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It’s the time of year when we look back over the past 12 months at what has piqued your interest the most here at Fierce Pharma Marketing, and, this year, it’s no surprise that COVID-19 is still a major pull when it comes to audience numbers.

The COVID-19 pandemic as an immediate emergency appears for the first time since 2020 to have less of a grip on the headlines (war and inflation with new viral threats and the return of influenza has helped here), but its impact is clearly still being felt, with four of our top 10 stories relating to those companies at the forefront of trying to halt the disease.

In fact, our top two stories are about COVID, or at least indirectly, showing that slight shift in focus, for it is the COVID vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna who piqued your interest the most this year.

Fierce Pharma Marketing’s top story was that Pfizer and COVID shot partner BioNTech sponsored the Oscars, a major marketing step for both companies, given that German biotech BioNTech had never been heard of before 2020 and Pfizer had spent 2021 doing very little marketing for its COVID assets.

The second top story also involved Pfizer as well COVID vaccine rival Moderna, though the news for both was less positive, as it focused on new Harris Poll survey data which showed both companies had fallen in the estimation of Americans from 2021, as the “superhero” image they both had during the height of the pandemic began to wear off.

Our third biggest story had nothing to do with COVID at all. It was about how Novartis, a digital pharma pioneer, had tapped a new Netflix-style video streaming service for rheumatologists as it looks to boost engagement with doctors.

In fourth place was a story from early this year about Eli Lilly’s launch plans for tirzepatide, which was duly approved by the FDA as Mounjaro in May.

Our fifth most-read story brings us back to COVID and specifically to Novavax, the company that has desperately been seeking approval as a new, non-mRNA COVID vaccine option, and its educational campaign that zeroed in on younger patients and those who were vaccine hesitant.

COVID rears its head again in sixth place as Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla got in hot water in the U.K. after news reports alleged he had made “misleading” and “overly promotional” claims about his company’s COVID shot in younger kids.

In seventh place was the news that French pharma Sanofi had simplified its logos and cut Genzyme and Pasteur from its names as it looked to a new, more techlike approach to its corporate branding.

And that is the start of a theme in our top 10, with the next two stories also focusing on a major name change, specifically for GlaxoSmithKline, which in May slimmed down and became simply GSK.

In ninth place was a continuation of that story with a deep dive interview with the new GSK about what prompted this change and how the company wants to be seen moving forward.

Rounding off our top 10 for 2022 is a celebrity special as actress Jennifer Aniston teamed up with insomnia drugmaker Idorsia for a new campaign aimed at boosting sleep health.

Thank you for reading us this year, and we look forward to seeing you all again in 2023.