Crinetics is seeking to change the way acromegaly is treated. Ahead of its hopes for a 2025 U.S. drug launch, the biotech is looking to spread awareness about how to treat the condition.
To that end, the San Diego-based biotech is launching ACRO/TRUTH, a healthcare-provider-focused campaign that comes with a new educational website.
Acromegaly is a rare condition where the body produces too much growth hormone, causing body tissues and bones to grow more quickly. When occurring in adulthood, this leads to abnormally large hands and feet along with a wide range of other symptoms.
The idea, according to a release, is to “spotlight the significant challenges and burdens many people living with acromegaly experience,” specifically when taking the current standard of care, which is injectable somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs).
Crinetics, which has seen positive late-stage data for its experimental oral med paltusotine, which works differently than SRLs do, is hoping to show the downside to these treatments, while implicitly seeing the upside in potential new drugs.
The biotech is seeking an approval and launch for paltusotine next year. As such, it cannot yet talk directly about its drug but, as many companies do when anticipating a future drug approval, is using this campaign to talk about the disease in general before likely gearing up for full DTC campaigns should it nab approval.
The campaign’s new website focuses heavily on what Crinetics sees as the negatives of current treatments. “For acromegaly patients on injectable somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs), treatment-related symptoms and side effects can impair quality of life. Yet some hesitate to share this information with their physicians,” reads the first line at the top of the site.
There are then images and videos of people in pain and stats to back up that many people have negative side effects from SRLs. Crinetics said in the release that the campaign was informed by “numerous interviews with people living with acromegaly and endocrinologists.”
Crinetics said research indicates there is a “protracted path to diagnosis” combined with a “general lack of information about the disease.” This means that acromegaly patients can be hesitant to discuss the challenges they face while on a prescribed treatment, and this is the central issue the company is looking to address.
The initiative will also be boosted to include more “educational offerings” such as a speakers' panel.
“People living with acromegaly still experience diminished quality of life due to their disease and to the limitations of the treatment options currently available to treat their disease,” said Alan Krasner, M.D., chief endocrinologist at Crinetics, in a release.
“Crinetics is dedicated to bringing forward innovative products to better the lives of patients, and an integral part of that mission is bringing the patient perspective to the forefront.”