The way patients and physicians search for health information has fundamentally changed. In this executive interview, Joe Malunda, executive vice president, U.S. Digital Team and Operations Lead at GCI Health, explains how AI-powered search tools are reshaping pharmaceutical marketing and communications—and why traditional engagement models are no longer enough.
With millions of people turning to AI platforms for real-time health answers, brands now face a zero-click environment where trust, visibility and accuracy are determined before a user ever visits a website. Malunda outlines how this shift impacts patient behavior, physician decision-making and the growing expectation that AI delivers clear, confident answers.
The conversation also explores generative engine optimization (GEO) as a critical new capability for pharma communicators. From managing competitive risk to ensuring content is discoverable by large language models, Malunda shares why curiosity, adaptability and mastering emerging tools will separate brands that break through from those that fade into the background.
Rebecca Willumson:
Hi there. My name's Rebecca Willumson. I'm the publisher of Fierce Pharma, and I'm here today with Joe Malunda, executive vice president of US Digital Team and Operations Lead at GCI Health. Joe, thanks so much for joining me.
Joe Malunda:
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Rebecca Willumson:
To start us off, tell me from your perspective, what is the biggest shift happening in pharmaceutical marketing right now, and how is it reshaping the way brands engage with their audiences?
Joe Malunda:
I am the digital guy. So I will have to talk about AI for a little bit, but I promise not until 10 seconds in. But more overarchingly, what's incredibly interesting is that the way that people are searching for information has just completely been upended in just the past year alone.
So 40 million people every single day around the world log onto ChatGPT and ask it a health question. And on the flip side, 40% of all US physicians log onto OpenEvidence, which is essentially the ChatGPT for doctors and ask it a question that actually then informs their clinical decision making.
And what is so apparent now is how we really think through this new kind of expectation of not just how people are searching for information, but the expectation of the answer that they're providing. We actually ran a US pulse survey at GCI Health for US physicians.
And what we found is that 90% of all physicians that we surveyed reported that patients actually came to them saying that they felt more informed and actually asked questions based off what they were asking ChatGPT. And there's a little bit of this interesting paradigm shift that we're seeing now where we're no longer actually, and I'm sure you've heard the concept of generative engine optimization or GEO often. I've certainly heard it often over the past few days.
We now have to really think about not just how we talk and market and communicate to a patient, but actually how we shift the aperture and develop content that ultimately is meant to train an NLM because that's where all the information is coming from, and that's where everyone is actually going to find the answers that they're seeking.
The last bit on that, that is incredibly fascinating is that in the year since AI overviews actually launched on Google, meaning the answers that you're seeing before any of the actual search results, the amount of people who actually don't click on a single link has gone up to 69%.
This time last year, I was actually in the 31% of people that clicked on all the citations just to make sure how truthful was it. Now, I actually trust these AI overviews and the search results that they're actually getting the answer that I'm actually asking in real time. And there's just a very fundamental shift in how we really need to think about how people are seeking and the expectation for finding information.
Rebecca Willumson:
So with AI search collapsing the traditional health information funnel into a zero click experience, tell me what is the potential impact on the patient experience?
Joe Malunda:
I think it's a little bit of a double-edged sword because that same pulse survey that we ran, we actually found that 68% of those physicians that we surveyed actually had patients question or refuse treatment because of something they had on AI search.
Unbelievably, high percentage of people who are already actively thinking through the answers that they're seeing on AI search. Now, on the flip side, I fundamentally believe that AI search is really a force for good, right? Because at its core, AI search and GEO is really here to narrow the gap between patient and provider. How I really envision that is that patients might not feel comfortable going to their doctor and asking them all of these questions, but they might feel comfortable asking introductory questions to ChatGPT or to Google or to Claude.
And based off the answers that they're being provided and fed out, they're able to actually then ask additional questions. And that really starts to form a more informed and ultimately empowered patient. Now, the challenge, going back to that 68% stat is what happens when a patient comes to you with the wrong information or different types of information that you as a brand or you as a company don't necessarily want that patient to be going down. And there's a little bit of that double-edged sword of how to really figure out how to deliver the right information at that right time for somebody searching for that information.
Rebecca Willumson:
Now, across our industry, what are the most significant risks for pharmaceutical companies that fail to adapt to the AI-driven information landscape? And what does mastering GEO truly unlock for them?
Joe Malunda:
When we talk about GEO, I think every single person is talking about it. And then there are companies and brands that are doing something about it. So the risk of not doing anything is really twofold here. One, there are an infinite amount of questions that a patient could be asking, but there's really a finite number of answers to those questions.
