Recapping the top 10 Fierce Pharma Marketing stories of 2025

It’s been another whirlwind year in the world of pharma marketing. The year’s most enduring narratives revolved around industrywide shifts heavily influenced by Trump administration directives: a crackdown on direct-to-consumer drug advertising and an increase in direct-to-patient drug sales. (For more thoughts on how both of those sagas will continue into 2026, check out our forecast pieces here and here.) Indeed, each of those trends was reflected several times over in Fierce Pharma Marketing’s most-read stories of the year, alongside special reports, event coverage and, of course, news bulletins from the ever-evolving GLP-1 front. Far and away the most popular story in 2025 was our January report on the most anticipated drug launches of the coming year, which appears to have served as a regular reference guide for many readers throughout the year. To date, seven of the 10 drugs have secured FDA approvals, with at least one more possible before the end of 2025—not a bad record at all for Evaluate, the source of the data. Next up was a September article about the immediate aftermath of the aforementioned DTC crackdown, chronicling the 40 untitled letters and almost 70 warning letters posted by the FDA at the time, all detailing the agency’s issues with various TV drug ads and other marketing materials. Many of the postings have since been updated with close-out letters from the FDA affirming that its concerns have been addressed. The year’s third most-read story was about Novo Nordisk’s response to the controversy sparked by a Super Bowl ad from telehealth company Hims & Hers that accused makers of GLP-1 obesity meds of pricing their products “for profits, not patients.” The day after the big game, Novo published a full-page ad in national newspapers calling into question the non-FDA-approved compounded versions of its semaglutide sold by Hims & Hers and others. No. 4 on the list was our coverage of a proposed bill from independent Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine that sought to bring down a total moratorium on DTC pharma advertising. After its June introduction in the Senate, the bill has yet to make any legal progress—and would likely face stiff opposition under the terms of the First Amendment if it were to advance. In fifth place was a write-up of an analyst report suggesting that physicians were enthusiastic about the prospect of prescribing Novo’s Wegovy to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, shortly after its August approval in the indication. Close behind was a thorough recap of the pharma and healthcare companies that made it onto the shortlists at the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June, including multiple nods for Biogen. Overall, our coverage of the event spanned several stories, including a deep dive into the Biogen ad that ultimately took gold. Lucky No. 7 for 2025 is the most recent on the list: our early December article on Lilly’s move to reduce the price of single-dose vials of its obesity and sleep apnea GLP-1 med Zepbound for cash-paying patients—coming hot on the heels of similar discounts offered by Novo for its competing drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic. In eighth place was the latest edition of our annual #FierceMadness tournament, which racked up plenty of views throughout the three-week-long competition. This year’s version focused on TV drug ads and saw Apellis Pharmaceuticals’ Syfovre spot starring Henry Winkler edge out a similarly charming commercial for AstraZeneca’s Airsupra. Stay tuned for next year’s tournament, which will launch in March and see the best (and weirdest) drug names of the last two years go head to head. But back to GLP-1s: Ninth place went to another pricing update for Novo’s blockbuster meds, as it expanded previously set discounts for self-paying Wegovy patients to include Ozempic, too. Finally, the 10th most-read story for 2025 was an early entry in what would go on to become a tidal wave of stories about Big Pharmas introducing direct-to-patient programs offering their popular meds at discounted prices, as the federal government has requested. BMS in September unveiled one such initiative, marking Sotyktu down from its retail price of more than $6,800 to $950 for a month’s supply for eligible U.S. cash-pay patients. Thank you for keeping up with Fierce Pharma Marketing this year. We look forward to bringing you thoughtful and incisive coverage of the biggest stories again in 2026. And a reminder to all readers to nominate any up-and-coming pharma marketing pros you know for our “Rising Stars” feature series, which launched this past fall and has already turned the spotlight on more than a dozen early-career standouts in regular Q&As—all of which you can check out here.