In a new white paper, Havas Lynx lays out ways in which pharma marketers can—and should, according to the health comms agency—use their platforms to battle rampant misinformation.
The “Doctored Truths” report cites data showing that up to a third of health content on social media may contain misinformation and that patients are losing trust in the health information they receive from practically every authority figure, including their primary care doctors and both government and non-government bodies such as the World Health Organization.
The widespread mistrust extends to pharma, too. As the report notes, fewer than 20% of millennial healthcare professionals (HCPs) say they trust branded pharma websites, while only about a third of U.S. patients trust pharmas’ direct-to-consumer ads.
Havas Lynx urged drugmakers to use those findings to reshape their outreach strategies to focus less on product promotion and more on educational content and disease-state awareness campaigns, which reportedly already outperform DTC ads in measures of trust and engagement.
“If pharma can pivot from promotion to public health shapers, from selling to serving, it can reclaim its relevance,” the report claims. “By becoming data-driven disease educators, not simply prescription pushers, pharma has the chance to make a meaningful impact—not just on patient lives, but on public trust itself.”
More than 70% of HCPs say pharma has a responsibility to battle misinformation, but only 40% believe the industry is currently doing enough, according to the agency’s data.
As for where pharmas should direct that refocused strategy, the white paper notes that misinformation is rampant across practically every disease area. Particularly vulnerable are conditions that are linked to emotional distress, complex science and limited treatment options, such as cancer, multiple sclerosis, obesity, chronic pain, infectious diseases and mental health conditions.
The report wraps up by offering “the three Cs” to guide the process of combating misinformation: counsel, curb and correct. Under that framework, education efforts should aim, respectively, to teach the public how to properly evaluate health information and spot misinformation; to slow the spread of misinformation, including by pressuring social media platforms to stop profiting off inaccurate info; and to debunk specific points of misinformation.
“The spread of health misinformation isn’t just a concern; it’s a profound threat to patient well-being and the very foundation of evidence-based medicine,” Havas Lynx CEO Claire Knapp said in a Thursday release, adding that the whitepaper “underscores the immense responsibility and opportunity for the pharmaceutical industry” in addressing the issue.
“Pharma could hold the antidote—with its deep scientific expertise and extensive reach, it is uniquely positioned to reclaim trust and safeguard health outcomes,” Knapp added. “It’s not just an ethical imperative, but a strategic necessity for the industry’s future.”