The Future of DTC in Pharma

The pharmaceutical industry is watching the new US administration closely, as some of its proposed plans and policies are likely to have a significant impact on the sector. While much of the conversation has been focused on President Trump’s tariffs, new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also suggested certain policies that could produce considerable reverberations as well. One of those proposals is a ban on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for pharma companies.

Sonam Dubey, partner, Beghou Consulting

Pharmaceutical Executive spoke with Sonam Dubey, a partner at Beghou Consulting, about how these potential regulatory issues could impact pharma marketing strategies, and various ways manufacturers are preparing to address them.

PE: How can companies strategize given the uncertain regulatory landscape?

Sonam Dubey: From a strategy perspective, there is a lot of speculation, more than anything else. These are areas that pharma companies are always planning for. However, there are so many avenues to go down in these discussions based on recent events. One of the main focuses that pharma companies are considering is how do they engage with customers if there are certain restrictions in place. Since everything is more speculation than anything else at this point, the best approach is still just a broad-based strategy on how to approach whatever may come.

PE: How is pharma reacting to the potential DTC ban that’s been discussed? Are organizations looking into alternatives?

Dubey: Starting off, DTC ads are a big part of the mix for patient marketing, especially for any pharma company. And it is one of those situations where you see a tangible return on investment. It is a front-end [priority] for any kind of media mix. There are other kinds of media, like digital channels, social media, and more, where pharma companies can utilize above-brand marketing strategies. This includes talking about disease education and experience, management, support programs, and stuff like that. That already prevails, for sure. But, today, obviously, the mix is a little more skewed to direct-to-consumer ads in any form. It could be TV ads, banner ads, or digital ads. To answer your question, there are those alternative avenues there today, but pharma companies aren’t as focused or spending on those kinds of activities yet.

PE: What role would influencer marketing play in this potential scenario?

Dubey: First, it may not be a ban. It could be just some restrictions that could happen. Regardless, influencer marketing could become very powerful, because at the end of the day for patients, they need someone to connect and engage with them in the right way and share the right kind of information. This isn’t just about the drug, it’s also about sharing information about managing the disease. I think there are things already happening that pharma should focus on, such as the rise of well-knit communities of patients with rare diseases. This is happening in other areas as well and it’s creating a lot of awareness.

There’s also the rise of patient ambassadors who have lived through the whole journey and fought or battled cancer or some kind of a rare disease. They become ambassadors, not for the brand, per se, but for the disease itself. And pharma companies do collaborate with them to provide patients support with their journeys. They can talk about the stories of disease management.

Obviously, it can never be—and it shouldn’t be—direct influencer marketing that you would see in normal social media. But some of these ambassadors could become even more important, and you would see more and more of them and other influencers coming in and providing support for the disease. And, of course, that treatment element comes in in the middle of it. So, absolutely, there’ll be a doubling down on that.

PE: This would likely put more importance on the way that marketing teams engage with healthcare providers (HCPs), correct?

Dubey: Absolutely, but first I want to take a step back. Post-pandemic, there was a slight weakening in the way HCP engagement was being viewed, because HCPs also were not engaging with sales reps directly at that point of time. They realized that they could go through remote and other digital channels and get the information they needed. We have seen that trend reversing again. There is a lot of doubling down on traditional sales reps coming in and engaging with HCPs. And, of course, remote reps are coming up as well, along with the use of AI chatbots or other kinds of remote channels where the sales rep can still talk to the HCP when it’s convenient for the HCP, rather than a direct call.

If there is any kind of restriction on DTC ads, there will definitely be a doubling down of effort on the HCP engagement, because that really continues to be a channel to raise awareness about the drug directly. In fact, we would see a lot more emphasis on the field force, not only going to physicians, but expanding to other primary care physicians. It fills that gap of awareness that patients may have for that disease or for that drug.

PE: Do you have any closing words?

Dubey: I would just say that while there’s a lot of speculation about how things might change, I think it’s important to step back for a moment. For pharma, change could be a catalyst for improvement.

We hear from our clients in pharma and they wonder what they really know about a patient’s disease journey. Do they really know what patients are going through? How can they support the whole quality of life for those patients?

This could be a good opportunity, in a way, to really go deep into new ways HCPs can understand those journeys. New intervention points can be created or discussed.