From fragmenting discovery journeys and waning organic traffic to the impact of generative AI on patient interactions with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and brands, the healthcare and pharma space is facing an array of unique challenges as we move into 2026.
Jaquie Pantoja, Digital Account Director at Curious Health, lays out how marketers in pharma and healthcare can tackle these challenges, how ways of working need to shift so marketers can truly measure impact, and why human credibility and imperfection will only become more crucial in the future.
Jaquie Pantoja: 2026 will continue to be challenging for pharma and healthcare leaders. They're no longer dealing with one issue at a time, but multiple pressures at once, from declining organic traffic to fragile public trust and growing pricing pressure. It's that overlap that makes the years ahead particularly complex.
AI search is changing how people discover, compare and choose brands. Platforms and tools like ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Perplexity and Copilot aren't experimental anymore. They're already shaping high-intent decision-making and pulling attention away from traditional search results.
Put simply, if your brand isn't showing up in AI-generated answers, there's a real risk you're invisible at the moment decisions are influenced.
Recent research shows that AI platforms generated 1.13 billion referral visits globally in June 2025, a 357% year-on-year increase. ChatGPT alone accounted for nearly 80% of those referrals. That rise in zero-click behaviour is reducing traditional traffic significantly.
…Marketing leaders now need to actively build AI search optimisation strategies that work for both human and agentic AI audiences.
Success in 2026 will depend on rethinking what visibility, authority and engagement really look like when impressions start to matter more than pageviews.
Public trust in the pharmaceutical industry remains fragile. Concerns around drug pricing, lingering vaccine scepticism in some markets and broader distrust in institutions will likely continue to shape how people feel about healthcare specially when we are surrounded by misinformation.
At the same time, patient expectations are rising. People increasingly expect:
For healthcare communicators, this creates a real tension. Trust has to be earned in an environment of tighter regulation, reputational risk and political scrutiny, while misinformation often spreads faster than evidence.
Pricing and reimbursement will remain one of the defining challenges of 2026.
In the UK, the impact of VPAG in 2025 has been significant and broadly aligned with what the industry feared. Pressure to justify value continues to intensify, particularly for high-cost therapies.
This is further heightened by uncertainty around Most Favoured Nation (MFN) pricing. The Guardian reported this year that pharmaceutical companies had paused nearly £2 billion in UK investment, citing pricing uncertainty.
Much is still unknown about how MFN will be implemented, but one thing is clear. Healthcare systems do need reform, in the UK, the US and beyond.
As Pharmaphorum puts it:
"Patients don't experience drug pricing as policy debates; they experience it as moments of diagnosis, treatment, and hope. Access delayed is access denied."
The real challenge for 2026 will be finding a sustainable balance between affordability and innovation, one that protects patient access while still enabling scientific progress.
GenAI is already part of how people find and make sense of health information, and that's not going to change anytime soon. What will matter more as we head into 2026 is how brands show up in that space.
People are using tools like ChatGPT and Copilot because they're quick and convenient, especially when something doesn't feel quite right. For many patients, that first interaction with healthcare now happens before they ever speak to a clinician.
But they're not taking what AI says at face value. Even as usage grows, people still look for validation. They want reassurance from trusted, human sources before making decisions or taking action.
LLMs cannot replicate relationship-building or emotional judgement. As more reputation and patient journeys begin inside AI assistants, PR shifts from awareness-building to a core driver of AI-era visibility and trust.
As we move towards 2026, healthcare is operating in a much noisier environment. Misinformation is easier to spread, AI-generated content is everywhere, and people are more cautious about what they trust. In that context, credibility isn't just important, it's everything.
Healthcare brands are increasingly choosing to show the people behind the care. Clinician-led stories, short-form video and community-focused content help bring real experiences to the surface and make organisations feel human, not distant or institutional.
Patients want reassurance that what they're reading is grounded in real science and real outcomes. Even as people increasingly use AI and online tools to explore health information, trust still sits firmly with human experts.
That shows up clearly in the data. In the UK, 63% of patients say they have definite confidence and trust in the HCPs they see.
