Genentech has unlocked a new chapter in its patient-forward “Life Doesn’t Wait” campaign for hemophilia A drug Hemlibra with new videos celebrating real patients who aren’t letting their blood clotting disease get in the way of everyday wins.
Featuring real people who take Hemlibra, including young kids and their parents, the empowering marketing push centers on the message that with support from a care team and treatment options such as Hemlibra, children and young adults with hemophilia A don’t have to live a sheltered life.
“The Life Doesn’t Wait campaign was built around a simple truth: living with a rare condition doesn't have to mean putting life and dreams on hold,” Genentech’s executive marketing director, rare blood disorders Gina Noh, explained.
To illustrate that and capture the “everyday experiences of real patients and their caregivers,” the company opted to animate the everyday by giving life to everyday objects in videos that now feature on Genentech's Hemlibra website.
The first video featured on the site, “Whoa! Watch Them Go” starts on a baseball field, with text letting viewers know that “this film features people with hemophilia A and their caregivers.” The screen is quickly filled with colorful, retro style text that reads “whoa!” Smaller text underneath reminds viewers that “hemophilia A is different for everyone.”
A shot of a dad nervously watching from the stands, hot dog in hand, switches to his son up at bat. The camera focuses on his baseball gloves as the video’s narrative song fades in, with the first verse seemingly sung by the gloves, musing, “whoa whoa whoa, you’re at the plate with hemophilia A.”
A soccer ball with a whistle and something of a mouth shape cuts in as the scene switches to a soccer field and another young boy; “whoa whoa whoa, your kid is gonna kick me around today,” the ball gruffly sings to a confused mom on the bench.
Next is a camping set, where a tent points out “that trail looks dodgy as can be,” as two boys grab their hiking gear and walk off, leaving their mom to furrow her brows at the singing piece of camping equipment.
Undeterred, the two boys walk off into the distance, the boy playing soccer prepares to throw the (still singing) ball over his head and the baseball player readies for another swing as the items each discourage the children’s actions. Even Dad’s hot dog joins in, pestering “shouldn’t he be riding the bench?” before the proud parent silences the snack.
The music changes pace as the baseball player strikes the ball, the soccer player gets back in the game and the camping boys run to the trail. Now, the objects are impressed; “whoa whoa whoa, look at him go, playing soccer!” the soccer ball narrates.
“He made a plan with his coach and doctor,” the hot dog comments as Dad gives a thumbs up. The humor of the video continues through the end, when baseball speaks up to complain that the child “hit me in the face” as it soars across the screen, leaving the Hemlibra logo and “Life Doesn’t Wait” tagline in its wake.
The colorful “whoa!” appears again, this time making way for end-movie credit style introduction of the (human) cast of characters: Jackson, the baseball player, has been on Hemlibra since 2022, with the support of his hot dog eating dad, Brad. Caleb, who was depicted playing soccer, has been on the treatment since 2019 and is joined in the video by his mom, Bethany. Finally, camping brothers Tristan and Talon both started treatment with Hemlibra 2018, under the care of their mom Miranda.
The confidence each family displays in the video “comes from working closely with their care team on a personalized treatment plan,” Noh points out. “It’s an authentic look at real life, showing what's possible when the right support is in place."
The other new video, “Who Says I Can’t,” has a similar theme, minus the song. After on-screen text discloses “no actors here. Only people living with hemophilia A,” viewers quickly meet Soren, who is working on his car in the garage. Soren’s wrench tries to dissuade him from “turning those bolts,” while Louis, working out, is pestered by a snarky set of weight plates who asks if the bar he’s lifting is “too heavy.”
Jackson and his talking baseball gloves return, with the gloves now asking “isn’t baseball out of your league?”
The equipment trash talks the video's central characters, but doesn’t get any of them down; Jackson swings a perfect hit, Soren starts his engine up again and Louis lifts the weights.
“Someone must have made a plan with their doctor,” the now-impressed weight plate comments. The spot ends with Louis shaking his head at his doubting stack of plates as the Hemlibra logo and “Life Doesn’t Wait” tagline appears at the end of the ad on a black screen.
Genentech’s “Life Doesn’t Wait” first launched around World Hemophilia Day earlier this year, marking a focus on patient stories across the company’s Hemlibra website by integrating videos and profiles that introduce real patient stories. The refreshed website updated the previously data-heavy page, with text now telling viewers “people with hemophilia A are experiencing everyday moments, big milestones, and everything in between.”
Hemlibra first hit the market in 2017 with the FDA’s blessing to treat adults and children with hemophilia A with factor VIII inhibitors. A follow-up approval a year later expanded the drug’s reach to patients without FVIII inhibitors, opening the door to the entire U.S. hemophilia A population and setting Hemlibra up for blockbuster success.
Today, Hemlibra is the top prescribed prophylaxis for people with hemophilia A without factor VIII inhibitors, according to the website. Among the crowded hemophilia drug market, subcutaneous injection Hemlibra competes directly with Pfizer’s Hympavzi plus Sanofi’s Qfitlia and its Sobi-partnered Altuviiio, to name a few. Still, with annual sales coming in at 4.75 billion Swiss Franc last year ($5.6 billion) as one of Roche’s top-selling drugs, Hemlibra remains king of the hemophilia A heap despite the competition.
Along with a patient focus, Genentech has also highlighted caretakers and families in its Hemlibra messaging. Last year, the company called for mothers of children with hemophilia A to find community at the Hemlibra website with a four-minute film that montages a child's upbringing with the disease, seen through the eyes of a mother.