Generation Z (Gen Z; born between 1997 and 2012) is poised to reshape the world with its unique perspectives and values. In this blog, I draw on my insights from working as an Open Pharma intern and on my experiences and network as a youth advocate for the UK children’s charity Barnardo’s to consider the challenges and opportunities that Gen Z poses for pharma and healthcare.
Gen Z is a demographic characterized by its digital ease, social consciousness, and demand for transparency and authenticity.1 Gen Z prioritizes ethical practices, social justice and environmental sustainability; it is a generation that values transparency and expects open access to information.
Although it is arguably reductionist to distil the values of a generation in this way, common temporal and external factors inevitably shape societal cohorts so that they have some philosophical commonalities. Taking time to consider these shared precepts can help understand what makes a generation ‘tick’ and provide a framework for positive engagement.
Challenge for pharma and traditional healthcare
Gen Z grew up with technology playing a significant role in their lives; they are ‘digital natives’. From a healthcare perspective, Gen Z’s digital literacy can be a double-edged sword. While being comfortable with the use of digital healthcare tools and remote care affords many benefits, it also drives a default behaviour of looking for healthcare information online before seeking advice from a healthcare professional. Consulting ‘Dr Google’ before securing expert advice is a path with many potential misinformation pitfalls. Enforced reliance on digital interfaces during the COVID-19 pandemic served to compound this ‘default-digital’ behaviour and gave oxygen to propagators of misinformation – a reality further complicated by the widespread advent of generative AI.
These factors can combine to undermine the characteristic open-mindedness of Gen Z and to dupe those who are misinformed into believing quite the contrary. Indeed, the susceptibility of Gen Z to misinformation and disinformation is evident in sometimes misjudged acts of ‘local activism’ on social media platforms, which they readily harness to influence, raise awareness, and endorse or condemn products and perspectives. They are generally sceptical consumers, and the pandemic exacerbated a generational proclivity to critique institutional structures that fail to perform and to dismiss systems that fall short of their ethical standards. Fostering trust among Gen Z can therefore be challenging.
From a healthcare perspective, it is also relevant to recognize the phenomenon of pill fatigue among Gen Z, a cultural outlook driven by a scepticism of hidden agendas and of companies prioritizing profit over patient welfare. Within Gen Z, this phenomenon has been fuelled by young health influencers who advocate for holistic healthcare approaches that are underpinned by sustainable lifestyle changes rather than medical interventions. During my time working as a youth advocate for Barnardo’s, I witnessed pill fatigue among young people with mental health challenges through their attitudes towards ‘wellness’, which often blurred the lines between food, supplements and medical treatment.
Forging a brighter future
Despite the factors that fuel mistrust of traditional healthcare and pharma among Gen Z, research conducted by the UK Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry suggests potential for optimism.2 Of the 16–25-year-olds interviewed, a higher proportion recognized pharma as a positive contributor to society than the tech (54% vs 23%), finance (53% vs 25%) and energy (53% vs 20%) sectors. And I believe there is also huge potential to further improve the Gen Z perception of pharma.
One clear opportunity exists for pharma and healthcare actors committed to upholding and promoting Open Science practices. The aims of Open Science – to make the scientific process more transparent, inclusive and democratic – clearly resonate with Gen Z principles of transparency, authenticity and access to information. I spoke with several fellow youth advocates about this, but not one of them had even heard of Open Science. There is a clear opportunity to raise awareness of Open Science among Gen Z and to highlight to young people the common ground they share with organizations and individuals upholding and promoting these principles. There may even be opportunity to engage Gen Z as advocates and partners in the Open Science movement.
Another opportunity for pharma lies in debunking misinformation consumption by Gen Z by fighting misinformation with strategically disseminated and robust evidence-based research. I recognize there are barriers to direct pharma engagement of Gen Z through social media channels. Yet my fellow Barnardo’s youth advocates and I believe there is opportunity for pharma to navigate regulatory and misinformation challenges through partnerships with influencers and with content curators and creators already trusted by Gen Z. Among such trusted third parties are voices from the Third Sector.
Traditionally, the Third Sector has used LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter) for their social media engagement campaigns but with limited success because of poor Gen Z presence on these platforms. More effective communication and engagement partnerships between pharma and trusted third parties engaging Gen Z on their preferred platforms and leveraging engagement methods with proven success have the potential to reduce misinformation and foster greater trust in evidence-based medicine. I believe that intelligent app development to make digital health information more engaging and interactive and judicious use of AI have an important role to play in this regard.
In addition to pharma forging better communication partnerships with trusted Third Sector voices, I also believe there are opportunities for positive engagement of Gen Z within the research process. The pandemic certainly presented adversities for Gen Z and contributed to a jaded outlook for many, but it also engendered a sense of initiative and community that was tangible during my time as a youth advocate, during which I collaborated on youth advisory boards to guide and shape more successful health campaigns. Empowering Gen Z and harnessing their digital knowledge and demand for ethical practices, sustainable, transparent and judicious principles have uncapped potential in the fight against misinformation and the future of biomedical research. Involving Gen Z in research design, for example, could ensure that future research is conducted in a manner that better aligns with their principles, mitigates their concerns, and generates data that will be deemed credible and meaningful by future patient populations.
In conclusion, raising awareness of open science and tackling misinformation through judicious partnerships with trusted third parties have the potential to improve Gen Z trust in pharma and traditional healthcare. Gen Z should be positively engaged in shaping the future of (their) healthcare and in creating authentic, transparent and socially responsible initiatives.
Deya Deb is a clinical medical student at the University of Oxford. She worked as a summer intern at Open Pharma and Oxford PharmaGenesis in 2024 and as a youth advocate for the UK children’s charity Barnardo’s.
The views expressed in this blog post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Open Pharma and its Members.
References
- Morvack Inc. 2024. How Gen Z is impacting the pharmaceutical industry. Available from: https://www.moravek.com/how-gen-z-is-impacting-the-pharmaceutical-industry/ (Accessed 20 September 2024).
- Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). 2024. Young people’s perceptions of careers in the pharmaceutical industry. Available from: https://www.abpi.org.uk/publications/young-peoples-perceptions-of-careers-in-the-pharmaceutical-industry/ (Accessed 20 September 2024).
