Not long ago, a patient with a new diagnosis would type a question into a search bar, scan a page of blue links, and click through a few articles. That is no longer the default. Today, more and more people are starting their health research in a conversation with Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, or Claude, and getting one synthesized answer back.
For pharma marketers, that shift changes where brand visibility is won or lost.
The new front door
The behavior change is already measurable. According to KFF, 32% of adults now use AI for health advice. And these are not casual lookups: Rock Health reports that 59% of AI users search for specific treatment options after receiving a diagnosis, and 55% search for information about prescription drugs and/or side effects.
That is a high-intent moment of care, and it increasingly happens inside an AI answer rather than on a results page full of links. If your brand isn't cited in that answer, you are functionally invisible at exactly the moment a patient is deciding what to ask their doctor.
What we heard at Fierce Pharma Week
Brand teams brought one theme to nearly every conversation at September's Fierce Pharma Week: how do we show up in AI? They talked about the difficulty of navigating a landscape that changes by the month, and about staying top of mind with their target audiences when the interface between patients and information is being rewritten.
Our team came prepared. We hosted an exclusive AI Intelligence lunch where we shared AI search visibility insights and gave attendees a first look at AIQ, Fullspan Health's new solution for measuring and improving brand visibility across AI search platforms.
"AI search has fundamentally changed how consumers discover and trust health brands. People now search with far more personal detail and context, describing their symptoms, uploading images and sharing lab results. With so much health search volume moving into agentic experiences, measuring and optimizing visibility on these platforms is no longer optional. AIQ is the foundation of our agentic experience optimization (AEO) performance at Fullspan Health, and we’re excited to extend it to our partners so they can measure and improve their presence with confidence."
Anthony Machi, Senior Director of SEO at Fullspan Health
The room was engaged, and the questions were sharp. Here are the ones we heard most, and our answers.
Q: Can we see how we show up for specific prompt types, like treatment-specific questions? Yes. Prompt type matters, and visibility can look very different for a question about a specific therapy than for a general condition question. Building strategy at that level is exactly where we work with brands, and where our health expertise comes into play
Q: Can AIQ support unbranded campaigns? Yes. Patients often ask about a condition before they know a brand, so unbranded visibility matters. The approach has two parts: elevate condition awareness with trusted partners, then make sure your specific DSE message shows up in the answers AI gives.
Q: Do different agentic experiences behave differently? Yes. Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and Claude each draw on and cite sources differently, so a single, blended view can hide real gaps.
Q: Where does positive or negative sentiment show up? This is one of the most useful things to understand. Knowing not just whether you're mentioned but how helps teams decide where to act first.
Attendees also connected the dots on measurement. One President of Data and Analytics noted that the depth of measurement behind the snapshot data is solid, and that pairing AI visibility tracking with editorial and SEO consultation feels like the next evolution of earned media for brands.
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The bottom line
Navigating healthcare in the AI age requires measuring and earning citation authority where decisions happen. Fullspan Health pairs long-standing search authority with AIQ technology and content and media optimization so pharma brands don't just survive the move to AI search, but own their share of voice. According to Fullspan Health AIQ Analysis, in sample prompt sets, Fullspan Health properties were cited in 81% of migraine prompts, 71% of type 2 diabetes and obesity prompts, and 85.4% of rare disease and cystic fibrosis prompts, evidence of what decades of search authority can mean in an AI-first world.
Ready to see how your brand ranks in AI search?
Contact us and learn more about AIQ in our latest press release.
