Challenge

Roughly 20% of breast cancers are of a special variety called HER2-positive, yet many patients and providers were still unaware of the existence of HER2-positive breast cancer and the specialized treatments available for it. Our client, a major biotechnology company, had developed several therapies to treat this type of breast cancer. Their marketing franchise was facing several business challenges: product and disease state education was significantly lacking; treatment rates for one of their key therapies had been flat for 5 straight quarters; access to physicians was increasingly limited across the industry; and a potential threat from the development of biosimilars loomed on the horizon. Most alarmingly, a large number of eligible patients were not receiving life-saving therapies due to lack of awareness.

Insight into Action

We developed a communication strategy that reached out to the nurses who were particularly involved in helping patients make treatment decisions. Our plan included the development of unbranded patient education resources written in plain language and audience-specific disease state education materials for providers.

Success

The communication strategy was a huge success, helping to significantly increase access to new audiences and accounts. Our client saw a 1.5% increase in treatment rate and a 5% increase in market share in the very first quarter after its launch.