulb has gone off in pharma, right? Every single pharma company we're aware of is we're in some level of discussion with about the platform that works for them, the direct to patient solution that works. And what we've seen is a massive shift from sort of simple prescribing of a medication when someone has a migraine headache, letting them try, letting that patient try a new medication, perhaps, or shifting them to a different medication, to what is a really complex ecosystem of healthcare. We're now involved in platforms for pharma companies where we will send patients to injection centers or to infusion care centers. And so the level of care and the complexity of the of the patient flow is really evolving to a to a much more complex world that's sort of digital health 2.0

For us, the way we think about it, and the way that really helps pharma, if you think about all the problems we have in the current model for the delivery of care, right? Patients can't get appointments very quickly. Patients don't know what that cost of appointment is going to be for them. They don't know what their co pay is. They don't know what insurance is going to cover. They don't know if it's in network out of network. They oftentimes don't know where the fulfillment is coming from, and whether or not there's a supply of the medication that they need or the treatment that they need. We can solve all those problems by working with our pharma partners.

So, when a pharma company decides to be on the UpScriptHealth platform, it's not just a simple discussion of, we're going to put a button on your website. Patients will click on that button and see a telehealth provider. It's a much more complicated discussion about what is the patient journey, and how do we really make that patient journey a good experience, a positive experience, literally changing the paradigm of healthcare. I think, by the way, that's why Pharma is so interested in these platforms, because they realize they have to help be an instigation for the changing of how healthcare is delivered.

In this Pharmaceutical Executive Video Interview, Peter Ax, Founder & CEO of UpScriptHealth, explores ways that digital health platforms can assist pharma companies seeking to maintain accessibility and manage cost pressures. 

Peter Ax, Founder & CEO of UpScriptHealth, identifies strategies that pharmaceutical companies and digital health platforms can employ to navigate a potential drop in demand due to tariff-induced increased costs. 

How Pharmaceutical Companies Can Mitigate a Potential Drop in Demand Due to Tariffs

Tariffs could impact consumer demand. What strategies can pharmaceutical companies and digital health platforms like UpScriptHealth employ to mitigate this potential drop in demand due to increased costs?

Tariffs will increase costs — short run and long run — and will have different effects on the supply curve. But the bigger issue is, how do we solve the systemic problems that are involved in healthcare? And that's where digital platforms like UpScriptHealth (UpScript) come into play. The number one thing we have to do is take the friction and cost out of the system, and that's what we do every single day. We make trained clinicians available to patients right away. We make the insurance reimbursement process a lot simpler in terms of: we'll process the prior authorization for patients. We’ll process a lot of things behind the scenes to help the patient get on therapy as fast as they can.

So, we sort of take friction out of the system, and that's really going to be the job of digital health companies like UpScript, and that's going to continue to be the job. Take costs out of the system, take friction out of the system, make medications accessible, and if we can take some costs out of the system, we might actually offset any effect the tariffs have.

In this part of his Pharmaceutical Executive Video Interview, Peter Ax, Founder & CEO of UpScriptHealth, identifies strategies that pharmaceutical companies and digital health platforms can employ to navigate a potential drop in demand due to tariff-induced increased costs.

How Technology is Impacting Launch Strategy Timelines

Pharmaceutical Executive: What is the funding environment for pharma at the moment?


 We track the trends in the market, one of which is biopharma funding. Post COVID, there was a decline in biopharma funding, but that has not only stabilized, we're seeing funding in this area pick up and definitely return to growth. Recent research now shows that 70% of the clinical trials are really in the smaller biotech companies, which is significant. And oftentimes these companies have limited resources and organizational experience to commercialize their overall product. So, the way we position that is if they select the right strategic partner, they can go to market on their own, but they've got to be very intentional in how they manage their resourcing to do that.

PE: How can companies strategize given the uncertain regulatory situation in the US?


 This question comes up all the time, and the complexities of bringing these drugs to market continue to mount. It's going to require end-to-end support from regulatory affairs, specialty logistics, market access, commercial distribution, patient services, and field support. The complexities are overwhelmingly high, and our goal is to really help simplify that process and provide a resource that can lean on a large, broad network of expertise to help support them. Engaging a strategic partner with deep regulatory expertise early in the process is a critically important element of early-stage planning, and that cross functional collaboration is paramount to effectively navigate and stay ahead of the constantly changing regulatory requirements.

When you look at Europe, for example, we're working with several companies in region, and there's been changes with the HDA regulation and joint clinical assessment process that took effect in January on oncology products and advanced therapy medicinal products. There's a lot to manage there, and with relatively small teams and oftentimes limited expertise, especially down to the local areas. But, with an eye on expanding globally, the regulatory requirements change and vary dramatically. So, to start really early on in the process to plot out your regulatory pathway, it's then going to inform you know your commercial decisions and your channel strategy, pricing strategy, distribution strategy, patient service strategy, all those key elements need to be accounted for earlier in the process, because the interdependencies are significant, and one misstep can really delay your launch, commercial success, and ultimately, the quality of the patient care that you really aspire to deliver. Having that early expertise involved with the process is really important, especially from a regulatory perspective.

