DeepIntent Survey Reveals That Pharmaceutical Advertising Motivates Patients to Research Treatment and Medication Options

DeepIntent, an independent healthcare marketing technology company, released survey findings that reveal new insight into patient sentiment related to pharmaceutical advertising and the headwinds marketers face in trying to deliver relevant content.

Building on research conducted earlier this year, DeepIntent surveyed 1,244 U.S. patients in August 2021 and found that pharmaceutical ads can empower patients to take a more active role in researching treatments. In addition, advertising influences patients' decision to follow through in taking drugs prescribed by their doctors. After seeing a pharmaceutical ad, patients' most common action is conducting research, which they state as the most common factor influencing their medication adherence behavior. This finding ranks higher than their previous experience taking the same drug.

However, the research also found that marketers face significant challenges in reaching the right groups of patients with relevant information. Despite the pharmaceutical industry's success in researching, producing, and distributing multiple COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year, public approval of pharmaceutical companies has remained flat, and nearly half of respondents don't trust information from pharmaceutical companies. Amid the challenge to capture patients' attention while overcoming their distrust of ads and the pharmaceutical industry, the research shows several paths to better connect with patients.

"The insights from our second patient research report highlight a massive opportunity in the healthcare marketing industry to use advertising as a tool for public health. Over the past several years, the healthcare data ecosystem has been undergoing a transformative change and with real-world health data, real-time programmatic advertising, and modern technologies like artificial intelligence, marketers can engage both patients and providers in a more personalized, effective way," said DeepIntent CEO Chris Paquette.