Just a few months after earning FDA approval for Voquezna in erosive esophagitis and associated heartburn, Phathom Pharmaceuticals has launched a direct-to-consumer campaign to support the indication, which is also known as EE or erosive GERD.
The campaign—which happens to be Phathom’s first-ever full-scale DTC effort—has already gone live with a Voquezna-branded website and, as of this week, paid advertisements on social media and a commercial that’ll be pushed out to streaming audiences, according to Martin Gilligan, Phathom’s chief commercial officer.
The “next phase” of the rollout will come in April, Gilligan said in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing. That’ll bring the commercial first to the TVs in doctors' offices' waiting rooms and then, finally, to regular broadcast television.
Just as the campaign expands to more media in that “stepwise approach,” so too will its designated audience grow, Gilligan said, noting that the streaming service ads, in particular, will “target households where erosive GERD has a diagnosis code and/or [proton pump inhibitor] utilization—so we’ll start out super targeted before we go broad.”
Those audience-targeting efforts will also play into how Phathom assesses the success of the campaign: To start, the metrics will be more “qualitative,” the exec said, with the company focused on making sure its ads are “reaching the right people” and the message is “resonating.” As time goes on, Phathom will be able to add in the quantitative side of things, looking at how many patients are inspired to contact their physicians about Voquezna and how many doctors go on to prescribe the drug.
“We’ve done a lot of market research here; we did a lot of testing, both with physicians and with patients, and what we know is that the ad and the campaign is different,” Gilligan said. “And, more important than being different, it’s motivational.”
The commercial stars an animated, superherolike character (think: a blue-skinned, nose-less Mr. Incredible, small enough to fit inside an esophagus) who takes viewers into an EE patient’s stomach to pinpoint exactly where Voquezna can “kick some acid.”
The character—who is currently nameless, so as to keep the focus on the Voquezna name, per Gilligan—goes on to highlight that the drug is “the first and only FDA-approved treatment of its kind” and that Voquezna healed 93% of patients in a clinical trial after two months, 79% of whom remained EE-free after six months, and can provide 24-hour heartburn relief to boot.
As the one-minute spot continues, the requisite list of side effects and contraindications plays out over a scene of the patient attending a kickball game and then ordering from a food truck, after which the character returns to the man’s stomach to urge viewers with EE to talk to their doctors about the drug, alongside information about Voquezna’s cost-savings plan and out-of-pocket payment support options.
Phathom took inspiration for its new pint-sized star from Voquezna itself, according to the commercial chief. The mascot’s muscular physique, for example, channels the strength and power of the drug, which provides “rapid, potent and durable acid suppression.” Its “bold and unique” appearance, meanwhile, symbolizes Voquezna’s novel status in an indication that hasn’t seen any new innovation in 30 years, nor any promotion in at least 10, Gilligan said.
Rounding out the design process was a desire to make the character “cool and enthusiastic" and able to “really communicate what the product does,” he said, explaining that the mascot’s blue skin and outfit suggest “healing and symptom relief” when juxtaposed against the vibrant red of the stomach lining.
The “Voquezna Can Kick Some Acid” campaign follows shortly after the drug’s approval in November and pharmacy launch later that month, a fast-paced timeline Phathom chose to follow “because there is so much dissatisfaction” among EE patients, Gilligan said.
Though the pace has now picked up, Phathom did hit a few setbacks on its way to FDA approval. Voquezna was originally approved to treat Helicobacter pylori infection in 2022, but, after trace levels of a potential cancer-causing agent were found in commercial batches of the drug, Phathom had to pause its rollout plans, while the FDA also delayed its review of Voquezna for EE. Ultimately, last spring, the regulator asked Phathom to resubmit applications for both indications, then issued back-to-back approvals in the fall.
Now, however, the Takeda spinout is off to the races: Though the ads currently target Voquezna’s use in treating erosive GERD—as well as its ability to provide 24-hour relief for associated heartburn, which Gilligan cited as “the most important point” of the campaign—the company is hoping to eventually expand its reach to the overall GERD market; a PDUFA for Phathom’s application to expand the drug into non-erosive GERD is now slated for July 19, he said.