China’s big oncology player BeiGene is looking to go beyond treating patients’ cancer and is offering a new service in the U.S. aimed at dealing with the mental health implications of cancer diagnosis and treatment.
The new “Talk About It” program is for cancer patients and caregivers as well as healthcare professionals and policymakers. The goal is to make mental health care "a critical component of quality cancer care,” according to a press release. Up to a quarter of people living with cancer also have depression, and about half are at risk for clinical anxiety, BeiGene said in the release.
BeiGene, which markets small-molecule BTK inhibitor Brukinsa for certain blood cancers in the U.S, is launching several components to the campaign.
The first is a new website that is heavily branded with BeiGene insignia (but no mention of its drugs) that details the “overwhelming emotions surrounding a cancer diagnosis” as well as the “uncertainty” that comes with it. There are several short videos from a doctor and a BeiGene exec about the connection between emotional well-being and cancer care.
The pharma is also setting up a new collaboration with the nonprofit Cancer Support Community. The partnership includes an upcoming survey of more than 600 U.S. cancer patients and survivors for BeiGene to delve into how cancer affected their mental health and what helped them through.
The company said that in the coming months, it will also be setting up new cancer and mental health advocates to “mobilize resources and share a series of patient and provider-centric initiatives designed to talk about cancer and mental health.”
These comprise digital and printed resources for patients, caregivers and HCPs and will link mental health to cancer diagnosis while also sharing tools and links to resources offered by several patient advocacy organizations.
This comes three months after BeiGene, which has several cancer drug approvals in China but is looking to make deeper inroads in the U.S., tapped McKesson’s real-world evidence business Ontada for a series of new campaigns in the U.S. to help boost awareness of cancer drugs.