DHC Disrupt 2026

The era of passive health information is ending as patients increasingly turn to conversational AI for actionable guidance in their health journey. As this shift replaces the traditional engagement model, pharma marketers face a reality where standard media plans no longer guarantee brand visibility. To address this evolution, Fullspan Health will unveil new consumer research on the AI-assisted patient, the risk of trust associated with health AI, and where privacy barriers are still limiting adoption. During this session, industry leaders will demonstrate how brands can rise above the complex AIO landscape and move beyond information delivery to drive high-intent, real-world actions.

This session reframes growth through the patient leakage funnel- examining where demand is created, where it breaks down, and where coordinated intervention can most effectively improve outcomes for patients and care teams. Grounded in real customer challenges and powered by high-intent signals, clinical data, and digitally enabled care models, we will move from theory to execution- showing how organizations connect early intent to activation, support initiation, and reinforce continuity. Because growth isn’t driven by more demand- it’s unlocked by converting the demand you already have.

For two years, every conference has told pharma an AI story. What that story tends to skip over is that at most companies, brand, HCP marketing, and the field each work from a different list of the same doctors. Three teams, three audiences, one customer. Follow the money and the pattern is clear. The big holding companies have spent the last two years buying data companies more aggressively than AI startups, because the data that feeds the models is what actually creates the advantage.

This session is about the audience underneath the model. Two pharma commercial leaders join from opposite seats: an activation leader who has lived the integrated “after” at scale, and an oncology P&L owner whose number moves when the data underneath it works. The conversation gets into what it takes to get three teams onto one integrated, compliant audience, where organizations get stuck, and what to do over the next two years so data and AI investments compound instead of collide.

Two years ago, privacy compliance in pharma marketing was a constraint to be worked around. Today it’s an architecture — and the brands that built it first are seeing the efficiency gains. De-identified claims data is moving through governed cloud environments into activation. Contextual signal is reaching high-intent patients at scale without touching identity. Tokenized match-back is proving real treatment outcomes rather than clicks. These aren’t competing answers to the same problem; they’re layers of one working stack.

As direct-to-patient programs become a core commercial growth channel, pharma marketers face a critical measurement gap: proving which media investments and sources actually drive patients from ad clicks to filled prescriptions.

Visibility often disappears the moment a patient leaves a branded experience for an online pharmacy or telehealth partner. Without measurement across the full patient journey, marketers struggle to ascertain which investments drive therapy starts, what it truly costs to acquire a patient, and where to allocate budget for growth.

In this fireside chat, Amanda Ciktor, Director of Omnichannel Strategy at AstraZeneca, and Tom Spiegelman, CPTO at Freshpaint, will discuss how leading pharma organizations are rebuilding measurement infrastructure for the DTP era while navigating compliance pressures and organizational complexity.

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For the last 30 years, the video game industry has distilled the neurochemical recipe for engaging billions of people for ridiculous lengths of time – simultaneously rewiring their behavior.

In this talk, we will explore how brands can use this technology and neuroscience to precisely target HCPs and drive tens of thousands of deep, high-quality interactive engagements. Measure engagement time in minutes, not seconds – while captivated prescribers learn to diagnose, treat, and prescribe your brand.

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Highlights from DHC DISRUPT 2025