From Hype to Impact: Pharma's 2025-26 Marketing Trends

Curious about where healthcare marketing is heading in the age of AI? Kait Tuson, Founder and CEO of Hello Helio, shares invaluable insights on navigating the complex intersection of technology, regulation, and patient care with Ryan Janvion of Medisafe.

The conversation begins with a candid look at AI adoption in healthcare—not just the hype, but the practical realities. While AI has become "table stakes" in the tech world, pharmaceutical companies face unique regulatory challenges that require a more measured approach. Kate offers a refreshing perspective on how tech innovators and Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) teams can collaborate rather than clash, suggesting that successful AI implementation will happen through "bite-sized moments" of testing and piloting in safe spaces.

We dive deep into the overcrowded messaging landscape where seemingly every healthcare company claims to offer "AI-powered patient engagement solutions." Kate cuts through the noise with practical advice on authentic differentiation: "Product has to be different actually." She emphasizes the importance of specificity—understanding exactly which part of the healthcare journey you're addressing and how your solution uniquely solves real problems. Her warning against the temptation to oversell capabilities resonates strongly: "Don't try to be something that you can't live up to."

What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Kate's perspective on healthcare transformation as a collaborative journey. She frames the current moment as a rare opportunity to participate in industry-wide change, encouraging tech innovators to approach regulatory teams with patience and understanding. For anyone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology, this discussion offers both strategic insights and practical wisdom for making a meaningful impact on patient care.

Ready to rethink your approach to healthcare marketing? Listen now and discover how to align your messaging with your unique contribution to healthcare transformation.

PostScripts Rx is not intended to constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to influence prescribing decisions or any other medical or clinical decision-making. All medical and clinical judgment and decision-making, prescribing decisions, and all related considerations remain exclusively the responsibility of providers and patients.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, hey guys, my name is Ryan Jambion.
I am here with Kate Toussaint.
Kate, you want to introduceyourself?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hi, yeah, I'm Kate Toussaint from Hello Helio and I
do healthcare marketingstrategy.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Well, welcome to the podcast.
We're excited to have you.
So, Kate, you're a marketingstrategist.
You've worked with manycompanies, both health tech,
pharma.
You've done fractional CMO work.
What do you see as far asindustry trends that are really,
you know, catching storm andgetting a lot of steam when it
comes to med tech, and whatpeople, you know patients are

(00:33):
desiring and pharma companiesare looking for when it comes to
this space?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, it's a great question.
I mean, obviously a lot hashappened.
A lot continues to happen.
You know, I would be silly tonot mention AI, right?
I mean that's the big, you knowsexy thing that's happening in
healthcare right now.
I've been really across theboard in tech.
I think really, where all ofthis stems from is a deeper

(00:59):
desire for brands to connectwith their consumers, right for
brands to connect with theirconsumers right.
Consumers are demanding morefrom brands, from the healthcare
experience as a whole, and so Ithink you're seeing this
convergence of different techplayers trying to fill those
gaps between brand customerexperience conversion, getting

(01:22):
people to the right place at theright time.
Patient navigation has neverbeen a strength of the US
healthcare system, right, so Ithink a lot of it really stems
from that.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Do you feel like so, obviously AI being the big talk,
especially at the conferenceright now, what is real versus
what's kind of a pipe dreamcurrently, and where do you feel
like things are going to shakeout?
Because there's obviously a lotof things when you think about
overall from a tech perspectivethat's happening, but then you
realize the regulatory scrutinythat pharma has to live under

(01:54):
and how AI oftentimes goesagainst that.
What's realistic for the pharmaindustry when it comes to
leveraging AI tools?

Speaker 2 (02:03):
I mean, I think AI is table stakes from a tech
perspective now, right, and sonaturally, tech is going to
adopt things sooner than pharmaor just healthcare as a whole,
and rightfully so.
Right Regulations andcompliance they're there to keep
patients and providers safe andprotected.

