BioMarin is looking to help inspire the next generation of filmmakers while creating a new documentary about hemophilia along the way.
The biopharma is once again teaming up with boutique agency Believe Limited and nonprofit public health group The Foundation for Art & Healing to help deliver the campaign.
The groups have already worked together on national and regional workshops and performances of “Hemophilia: The Musical,” but the three are now turning their attention to filmmaking for the next stage of their collab.
From a marketing perspective, this allows BioMarin, which has a hemophilia gene therapy in late-stage trials, to amplify the voice of the hemophilia patient in what can be an intimate and in-depth video, going far beyond a traditional 30-second TV spot.
BioMarin and its partners will set up a combination of hybrid virtual and in-person workshops and productions from June to October with the aim to “provide powerful education on the healing and therapeutic power of the arts and self-expression,” according to a statement.
Ten adults with hemophilia across the U.S. will be picked to participate and tell their stories of “the challenges and victories” of living with a bleeding disorder in a documentary film.
But they will not just be talking heads: They will also first learn about the filmmaking process during virtual workshops on topics such as writing, prop selection, set decoration, directing and editing.
Then, the Believe Limited production team will travel to the hometowns of participants to help bring their stories to life on camera.
The documentary film will premiere during an as-yet-unspecified fall event.
BioMarin has had a troubled path for its experimental gene therapy for hemophilia, known as valoctocogene roxaparvovec (aka ValRox). It was on course for a U.S. approval in 2020 but was hit by an FDA rejection, with the regulator asking for more data on bleeding rates from its trial.
But two years later, BioMarin says it is now on track to file for a second attempt at an FDA approval in the coming weeks, and it's clearly already ramping up the marketing offensive ahead of time.
Documentary and films are becoming more commonplace in pharma marketing: Alnylam, Pfizer/BioNTech and the Merck Foundation have all in the past year turned to this medium, though in different ways, to boost awareness around particular health issues.
BioMarin's work dovetails most with Alnylam, which in February released “Two of Me: Living with Porphyria,” a documentary film chronicling the lives of seven people around the world living with the rare condition acute hepatic porphyria.
Just this month the Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Merck KGaA, also launched a new TV program in Africa, helmed by the Foundation’s CEO, as a talk show about major public health issues across the continent.
And last year, Pfizer and COVID vaccine partner BioNTech delivered “Mission Possible,” a branded content film produced with National Geographic that tracks the COVID-19 vaccine's journey to market.