Johnson & Johnson’s pharma unit Janssen has finished off its trio of "PHrontline Conversations" for pulmonary hypertension (PH) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) nurses with the final talk airing on Facebook Live.
Each episode is moderated by Howard Reid, Janssen’s vice president, marketing, pulmonary hypertension and features a panel of PAH specialty nurses discussing the challenges related to dealing with PH and PAH.
Episode one focused on: Risk Assessment as an Essential Component of PAH Patient Care. Episode two was Empowering PAH Patients and the third and final episode of 2022 was on The Impact of Language Within PAH Care.
“I thought it was incredible to build on the first two episodes and talk about the intersection between PAH nurses and patients," said Reid in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
“In episode three, we really focused on diving deeper into this concept of language and the connection between nurses and patients as they go on their treatment journey. I thought it was just fascinating in the way they connected with patients—who I can only imagine are going through a range of emotions as they're diagnosed with a rare disease.”
That third episode also focused on the nurses themselves and the importance of them making their own mental health a priority. Their strength is a benefit to their patients.
The project was judged a major success for the company, with the final episode being the top performing to date with 341 views in the two weeks since launch, and that included the Thanksgiving period. The landing page has garnered more than 10,000 page views with people going back to watch the previous episodes, with 1,839 total video views across all three episodes.
Even Reid says he learned something new during the series.
“There's one comment that one of our nurses made and it's something that she tells almost every patient that's managing a new diagnosis with PAH. She tells these patients ‘although this is a rare disease, this isn't rare to me.’ What she's saying is, ‘I'm sure you're scared. I'm sure you're dealing with a ton of things right now. But this is something I see every day. And I'm a professional in helping patients manage this condition.’
"I think the thing that really stuck with me is that has to be incredibly comforting during a time of great angst. So that whole concept of these nurses are committed. They're true experts in their field. They're resilient, and they're there for their patients. It's something that I always knew, but I have a new appreciation for, after the last three episodes,” he said.
Thanks to the positive feedback, Janssen plans to continue PHrontline Conversations next year and beyond with continued input from the PAH nurses on topics that matter to them.
The project is unbranded, but J&J does have a vested interest with PAH drug, Uptravi, acquired through the $30 billion purchase of Actelion back in 2017.