4 Highlights from our Data, Privacy, and AI in Pharma Roundtable

4 Highlights from our Data, Privacy, and AI in Pharma Roundtable 

More than 73% of pharma marketers are utilizing generative AI for communications and creative purposes, and nearly 63% are leveraging it for content production.

As pharma brands increase their testing and use of GenAI and first-party data, they will need to ensure compliance with HIPAA, GDPR, and other standards. They will also need to integrate these diverse data sources, maintain patient trust, and ethically deploy AI solutions to target and engage healthcare professionals (HCPs) and consumers in a privacy-first landscape. PulsePoint’s VP of Data and Analytics, Jonathan Zile, recently joined other industry leaders to discuss data, privacy, and AI in pharma. Here’s a quick recap of their conversation, with four main takeaways to consider as a pharma marketer. 

1. Co-creating with clients to drive AI and data innovation—and lower risk

There is a significant perceived risk associated with technologies newer to the pharmaceutical industry, such as AI. Zile said that innovation doesn’t necessarily mean more risk—but it does necessitate leaning on the right partners to assume some of the responsibilities inherent in testing emerging tech. 

“What we’ve found at PulsePoint is that the most effective way to help our clients, to help marketers innovate in AI and first-party data, is to co-create,” Zile said. “We like to work with clients, understand what their business use cases are, understand really what their specific needs are, and collaborate.” 

Given that PulsePoint has much expertise, compliance, and regulation embedded in our platform, “When we co-create together, we are already starting from a common ground,” Zile added. Clients can bring their first-party data, data strategy, and technology and use PulsePoint’s tools to understand the key pieces of information necessary for a pharma campaign and inform optimization strategies in an ongoing, automated manner.‍

2. Opportunities abound for using structured and unstructured data

The old saying goes that when it comes to AI, it’s either garbage in, garbage out, or diamonds in, diamonds out. 

However, marketers don’t have their hands tied here—they can investigate where the data is sourced from and utilize tools to define a specific set of sources, thereby honing in on insights that help them create smarter marketing. This includes both structured data, such as clinical trial data and patient information, and unstructured data, including transcripts of research or social listening.

“I think the magic happens when you’re able to combine the structured and the unstructured data together,” said Lauren Lawhon, president and COO at Health Union. “That’s actually what AI is really, really good at doing—surfacing those insights and recognizing patterns to develop those actionable strategies.”‍

3. It starts with the “Cs”

How internet users understand what data is being collected and what you are doing with that data is imperative to earning their trust and consent to market to them as a pharma brand. For Lawhon’s team, this necessitates a few more critical “c” words: clarity, certainty, choice, and context. 

“Context is really important when you’re balancing personalization and AI-driven insights,” she said. “It is a challenge to remain human in the face of technology and to remember that at the end of the day, these are people. And all of our goals are to improve their health outcomes.”

4. Compliance can be a competitive advantage 

Pharma marketers often feel trepidation regarding the nuances of compliance guidelines, which is understandable. However, there is a significant opportunity to reframe compliance in a more positive light.

“I don’t think of [compliance] as a roadblock,” Zile said. “It can be a blueprint for how to accomplish something innovative.” 

Compliance provides guidelines on what you can and cannot do as a marketer. And once you know what you can do, you can drive forward in those lanes. However, it doesn’t mean that what you currently can’t do compliantly as a marketer will always be the case.

“You need to accept as a marketer that ‘no’ is ok, and you need to put some effort into adhering to those rules and why,” said Tyler Doppelheuer, healthcare data product and strategy product director at IQVIA.

He recommends relying on the data governance team at your organization and leveraging any marketing partners you have to stay up-to-date and aware of data governance and compliance risks.

“If your partner isn’t bringing you those things upfront, they are transferring that risk to you,” he added.

To listen to the full recording of the roundtable, click here.