Pharma Forward 2026

Now available to stream – “Precision at Scale: Advanced Targeting in Search,” a panel from Pharma Forward: A DHCG x Google Summit. The panel features Courtney Mullen from CMI Media Group, Marc Minassian from Genentech and Rodrigo Cunha from Google. It highlighted the increasing importance of paid search and brand websites for healthcare marketers, citing significant growth in health-related searches and pharma website traffic. The discussion emphasized how evolving user search behavior, now characterized by longer, intent-driven queries, makes AI critical for advanced and scalable targeting. A major takeaway was Google’s expansion of first-party data activation, enabling pharma to leverage NPI lists and other proprietary data for precise, privacy-safe HCP targeting across search, video, and display. While AI offers immense potential for real-time creative iteration, the panel underscored the need for specialized “sandbox” environments to navigate medical, legal, and regulatory review processes. Ultimately, marketers must shift focus from keyword ownership to intent-driven optimization, leveraging AI and robust first-party data to achieve measurable outcomes and reinforcing brand websites as central engagement hubs. View the panel here.