BLOG POST
The conversations at Fierce Pharma Week mirrored much of what we see every day in our work with life sciences organizations.
This year’s Fierce Pharma Week once again brought together leaders from across the life sciences industry to discuss the strategies, technologies and trends transforming how we engage with patients, providers and healthcare communities.
The conversations ranged from the transformative role of AI to the importance of authentic engagement and the ongoing evolution of omnichannel engagement.
Here are our three biggest takeaways from the event.
1 | AI is enabling precision and empathy
Artificial intelligence dominated the conversation at Fierce Pharma Week, with many speakers highlighting how agentic and generative AI are helping marketers move from retrospective targeting to anticipatory engagement.
One of the most powerful moments came during the keynote, “AI: A Lifeline—How I Lived the Future as a Patient.” In this session, John Duffield from Omnicom Health, an open-heart surgery survivor, shared his own health journey and described how AI served as a bridge between fragmented data, clinical decision making and the lived experience of being a patient. Rather than just a tool for efficiency, AI was positioned as a literal lifeline—one that can anticipate needs, support clinicians in critical moments and empower patients with timely, personalized information.
“What struck me most was the idea that AI could—and should—be a patient’s best friend throughout the health journey,” says Ed Simoes, Senior Client Experience Manager at Phreesia. “It wasn’t just about monitoring symptoms or finding a diagnosis, it was about giving patients equal footing in conversations with their care teams. Seeing how AI could act as both a coaching tool and a source of emotional support really resonated with me. It showed how technology can empower patients to stay active in their care while easing the burden on their caregivers.”
That message echoed throughout the week. In the session, “AI with EQ: Leading with Empathy in Healthcare’s Data-Driven Era,” IQVIA’s Andrew Burkus emphasized that the real opportunity isn’t just efficiency, it’s humanizing AI-driven interactions. Together, these perspectives underscored a consistent theme: AI delivers the most value when it blends predictive power with emotional intelligence to make patient and provider interactions feel more personal and empathetic.
The lesson: AI is not just about automation or prediction; it’s about building trust and connection. When applied responsibly, AI can move the industry closer to precision engagement while ensuring those engagements remain deeply human.
2 | Authenticity builds trust that lasts
Another major theme was authenticity. As healthcare engagement increasingly mirrors consumer expectations, patients and providers want interactions that feel transparent, personalized and relevant.
Actress Jamie-Lynn Sigler’s keynote on living with multiple sclerosis underscored what patients wish the industry understood about their everyday lives. Later, Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall, Pfizer’s former Chief Medical and Patient Officer, challenged the pharmaceutical industry to confront its trust gap head on.
The lesson: Authentic engagement isn’t optional. It’s the foundation for building trust. Organizations that prioritize empathy, transparency and real patient perspectives will earn credibility that translates into long-term impact.
3 | Omnichannel success depends on execution
“Omnichannel” has been a buzzword for years, but at Fierce Pharma Week, leaders emphasized that true success comes not from being everywhere, but from being intentional.
As Phreesia’s Isaac Gealer noted during the “Bridging the Gap Between Omnichannel Strategy and Execution” panel, the key is aligning cross-functional teams and orchestrating seamless journeys across pre-visit, in-office and post-visit experiences.
“When omni and brand teams, medical, agencies, and media partners collaborate from day one, campaigns don’t just stay compliant—they become powerful, patient-first experiences that move the needle,” Gealer says. “Alignment from start to finish is the key to delivering real outcomes.”
The lesson: Omnichannel engagement only works when strategy and execution are tightly connected. It’s not about more touchpoints, it’s about the right ones, coordinated to create consistent, relevant experiences.
Turning industry trends into real-world impact
The conversations at Fierce Pharma Week mirrored much of what we see every day in our work with life sciences organizations. At Phreesia, our mission is to make care easier every day, and we do that by ensuring patients and providers receive the right information, at the right time, in the right place. We see these takeaways not as distant goals, but as the foundation of how we help our partners succeed.
- AI with empathy: We’re investing in smarter ways to connect real-world data with patient and provider needs in real time, ensuring that engagement isn’t just efficient, it’s also meaningful.
- Authenticity at the point of care: By supporting patient- and provider-centered messaging, we help life sciences companies communicate in ways that are transparent, relevant and empathetic.
- Omnichannel made practical: With solutions that extend across digital touchpoints, in-office moments and follow-up communication, we help our partners bring omnichannel strategies to life with clarity and precision.
“What really came through for me across all sessions was a single, unifying thread: the need to support patients at every stage of their journey with personalized, relevant resources,” says Kristin McHugh, Senior Client Experience Manager at Phreesia. “That mission is at the heart of everything we do at Phreesia.”
“This year’s Fierce Pharma Week wasn’t just about trends. It was about action,” adds Ryan Mazar, Associate Director of Client Experience at Phreesia. “The actions we take now will define how well we serve patients and providers in the years to come.”
This forward-looking mindset is critical, because the future of pharma marketing will be defined by these three imperatives. The challenge now is turning those imperatives into sustained action. For life sciences organizations, that means building trust through every interaction, ensuring strategies scale across teams and touchpoints, and keeping patient and provider needs at the center of every decision.
The conversations may have ended in Philadelphia, but the momentum continues. As part of that momentum, we were excited to soft launch our new HCP engagement solution at Fierce Pharma Week, further expanding how we help life sciences organizations connect with providers at the point of care. By grounding industry insights into the point-of-care experience, we aim to help our clients transform trends into action and create stronger connections across the healthcare journey.
Learn more about how Phreesia can help you engage patients and providers.
