Genentech is putting on a show. Roche's Big Biotech has worked with the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) community to create, stage and stream an “edgy new musical comedy” that offers “a window into how ableism colors everyday situations.”
The Swiss major's subsidiary, which sells the SMA drug Evrysdi, has worked with the patient community on a series of collaborations. In 2021, the biotech worked with people with SMA on a song, which was later performed at the Special Olympics Florida closing ceremony. The next year, Genentech and people with SMA held the Double Take show as a prelude to New York Fashion Week.
Adam Pryor, who leads neuroscience and rare disease public relations at Genentech, said the musical “feels like a nice combination” of the earlier song and fashion show. As with all its other SMA My Way initiatives, the biotech worked with the patient community on the musical, resulting in a show called “Most Likely Not To …” that Pryor describes as “a really comedic, subversive take on life with a disability.”
Genentech enlisted members of the SMA community to work on ideas for the musical, script writing, feedback on the songs and more. Once Genentech had an idea of the direction it wanted to take, the biotech “enlisted the help of the best in the Broadway industry to help bring them all to life,” Pryor said.
The musical, which follows a fashion designer with SMA as she travels to a high school reunion, will run on Feb. 29, Rare Disease Day, and be livestreamed. The show hits some of the same beats as other tales of high school reunions, with the story featuring antagonists, a coming together and a bit of a love story, Pryor said. But it also shows “how ableism impacted [the protagonist’s] journey through life.”
“Travel issues are one of the major things that they would like to address, just given the complications of traveling with the power wheelchair,” Pryor said. The focus on travel reflects “real experiences from the community.”
Genentech plans to release a single from the musical the week before the event as part of a promotional push that will use its channels and the platforms of SMA influencers to get the message out. An EP of the songs is coming, too.
The event follows a successful year for Roche in SMA commercially. Sales of Evrysdi hit 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion) in 2023, up 39%, and Roche says it is the global leader in patient share. Talking on a fourth-quarter results conference call this month, Teresa Graham, CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals, said growth will “remain strong into 2024, particularly as we continue to expand into the adult segment.”