Google to loosen pharma ad rules for AdMob authorized buyers

Google will update its Pharmaceutical policy for AdMob Authorized Buyers in January 2026, allowing prescription drug and prescription drug service ads in select markets — without requiring Google certification — while tightening clarity around what remains strictly off-limits.

What’s changing. The policy will be renamed “Pharmaceutical products and services” and updated to allow Authorized Buyers to promote prescription drugs and prescription drug services in certain countries where permitted by local law, without requiring Google certification as is typically mandated in Google Ads.

While access is expanding, the underlying rules are not becoming more permissive, as the policy language is simply being reorganized to improve clarity and readability rather than to loosen enforcement.

Why we care. This update expands access to pharmaceutical advertising inventory without requiring Google certification, creating new reach and competitive pressure in programmatic auctions. It also shifts more compliance responsibility onto advertisers, increasing the risk of policy violations if geo-targeting and creative controls aren’t tightly managed.

Even non-pharma advertisers may be affected as increased pharma demand and ad presence can impact pricing, brand safety, and placement strategies.

What’s still banned. Ads for clinical trials, miracle cures, unapproved supplements, illegal drugs, drug paraphernalia, addiction treatment and recovery services, crisis hotlines, and speculative or experimental medical treatments (including stem cell and gene therapies) remain prohibited across Google Partner Inventory.

Between the lines. Google is widening access while pushing responsibility downstream. By removing certification requirements for Authorized Buyers but maintaining strict geographic and content controls, Google shifts compliance risk squarely onto buyers and publishers.

What to do now. App publishers using AdMob should review category blocking and ad controls to ensure unwanted pharma ads don’t appear, especially as more inventory becomes eligible. Buyers should prepare for country-by-country enforcement and audit creatives carefully.

Bottom line. Google is opening the door wider for pharmaceutical advertising in programmatic environments — but the rules are still complex, localized, and unforgiving for those who get them wrong.