Bristol Myers Squibb is stepping up promotion of its $13.1 billion heart disease drug Camzyos, launching the first branded TV spot as it seeks to penetrate the market ahead of the anticipated arrival of a rival.
The 90-second commercial focuses on Mike, a person living with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), as he hikes through an idyllic landscape. As Mike says in the voice-over, “there were some days I was so short of breath I thought I’d have to settle for never stepping foot on this trail again.” Now, Mike takes Camzyos, and his symptoms have improved.
After talking through his experience with HCM, Mike delivers a closing piece to the camera, telling the audience that “this is my Camzyos moment.” BMS decided on “My Camzyos Moment” as the focus of its direct-to-consumer campaign after talking to patients.
“We have consistently heard from patients about moments that seemed little, but were big, after starting on Camzyos; moments that got them closer to the life they led before their symptomatic obstructive HCM diagnosis,” Al Reba, senior vice president, U.S. cardiovascular and established brands, said.
BMS has “heard directly from a number of patients who were interested in sharing their experience on the medicine,” Reba said, and believes “it’s very clear … that patients with symptomatic obstructive HCM may be interested in hearing first-hand experiences from other patients who are taking Camzyos.” Reba thinks now is the right moment in the launch to start running a branded campaign.
“Whenever we have a new drug approval, we take the appropriate time to educate prescribing physicians across the country about the medicine. We've spent more than a year and a half working towards that and we're at a point where we're comfortable launching a national DTC campaign,” Reba said.
Adam Lenkowsky, executive vice president, chief commercialization officer and head of U.S. oncology, commented on the timing of the DTC campaign at an investor event last month, explaining that “most companies probably wouldn't have done that this early.” BMS thought it was important to run branded and unbranded campaigns in parallel to “bring patients into treatment,” Lenkowsky said.
The TV commercial is one part of a larger multimedia campaign that includes other patient stories on the Camzyos website. Sales of Camzyos rose throughout the first nine months of last year, climbing from $29 million in the first quarter (PDF) to $88 million in the fourth. BMS currently has the market to itself, but Cytokinetics recently reported phase 3 data in the setting, sparking talk that it is a takeover target.