On the whole, 2025 has been a momentous year for the health and pharmaceutical industry — especially online.
From the rise of the MAHA movement under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to discussions regarding celebrities on GLP-1 medications, the healthcare industry has been at the heart of various topics of online discourse.
As the year closes out, MM+M analyzed the most significant topics in healthcare across the following social media platforms: Reddit, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Below are the five health topics and pharmaceutical trends that received the most attention on social media this year.
1. GLP-1s
It’s no surprise that GLP-1s are among the most popular health topics on social media. This class of medication has been discussed extensively, amassing over 693,000 posts on TikTok alone.
Within the GLP-1 conversation, buzz on platforms like Facebook and Reddit has surrounded compounded GLP-1 medications – specifically those with the active ingredient tirzepatide.
Online posts focused on patient journeys and the lifestyle changes required while taking these drugs. Social media users were also highly interested in details regarding after-effects once patients stop taking these drugs.
Microdosing also appeared to gain a larger presence among online groups this year, as online forums discussed whether such an approach was safe and effective. This came amid a greater push by some telehealth platforms to promote this method of taking GLP-1s.
While GLP-1s have been widely discussed for years, Instagram and Facebook also added guardrails to searches for weight-loss drugs, prompting users to seek help or guidance if they are concerned with losing weight.
2. Mental health
The continued rise in awareness of mental health conditions and behavioral wellbeing among the broader population was on display in 2025.
Conversations and campaigns focused on mental health trended on social media throughout the year, amassing more than 64 million posts on Instagram alone.
Specifically within mental health, a number of antidepressants were the subject of discourse among online communities, where participants were curious about the effectiveness of various drugs.
On TikTok, Lundbeck’s Lexapro and Pfizer’s Zoloft garnered the most attention, garnering more than 33,400 and 11,600 posts on the platform, respectively.
3. Cancer
Efforts remain ongoing to normalize conversations around cancer and, as such, the disease state has been more widely-discussed online.
There were over 4.4 million posts of people sharing stories of themselves and their families dealing with the effects of cancer on TikTok.
Apart from patient journeys and treatments on the market, conversations also touched on support for caregivers as well as rare types and forms of cancer.
Breast cancer remains among the most popular health topics online, especially as women under 40 are being diagnosed at a faster rate than ever before. Still, many people also expressed a need for greater disease state education and a better understanding of available screening options.
4. Chronic illnesses
Considering the Trump administration’s concerted effort to redirect federal health policy to focus on chronic illnesses, social media responded in kind.
As a topic, chronic illnesses moved firmly into the mainstream — amassing over 1.9 million posts on TikTok and millions more on Instagram and Facebook.
Generally, users focused on the long-term effects of chronic illnesses on their bodies. Treatment was also a major discussion point on platforms, focusing on forms of preventative treatment.
There was also a significant amount of chatter regarding health tech wearables such as the Oura Ring and Apple Watch, where users explained how to utilize these tools to track and monitor their health and identify the onset of chronic illnesses.
Pharma marketers should keep in mind that users discussing this topic often emphasize methods of lifestyle prevention rather than treatments available on the market.
5. Vaccines and Tylenol
While the Trump administration ushered in a renewed focus on chronic illness, it also regurgitated long debunked claims about autism.
While the claim that there is a link between vaccines and autism was dispelled many years ago, conversations around vaccines remained a hot-button topic, even if inoculation rates dropped. Vaccines garnered close to 800,000 posts on TikTok and more than 1 million posts on Instagram.
Reddit forums around the topic emphasized the scientific rigor regarding the effectiveness of vaccines, counteracting messaging from the federal level.
Tylenol was also heavily discussed, generating more than 50,000 posts on TikTok.
Again, the importance of the science behind Tylenol was emphasized as creators took an active role in educating others on the safety of its primary ingredient, acetaminophen.
The conversations around these treatments demonstrated that researchers and scientists have the power and ability to rally behind science when needed. This is important for pharma marketers to note as they consider future strategies for products on the market.