Genentech and Novartis have sponsored a four-part microdrama series about young people with food allergies in New York.
The companies, which won FDA approval for Xolair for food allergies in 2024, collaborated with the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Connection Team (FAACT) on the series. The series, called “Food Allergies in the City,” draws on the real-life experiences of people navigating their food allergies alongside relationships, routines and social plans.
Across four two-minute videos, the series shows five friends with food allergies on a night out, starting with them trying to find a restaurant that can cater to their needs and ending with a debrief back at one of their apartments. The friends are young adults living with food allergies, not actors.
Each short video ends with the message about recent advances in the treatment of food allergies and a call for viewers to speak to their allergists about how they or their loved ones can manage their food allergies.
Like other pharma series such as Almirall’s “Nina,” the videos created by Genentech, Novartis and FAACT show the challenges faced by people living with a health condition. While discussing which restaurant to go to, a character lists their priorities as “music, general vibes, I don’t know, not going into anaphylaxis.” One restaurant fails to provide reassurance when a character calls to ask about their food prep area.
Another episode focuses on a character’s former partner, whose love of food festivals and disinclination to read food labels caused problems in the relationship. The character’s friends offer support, saying that he “did nothing wrong by needing to be safe.”
FAACT uploaded the videos to YouTube Shorts, the short-form section of the online platform, and TikTok. Like other videos on the platforms, the films were shot vertically for viewing in portrait mode. Short run times are mandatory on YouTube Shorts and common on TikTok.
Sales of Xolair, which Genentech and Novartis co-market in the U.S., have grown quickly since the drug launched for food allergies. Roche, Genentech’s parent company, expects Xolair sales to grow 20% in 2026 despite the impact of the first biosimilar in the second half of the year. Teresa Graham, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, said “exceptionally strong” food allergy uptake drove Xolair sales in the first quarter.