There's going to be an answer to everything, and it's a little bit of binary yes or no. Is your brand a part of the answer or is it not a part of the answer? The second risk really starts to manifest itself with the ever-changing marketing and media environment that we see ourselves in right now.
So there's just a lot of more things coming out. There's a lot of noise. There's a lot of clutter, but in juxtaposition to all of that noise and clutter, people's media diets and information diets are actually shrinking.
And what I mean about that is everyone is retreating to the same four or five sources that they trust. Going back to that 40 million people a day statistic, we know that ChatGPT and Google and Claude are trusted sources in that ever-shrinking media diet.
So later on down the year, you want to ensure that your content that you're putting out there is actually going to be findable because if you're putting content out there and no one's seeing it, whether it's a real live user or whether it's an LLM, you're actually giving your competitors a lot of free airspace to kind of take over and be the answer that people are searching for.
Now, when we think about mastering GEO and really overcoming those risks, GEO is really able to help unlock the full end-to-end marketing and communications funnel when done rights, right? So GEO can really act as an upper funnel tactic where we can fill the funnel with people who are asking very introductory questions about a condition that they have or maybe a recent diagnosis that a loved one has.
But with all of those questions and those introductory answers, if your brand is actually part of the answer, that might empower a patient to ask more questions and feel more comfortable and feel more empowered with the answers that they're seeking. They can actually be pushed down marketing and communication funnels into more of that highly engaged, highly informed patient.
And GEO is really there not just to help them feel comfortable and empowered to make a treatment decision or search for available options, but just as importantly, it prevents them from leaking out of the funnel into perhaps a brand's competitor.
Rebecca Willumson:
And so given the increasing reliance on AI for health-related queries, what are the most critical, actionable steps pharmaceutical communicators should be taking right now to ensure their brands effectively become the answer in AI-powered search results?
Joe Malunda:
Yeah. Generative engine optimization, GEO, is happening in real time and it can be incredibly overwhelming. There's just so much that it touches, and you don't want to get into a maelstrom of anxiety of the job that needs to be done. So really, critically, it's understanding the few pieces and few content assets that will really drive the most impact.
So at GCI Health, we just the other month launched our proactive and proprietary GEO offering that we're calling GEOrge, so GEO [inaudible 00:08:15], very strong, sturdy name, a very friendly name. But what GEOrge really does is it helps audit a baseline of where a brand is, where a company is, where they are from a therapeutic area perspective. And it starts to measure and assess what we're calling an AI visibility score. So what is the baseline of all of the questions that people are asking around your brand or your company, and how often are you actually being cited right now?
And then just as importantly, how often are your competitors being cited? From there, it actually starts to form content recommendations. And the content recommendations can be limitless. So what GEOrge really does, because it is a proprietary agent, is GEOrge can identify the two or three content opportunities that will drive the highest amount of impact to increase the likelihood of you getting cited with some of the top searches that patients, providers, media investors are making in a real-time basis.
So for some people and for some of our clients, it was re-imagining a press release and how can they write press releases at the enterprise level to be more GEO friendly? For other companies, it's maybe a publication strategy. What journal should they be in to maximize the AI visibility?
For other companies, it might actually be around their earned media and PR strategy. There are certain journalists and members of the media that are carrying more outsized waiting and being cited in AI search and in GEO. Does that then reframe how people think about their earned media and pitching strategy?
Really being able to understand the one or two pieces of content in the near term starts to help maximize your readiness over time. And we're really in the first inning right now, but you want to be up a couple runs as the game continues versus having to lag behind because your competitors are already taking up and capturing that share of voice and opportunity space that maybe you might have decided you weren't ready for, but they thought they were.
Rebecca Willumson:
What separates brands that truly break through from those that simply add to the noise?
Joe Malunda:
The best brands now and into the future that are really going to be able to break through are the ones where the people behind them are curious and they ask questions at the end of the day, right? It seems a little existential. But when we think about in history, the best marketers, the best communicators have really been the ones who have mastered the tools of their time.
So when we think about social media, when we think about mobile phones, when we think about the internet, cable news, the newspaper going all the way back to the printing press, right now, we have all of these different types of new tools at our disposal. And the only limiting factor is curiosity and using them. And GEO is really just the next tool in our toolbox for us as marketers and communicators to really be able to master.
Rebecca Willumson:
Thank you so much for joining me today, Joe. Appreciate it.
Joe Malunda:
Great. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.