The most interesting man in medical marketing

Episode Description

September 9, 2025 will go down as one of the most impactful days in the history of medical marketing.

After months of saber rattling, the Trump administration announced that the FDA would crack down on DTC pharma ads on linear TV and social media.

Yet September 9, 2025 wasn’t the apocalypse for medical marketing.

Sure, there were days that turned into weeks of general unease and worry across the industry, but this is a resilient bunch.

By the time we started conducting interviews with medical marketing shops for the 2026 Agency 100, most had gotten a handle on the situation and were baking in these challenges to their media plans and broader business strategies.

Following editor-at-large Steve Madden’s feature interview with industry veteran Ritesh Patel, we’re looking back on the past 365 days.

To mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the FDA’s pharma ad crackdown, executive editor Jack O’Brien joined by reporter Bella Czajkowski and pharma editor Lecia Bushak to talk about how the heightened regulatory focus has impacted pharma brands and their agency partners.

Lecia also recently caught up with 4A’s Health Executive Director Jim Potter about what has changed since the crackdown began and where things go from here for the medical marketing community. You’ll get to hear some of his insights during the course of our conversation on then, now and what comes next.