Postscripts Rx
Conversations Beyond the Prescription. Where pharma, HCPs, life science and digital health solutions meets patients—after the script is written. Conversations on digital health, engagement, and real-world impacts that are re-writing the future of patient engagement.
Postscripts Rx
From Hype to Impact: Pharma's 2025-26 Marketing Trends
Curious about where healthcare marketing is heading in the age of AI? Kait Tuson, Founder and CEO of Hello Helio, shares invaluable insights on navigating the complex intersection of technology, regulation, and patient care with Ryan Janvion of Medisafe.
The conversation begins with a candid look at AI adoption in healthcare—not just the hype, but the practical realities. While AI has become "table stakes" in the tech world, pharmaceutical companies face unique regulatory challenges that require a more measured approach. Kate offers a refreshing perspective on how tech innovators and Medical, Legal, and Regulatory (MLR) teams can collaborate rather than clash, suggesting that successful AI implementation will happen through "bite-sized moments" of testing and piloting in safe spaces.
We dive deep into the overcrowded messaging landscape where seemingly every healthcare company claims to offer "AI-powered patient engagement solutions." Kate cuts through the noise with practical advice on authentic differentiation: "Product has to be different actually." She emphasizes the importance of specificity—understanding exactly which part of the healthcare journey you're addressing and how your solution uniquely solves real problems. Her warning against the temptation to oversell capabilities resonates strongly: "Don't try to be something that you can't live up to."
What makes this conversation particularly valuable is Kate's perspective on healthcare transformation as a collaborative journey. She frames the current moment as a rare opportunity to participate in industry-wide change, encouraging tech innovators to approach regulatory teams with patience and understanding. For anyone working at the intersection of healthcare and technology, this discussion offers both strategic insights and practical wisdom for making a meaningful impact on patient care.
Ready to rethink your approach to healthcare marketing? Listen now and discover how to align your messaging with your unique contribution to healthcare transformation.
PostScripts Rx is not intended to constitute medical advice, nor is it intended to influence prescribing decisions or any other medical or clinical decision-making. All medical and clinical judgment and decision-making, prescribing decisions, and all related considerations remain exclusively the responsibility of providers and patients.
All right, hey guys, my name is Ryan Jambion. I am here with Kate Toussaint. Kate, you want to introduce yourself?
Speaker 2:Hi, yeah, I'm Kate Toussaint from Hello Helio and I do healthcare marketing strategy.
Speaker 1:Well, welcome to the podcast. We're excited to have you. So, Kate, you're a marketing strategist. You've worked with many companies, both health tech, pharma. You've done fractional CMO work. What do you see as far as industry trends that are really, you know, catching storm and getting a lot of steam when it comes to med tech, and what people, you know patients are desiring and pharma companies are looking for when it comes to this space?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, obviously a lot has happened. A lot continues to happen. You know, I would be silly to not mention AI, right? I mean that's the big, you know sexy thing that's happening in healthcare right now. I've been really across the board in tech. I think really, where all of this stems from is a deeper desire for brands to connect with their consumers, right for brands to connect with their consumers right.
Speaker 2:Consumers are demanding more from brands, from the healthcare experience as a whole, and so I think you're seeing this convergence of different tech players trying to fill those gaps between brand customer experience conversion, getting people to the right place at the right time. Patient navigation has never been a strength of the US healthcare system, right, so I think a lot of it really stems from that.
Speaker 1:Do you feel like so, obviously AI being the big talk, especially at the conference right now, what is real versus what's kind of a pipe dream currently, and where do you feel like things are going to shake out? Because there's obviously a lot of things when you think about overall from a tech perspective that's happening, but then you realize the regulatory scrutiny that pharma has to live under and how AI oftentimes goes against that. What's realistic for the pharma industry when it comes to leveraging AI tools?
Speaker 2:I mean, I think AI is table stakes from a tech perspective now, right, and so naturally, tech is going to adopt things sooner than pharma or just healthcare as a whole, and rightfully so. Right Regulations and compliance they're there to keep patients and providers safe and protected. And so I think real AI, not just something being masked as AI, an AI that actually has a true impact on patient outcomes, on addressing clinical burdens I mean, there's a shortage, right, and it's only going to get worse when we think about matching access and caring for patients in a timely manner. That's only going to get harder and harder, and so we need to think of ways of being more efficient in how we engage with patients, how we reach patients and really looking across that whole end-to-end patient journey. And I think AI has different solutions across that journey, and I think that's eventually. Pharma will just have to figure out how to adopt AI, probably in bite-sized moments, right, and testing and piloting, little ways of deploying AI in safe spaces and, like anything else, regulation will catch up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like kind of crawling, you know, over time getting them to a place where they can adopt more AI tools. Exactly, instead of just jumping off the deep end especially when you think about, like MLR, for example. For sure, All these marketers that have all these great ideas and they get kind of quashed by privacy compliance MLR.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean, if you think about it, the cool thing is actually health tech companies get to be a part of that journey, right, and get to work with MLR teams and get them more comfortable with different use cases and pilot stuff. I mean it's a cool space to be in right now, right. I mean you don't get to say that you get to work in healthcare transformation or even any industry transformation very often, and it's, I think, if there has to be some patience and some give and take, and I mean patience, not patience with an S, but I think it takes a lot of patience from the tech teams that are excited and they have new stuff to try. But it's a collaboration. It's not going to be something that is one directional, and I think if tech teams can have the patience to work with MLR teams and work through all of those challenges together, I think that can really have an impact.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good point. You ready for one more question? Sure, all right. So you mentioned med tech companies. So obviously you work a lot with med tech companies on messaging, on framing, et cetera. As you walk around, you see the different things you know, see different messaging with booths and presentations, et cetera. What is most effective when it comes to breaking through the noise? Right, a lot of people are starting to sound the same AI powered, hcp engagement, patient adherence, patient engagement. When you come in with your services, what's your approach in recommending to companies how they can really differentiate themselves and break through the noise to reach, you know, their end, client, pharma, whatever, whoever they're trying to target?
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, I only like to work with clients who are truly trying to do something unique.
Speaker 1:So product, I imagine, start with the product right. Product has to be different actually.
Speaker 2:Or vision right Product strategy. I think you know there's a lot of patient engagement solutions out there, but patient engagement is table of stakes and patient engagement means different things at different stages of pharmaceutical development right, are you? Talking about? You know clinical trial, patient engagement Are you talking about? You know something pre-diagnostic, you know post-prescription. It means different things.
Speaker 2:And, I think, really being clear and specific around what piece do you own, what piece do you want to own, how do you want to grow, in what areas? And also, of course, harnessing your strengths, right, like, don't try to be something that you can't live up to. Yet I've seen a lot of companies do that Right.
Speaker 1:Don't oversell, I imagine.
Speaker 2:Oversell under deliver. I mean that's a big no.
Speaker 1:no, it doesn't matter if you're in health care, credibility is just ruined at that point.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I think credibility in this industry is so important because I mean, going back to the MLR teams you're not taking big risks with newbies and so I think the companies that have established credibility, trust track records of success. But the hard thing is, how do you differentiate when everybody's calling themselves a platform, this and a patient engagement, that right. And so I think, really getting your story right and and aligning that with product strategy of, like, where is it going, where do you want to grow and where, like it comes down to, what do you want to change about health care? Like, what piece of the health care transformation do you want to be a part of right and where do you want to drive impact?
Speaker 1:So focus.
Speaker 2:Focus on that and then the messaging and the story kind of dovetails from there.
Speaker 1:That's good, we appreciate it. Thanks for joining the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Of course, great talking.
Speaker 2:You too.
