The biggest marketing trends to look out for at Fierce Pharma Week 2026

AI was the headline and the buzzword at most pharma marketing conferences for the last few years, but as we enter the fall of 2026, there’s already been a marked shift in how AI is being discussed in the industry.

Looking ahead to Fierce Pharma Week, marketers will focus less on the exciting potential of AI — and more on how they can measure already-implemented AI tools to ensure their accuracy and value.

The balance between AI-powered efficiency and authentic human connection will be brought into sharp focus, Catherine Fitzpatrick, EVP and health lead at Weber Shandwick, notes.

“I’m looking forward to discussions and learnings about how we can embrace AI’s potential while keeping healthcare communications and engagement personal, specific, empathetic and rooted in the real people we’re trying to reach,” she says.  

Other big overarching themes — like omnichannel and reimagining trust in pharma — will play a role throughout the conference, according to Eugene Lee, group president for the specialty communications business unit at CMI Media Group. But the underlying thread among all these topics is transformation: Lee urges marketers attending this conference and other events in the industry to constantly question current marketing strategies and be willing to imagine new ways of doing things.

“People should be going into a Fierce Pharma Week conversation being open to change,” Lee says. “A lot of the legacy reasons or principles we abide by are worth questioning. It’s worth asking: Is this really the right thing for today’s day and age, for this moment in time, or the years to come?”

Here are some of the biggest trends marketers should keep an eye on this year.

AI accuracy, measurement and ‘completeness’

It’s hard to pinpoint whether there even is a thematic buzzword for the 2026 conference, compared to AI, connected TV and omnichannel in years past.

It’s expected that most pharma companies and agencies have adopted AI across the majority of their processes, so the focus this year will be on unearthing what AI tools are truly bringing in value. Lee expects accuracy to be a major point of discussion at the conference, particularly when it comes to marketers ensuring their LLMs and AI tools are spitting out correct information.

“The most important topic right now is accuracy, completeness and proper representation of brand in health and science,” Lee explains. “LLMs are pulling information from the entire internet, and let’s face it — the entire internet is not filled with the most accurate and correct information. It’s one of the most important topics that has to be addressed.”

Marketers should come prepared to question how to measure the value of their AI tools and scrutinize whether these tools are truly servicing patients and HCPs in the best way.

Sarah Heming, interim VP of strategic marketing at Diaceutics, agrees that the conference discussions will be less about how pharma is experimenting with AI broadly — and more about how the industry can use it clinically with the right governance, implementation and measurable impacts.

She’s especially keeping an eye on how AI is being adopted in the patient and HCP engagement space with measurement in mind — making sure that marketers are not simply reaching the right person with AI, but reaching them with the relevant information and the right clinical standing that medically helps them make an informed decision.

“We’re going to hear less about, ‘Look at what AI can do,’ and hopefully more about where it has made a difference and changed a decision and an outcome,” Heming explains. “That’s a really healthy shift — questioning the usefulness of baseline data for clicks, engagement rates and measures of healthcare AI.”

In particular, she hopes to see more marketers using AI less as something that provides more data and overloads patients and HCPs with information, and more as an enabler to capture sentiment, emotional messaging and consideration of their environment.

The next iteration of omnichannel

Like in years past, Fierce Pharma Week will have a big focus on omnichannel. Wednesday will hold numerous panels on omnichannel, including some that explore why traditional omnichannel strategies aren’t keeping pace with changing clinician behavior and how agentic AI is being implemented in omnichannel.

The focus this year will be on how to best evolve omnichannel to create personalization and next-best-action experiences for patients and HCPs, Lee says.

“I believe the space is transforming where it’s not only about the brand, marketing and the advertising message delivery — but it can also be about the scientific exchange and medical communication parts of it too,” Lee explains. “Omnichannel is not a new thing, but it’s an evolution of the complexities and the technological sophistication that we have at our disposal.”

He adds that medical affairs, which has its own track at the conference this year, will have a special spotlight as “it’s primed for a transformation.” Lee notes that patient and HCP audiences are increasingly craving medical and scientific communications done well in addition to the marketing and brand side of the business.

Edith Hodkinson, chief strategy officer at Populus Health, adds that she expects to see a focus on virtual care as an increasingly trusted channel, specifically around how marketers can employ strategies that “match how connected the HCP-patient experience has become.”

“The biggest shift is in how the category is being defined,” Hodkinson points out. “Patients and providers no longer separate video, phone, text, email and portal messaging into different buckets… which means the industry needs to start planning around moments in the patient journey rather than isolated channels.”

Trust in pharma and other trends

Several panels will also touch on a major theme that will likely be simmering in the background throughout the conference — rebuilding trust in pharma — amid the backdrop of political scrutiny and public skepticism. Tuesday morning starts off with an 8:15 a.m. keynote address exactly on this topic, featuring Genentech chief marketing officer Zoe Lazarre, who’ll discuss the company’s “All Eyes on DME” campaign alongside actor Damon Wayans.

Other topics that will likely be making an appearance at the conference are how GLP-1s have changed marketing; and how marketers are adapting their advertising strategies in response to the Food and Drug Administration’s flurry of Untitled Letters and proposed rulemaking to remove adequate provision.

Heming also urges marketers to pay attention to case studies at the conference in order to evaluate what strategies, campaigns or tools come with the highest level of impact.

“A session that talks you through a specific case study with strong outcomes and how they’ve actually delivered something can be incredibly powerful,” Heming says.

“Make the most of building your networks before you get there,” she adds. “So then you’ve got some time to plan what you’re attending, but also have meaningful discussions with people during the breaks.”