Amgen has kicked off a new social media campaign. Across an initial run of eight videos, the Big Biotech is giving people with cancer a chance to share their points of view as part of a broader push to provide a platform for patients.
Released at the 2023 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, the videos feature patients discussing their experiences, from before diagnosis, through treatment and up to the present moment, and input from caregivers and Amgen researchers. Amgen is largely absent from the videos, aside from its staffers and branding on the final frames, but the diseases overlap with its drugs such as Lumakras.
Michelle Carrillo, executive director of advocacy relations at Amgen, explained in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing the thinking behind the new series of videos and put the campaign in the context of the biotech's broader bid to support patients.
“Our new social media campaign Patient Points of View is part of a bigger initiative at Amgen to provide a platform for patients and their loved ones to share their authentic journeys with serious illnesses, such as cancer. Through this new video series, we hope to inspire the cancer community while honoring and spotlighting the people who are affected by this disease,” Carrillo said.
The first and currently comfortably most viewed video introduces the series, features snippets of the patients and, as rousing music kicks in, shows Amgen employees talking about their work. The video ends with patients talking about how research has affected their lives and the need for new drugs.
Each of the other seven videos tells the story of a single patient, in some cases supported by the insights of caregivers and researchers. The videos, which range from two to four minutes in length, share similar structures, with the patient talking about their pre-cancer life, diagnosis, treatment, fears and hopes.
“Hearing directly from patients helps uncover the individuality of each person’s experience and inspires Amgen staff around the world to continue to work to advance medicines for the people who need them. Amgen has long-term relationships with the patients featured in the new video series,” Carrillo said.
The promotional push comes as Amgen works to build a business around the diseases discussed in the videos, namely non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), small cell lung cancer, metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) and gastric cancer. NSCLC and CRC are opportunities for Amgen’s KRAS inhibitor Lumakras, and the bispecific T-cell engager tarlatamab is in development in small cell lung cancer.