Marinus Pharmaceuticals sailed through tumultuous seas to get anti-seizure therapy Ztalmy over the regulatory finish line, and now it’s pushing the boat out with a series of new marketing campaigns.
Ztalmy's FDA nod came in March and covers CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD), a childhood seizure disorder that impairs development of motor skills and causes other complications. Like many other pharmas that have focused their marketing efforts on the patient and the realities of the disease, Marinus has chosen an open, honest and often raw approach.
The company's launch is two-pronged for now: Ztalmy One focuses on treatment access, while the drug's website shares community stories aimed at showing exactly how CDD affects young children and also their parents.
Ztalmy One, the company’s patient support program, seeks to boost access to the med while also giving “ongoing prescription drug support and education throughout the treatment journey,” Marinus said in a press release about launch plans. Ztalmy, also known as ganaxolone, is the company’s first-ever approved medicine.
Marinus is also running on its drug website “community stories” that highlight, in a hard-hitting way, just what it is like for children to live with the disorder. This includes 4-year-old Lina, who was diagnosed with CDD at just 3 months old.
“If good days could be anything,” says Lina’s mom Diana, then bad days are all the same: “Like living on a boat in the middle of the ocean, in a storm. You can’t get ahold of anything; nothing is ever still.”
There were a lot of bad days early on, Diana explains, and her husband struggled to learn how to care for her and to envision their future. “When she was diagnosed and I was conceptualizing her as a person, I didn’t feel that she was a full person, because I didn’t think that that’s what a full person is,” said Diana.
The story makes clear that Lina was not taking Ztalmy when her mom was telling her story.
Marinus had a tough clinical path with the drug, which previously failed to beat placebo in a phase 3 test in adult focal onset seizures. That program was ultimately abandoned, but the company found success in CDD.
The company is also seeking a European license, though last year, it shipped out EU commercial rights for the drug to Orion.
“Ztalmy represents an important first for both Marinus and the CDD community and we are proud to make it available for patients by physician prescription,” said Christy Shafer, chief commercial officer of Marinus.
“With our highly experienced commercial team, designated specialty pharmacy and comprehensive patient support program, we are well-prepared to bring Ztalmy to market. We look forward to engaging with healthcare providers and supporting patient access to Ztalmy as we raise awareness about CDD and this important new treatment option.”