PE: How should companies strategize to take their products global after the initial launch?


That's oftentimes an ambition with companies looking forward to global expansion. One common misperception is that you can leverage the same go to market strategy used for the US to support your European launches. That's just not the case. The regulatory standards are different, down even to the country level. You really have to have a go to market strategy that's tailored and customized to different countries. It’s also immensely important to plan for launch sequencing that's going to include compliance, supply chain, and regulatory considerations. There’s also licensing requirements and quality standards. There's a lot of factors that will influence pricing, market access, and reimbursement as well, but each market is different. You must deploy a level of local market expertise to tailor your strategy and investment to make sure you're set up for commercial success.

John Arena, interim president of global pharma services at Cencora, discusses how new technologies are shortening timelines.

Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, identifies strategies pharmaceutical companies can use to combat misinformation on social media.

How Pharma Can Effectively Combat Misinformation/Disinformation

In this Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, explores the growing distrust and uncertainty surrounding social media and its impact on the pharmaceutical industry. Key contributors to this distrust include the spread of misinformation, the rise of AI-generated content, and the politicization of social media platforms. The conversation highlights the challenges faced by pharma companies in building trust with patients in this environment, including the need to combat misinformation and navigate the complexities of social media platforms. 

He emphasizes the importance of building partnerships with trusted voices, such as medical influencers and patient communities, to effectively communicate with patients. It also underscores the need for transparency and authenticity in pharma's social media presence, including acknowledging and addressing patient concerns and responding to negative feedback.

The conversation concludes with a discussion on the evolving role of social media in healthcare and the potential for private communities and personalized sharing to play a greater role in the future.

How can pharma companies effectively combat misinformation/disinformation and distrust?

Not with force. Not with being louder. Not with saying 

‘We're the authority. We know better’

, but actually with a much more cooperative spirit. If you know that the average person trusts friends, family, and influencers more than they trust you as an institution, partner with those people, give them the content.

84% of all social sharing happens through one-to-one sharing of links. Give the people who are out there, acting like authorities, the right information to share better information, more credible information, better produced information, people will share the content that most reflects on their own personal brand and authority. I would say don't treat the other voices as competition that needs to be squashed. Find some voices to partner with that can actually amplify it and give greater one-to-one credibility than then you have on your own as a pharma brand.

In this part of his Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, identifies strategies pharmaceutical companies can use to combat misinformation on social media.

Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, speaks about how distrust and uncertainty surrounding social media and is impacting the pharmaceutical industry. 

The Impact of Social Media Distrust on Pharmaceutical Marketing

What are the consequences of public distrust of social media? How will that impact pharma marketing and the industry's presence on the various social platforms?

Especially in the healthcare category, which in the US is going through so much in terms of public debate, political debate, the whole economic model being called into question, people having questions about their health insurance and what it covers. They're paying more for that insurance and often are paying more out of pocket for drugs. Now you've got companies out there purporting

, ‘Oh, I'll save you all that you don't need a doctor and you don't need a pharmacist and you don't need health insurance, just take this, this magic bottle of pills’

, and if it comes recommended by somebody I trust, who again, may be getting spiffed for making that recommendation, say, 

‘My God, I've never felt so good. I've never felt so young.’

 It's, it's potentially very damaging, and it's a debate that needs to be brought to the forefront much more. Again, I'm as big a fan of alternative medicine as anybody. I have been seeing a naturopath for 20 years. I'm a believer in that stuff, but it has to be regulated and, you know, I have to know that there's some standardization around what I'm getting and some science behind it. But you know, even science itself is now much more open to questions somehow than it's ever been, because even science often is seen as having its own biases, you know, as evidenced by the fact that the number of Flat Earthers is growing in this country.

In this Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, speaks about how distrust and uncertainty surrounding social media is impacting the pharmaceutical industry. 

Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, identifies how uncertainty of where to find information, coupled with distrust, can damage the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the patients they aim to serve.

How Uncertainty & Distrust Damage Relationships with Patients

How does an uncertainty of where to find information, coupled with distrust in social media, damage the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the patients they serve?

Look, the healthcare industry has had a trust gap to close with most individuals in the US for years now, right? It's been growing, distrust in the institutions. Now, suddenly, there's distrust in certain areas of science. I think the no matter how you felt about the COVID pandemic and the way it was treated, you probably came out of that three-year period with a different point of view on how much you should trust any healthcare information that's put out there in social media. Certainly, you don't take anything at face value.

The [EMA’s] decision to pull out of Twitter [X], well, that's happening in a lot of places, because Twitter [X] has gone both more partisan than it has been in the past but also has backed off of a lot of fact checking. Meta has recent announced that they are going to adopt Twitter's [X’s] methods when it comes to fact checking. I think we'll call into question, similarly, the validity of that platform. Bluesky just doesn't have the adoption rate.

In this Pharmaceutical Executive video interview, Ian Baer, Founder & CEO of Sooth, identifies how uncertainty of where to find information, coupled with distrust, can damage the relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the patients they aim to serve.

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