What this tells us is that while technology may shape early discovery, validation still comes from people. Because of this, trust and thought leadership are becoming central to loyalty. Real evidence, expert voices and honest success stories help build relationships over time.
Working with key opinion leaders helps brands show up with real credibility inside clinical and professional communities, not just surface-level visibility. When these relationships are built properly, they can open doors to conferences, collaborations and genuine peer-to-peer trust.
What's changing is how intentional this has become. Brands are starting to look beyond the familiar names and ask where influence really sits today. By paying attention to things like clinical work, conference presence and professional engagement, they're building KOL relationships that reflect how credibility is actually shifting.
The brands that do this well tend to focus on a few simple things. They invest in human stories and clinician voices. They lead with evidence, transparency and expertise. And they build trust over time through PR, KOL partnerships and credible earned media.
That's what lasting loyalty looks like going into 2026.
The biggest problem for marketing teams right now isn't wasted budget; it's getting stuck.
We have more data than ever, but that hasn't made decisions easier. If anything, it's slowed things down. Teams are surrounded by dashboards, but still unsure what to act on, and when budgets are tight, waiting it out is often the most expensive choice you can make.
Across healthcare and pharma, marketing teams are being asked to do more with less. Leaders want clearer proof that activity is contributing to bigger goals like trust, reputation, behaviour change and patient outcomes, often on timelines that don't really match how healthcare works.
The issue isn't that impact isn't there. It's that it's hard to capture, measure and explain in a way that feels realistic and credible.
One of the biggest changes is moving away from measuring things just because we can. Impact in healthcare can be hard to demonstrate, whether that's because budgets are limited, data is difficult to access, or behaviour change takes time. That doesn't mean measurement isn't important; it just needs to be smarter, more flexible and more human.
The most effective teams are combining multiple approaches to build a compelling picture of impact:
Quantitative data such as engagement, reach and sentiment should be paired with qualitative insight, including stakeholder feedback, case studies and expert opinion.
Advanced analytics can help track journeys from communication to action, from social sentiment analysis to HCP engagement tracking. The goal is not more data, but clearer signals.
Data alone rarely inspires confidence or change. Pairing metrics with human stories, whether patient experiences or HCP behaviour shifts, makes impact tangible and meaningful.
…Demonstrating impact matters because it helps secure future investment, builds credibility, and allows teams to learn and improve. It also energises people by showing the real-world value of their work.
At its core, impact is about accountability to patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. It shouldn't be seen as the end of a campaign, but as the starting point for better decisions and better budgets next time.
AI as the "holy grail."
The conversation often skips over the nuance, the risks attached to AI reliance, and the bias. AI is powerful, but it's not a replacement for expertise, judgement or human context. In healthcare especially, expert input still matters, and probably always will.
Human credibility.
As AI accelerates content and discovery, organisations should focus on authenticity, real stories, expert voices and transparent communication.
In truth, the future of health comms isn't about content volume and speed, it is about the integrity behind it. … In health communications, that's not just a "nice to have" it's essential. Patients, HCPs, clients - they don't just want information. They want clarity. Humanity. A voice they can trust.
2025 reminded me that no matter how smart our tools get, what builds trust is not the content volume, it's the integrity behind it.
We've been helping clients create communications that don't just tick regulatory boxes, but actually sound like them. We've advised on content that aligns with brand tone and stays discoverable by AI. And we've had real conversations about when not to automate because preserving a brand's voice matters more than publishing faster.
Human-created will become a premium label.
As people get savvier, they're already scrolling past content that feels obviously AI-made. Perfectly polished faceless videos, flawless captions, and generic messaging just don't hold attention the way they used to.
What cuts through instead are real, imperfect moments. A human voice. A story that feels lived in. Even the small signs of human effort, a typo, a pause, a slightly rough edge, can make something feel more trustworthy.
Work that's clearly created, reviewed and owned by real experts will stand out. Not because it's perfect, but because it feels real. And in an increasingly automated world, that kind of authenticity will be worth more than ever.