UCB is adding to the subgenre of pharma-backed musical theater, sponsoring a production by an Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee that will look at how epilepsy affects a child and her family.
The Belgian drugmaker, which sells drugs including Briviact and Fintepla for various forms of epilepsy, is joined by multiple nonprofit patient groups on the list of sponsors of the show. But, while UCB sees the musical as a way to raise awareness of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a form of epilepsy treated by Fintepla, the show is a different proposition than the events backed by BioMarin and Genentech in recent years.
BioMarin worked with teens with hemophilia to write and direct an original musical in 2018. Genentech collaborated with the spinal muscular atrophy community to create and stage an “edgy new musical comedy” this year. Those productions were one-off, patient-led events.
The musical sponsored by UCB, “It's All Your Fault, Tyler Price!,” will run for six weeks and features a cast and crew with credits such as Netflix's “Lucifer” and Broadway's “Rock of Ages.” Tickets for showings at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles later this year start at $25.
Epilepsy is central to the musical, which unspools the events that follow an altercation between Jackson and Tyler Price. Jackson punches Tyler Price for mocking his sister Lucy, who has “epilepsy and related learning challenges.” When the principal orders Jackson to explain himself to the entire school, he puts on a “scrappy, heartfelt” musical about his family’s struggles with Lucy’s epilepsy.
The team behind the musical have posted some songs online. In one song with the pharma-friendly title “I Believe in Drugs,” a healthcare professional tells Lucy’s mon “these meds have side effects, I will not lie to you, but there’s a chance that they could help.” Later in the song, the mom sings “oh how much more can one girl take, when you’re upset my heart just breaks, will she live through the night, I’m so scared.”
In another song, called “Meds,” Lucy sings: “I take my meds both morning and night, mom puts them in pudding, so they taste all right, they're yellow and blue, the small ones are best, I don't know if you've noticed, but they match my dress.”
Epilepsy is an important part of UCB’s business, with the company citing double-digit growth of Briviact and Fintepla as a driver of the 11% increase in net sales it reported in the first half of 2024.