(02:27):
And so I think real AI, notjust something being masked as
AI, an AI that actually has atrue impact on patient outcomes,
on addressing clinical burdensI mean, there's a shortage,
right, and it's only going toget worse when we think about

(02:48):
matching access and caring forpatients in a timely manner.
That's only going to get harderand harder, and so we need to
think of ways of being moreefficient in how we engage with
patients, how we reach patientsand really looking across that
whole end-to-end patient journey.
And I think AI has differentsolutions across that journey,

(03:09):
and I think that's eventually.
Pharma will just have to figureout how to adopt AI, probably
in bite-sized moments, right,and testing and piloting, little
ways of deploying AI in safespaces and, like anything else,
regulation will catch up.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Yeah, it's like kind of crawling, you know, over time
getting them to a place wherethey can adopt more AI tools.
Exactly, instead of justjumping off the deep end
especially when you think about,like MLR, for example.
For sure, All these marketersthat have all these great ideas
and they get kind of quashed byprivacy compliance MLR.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, but I mean, if you think about it, the cool
thing is actually health techcompanies get to be a part of
that journey, right, and get towork with MLR teams and get them
more comfortable with differentuse cases and pilot stuff.
I mean it's a cool space to bein right now, right.
I mean you don't get to saythat you get to work in

(04:06):
healthcare transformation oreven any industry transformation
very often, and it's, I think,if there has to be some patience
and some give and take, and Imean patience, not patience with
an S, but I think it takes alot of patience from the tech
teams that are excited and theyhave new stuff to try.

(04:27):
But it's a collaboration.
It's not going to be somethingthat is one directional, and I
think if tech teams can have thepatience to work with MLR teams
and work through all of thosechallenges together, I think
that can really have an impact.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
Yeah, that's a good point.
You ready for one more question?
Sure, all right.
So you mentioned med techcompanies.
So obviously you work a lotwith med tech companies on
messaging, on framing, et cetera.
As you walk around, you see thedifferent things you know, see
different messaging with boothsand presentations, et cetera.
What is most effective when itcomes to breaking through the

(05:09):
noise?
Right, a lot of people arestarting to sound the same AI
powered, hcp engagement, patientadherence, patient engagement.
When you come in with yourservices, what's your approach
in recommending to companies howthey can really differentiate
themselves and break through thenoise to reach, you know, their
end, client, pharma, whatever,whoever they're trying to target

(05:31):
?

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Well, first of all, I only like to work with clients
who are truly trying to dosomething unique.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
So product, I imagine , start with the product right.
Product has to be differentactually.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Or vision right Product strategy.
I think you know there's a lotof patient engagement solutions
out there, but patientengagement is table of stakes
and patient engagement meansdifferent things at different
stages of pharmaceuticaldevelopment right, are you?
Talking about?
You know clinical trial,patient engagement Are you

(06:04):
talking about?
You know somethingpre-diagnostic, you know
post-prescription.
It means different things.
And, I think, really being clearand specific around what piece
do you own, what piece do youwant to own, how do you want to
grow, in what areas?

(06:25):
And also, of course, harnessingyour strengths, right, like,
don't try to be something thatyou can't live up to.
Yet I've seen a lot ofcompanies do that Right.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Don't oversell, I imagine.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
Oversell under deliver.
I mean that's a big no.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
no, it doesn't matter if you're in health care,
credibility is just ruined atthat point.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
Exactly, and I think credibility in this industry is
so important because I mean,going back to the MLR teams
you're not taking big risks withnewbies and so I think the
companies that have establishedcredibility, trust track records
of success.
But the hard thing is, how doyou differentiate when

(07:04):
everybody's calling themselves aplatform, this and a patient
engagement, that right.
And so I think, really gettingyour story right and and
aligning that with productstrategy of, like, where is it
going, where do you want to growand where, like it comes down
to, what do you want to changeabout health care?
Like, what piece of the healthcare transformation do you want

(07:26):
to be a part of right and wheredo you want to drive impact?

Speaker 1 (07:30):
So focus.

Speaker 2 (07:31):
Focus on that and then the messaging and the story
kind of dovetails from there.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
That's good, we appreciate it.
Thanks for joining the podcast.

Speaker 2 (07:40):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Of course, great talking.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
You too.