No cruel intentions here: Merck KGaA’s U.S. pharma arm has recruited actor Selma Blair for a collaboration around multiple sclerosis treatment Mavenclad.
Blair, best known for her roles in turn-of-the-millennium classics like “Legally Blonde” and “Cruel Intentions,” has spoken openly about living with relapsing MS since shortly after her 2018 diagnosis.
She’ll now continue to share her experiences through EMD Serono’s ongoing “I’m Ready” campaign. In a statement on the campaign site, which describes her as an actor, mom, MS advocate and Mavenclad patient, Blair says, “RMS is a part of me, but it doesn’t define me. I’m doing things I love and still taking care of myself.”
The site also includes a brief overview of how Blair “changed the course of her RMS journey” by switching doctors and treatments after past approaches left her “struggling with symptoms for years.” Additional content featuring the actor will be available “soon,” per the site.
The "I’m Ready" campaign initially launched in the summer of 2021, two years after Mavenclad’s FDA approval. The campaign kicked off with EMD Serono’s first-ever TV commercial and highlighted the oral therapy’s dosing schedule, which differs from other MS infusions and daily pills by requiring only about 16 to 20 total treatment days over the course of two years.
The campaign has since grown to include the “Express4MS” initiative, which encourages people with MS to share their stories of living with the disease and describe how they’re still able to express themselves despite the diagnosis.
With Blair on board, the campaign’s outreach will span digital videos and ads along with social media content, according to a spokesperson for the company. The actor has already shared sponsored posts about Mavenclad and the Express4MS program on her Instagram page in recent weeks.
Blair first began speaking about her positive experience with Mavenclad last summer. In a video shared with Us Weekly in August, she described how she underwent “a major relapse” after a 2019 bone marrow transplant. That led her to seek out a new doctor, who recommended she try Mavenclad.
“So, I took that—a couple short series of tablets—and in two years your therapy is done,” she said in the video, noting that she was in remission at that point. “It’s called Mavenclad, and I don’t know anyone that’s on it. And I wanted to let people know that that is what I take.”
She continued, “It’s been amazing, and it helped my movement and speech so much, and it’s allowed me to have a great summer.”
A few months later, Blair attended a Hollywood event without the aid of the cane or service dog she’s often relied on in recent years. In an interview with Variety at the late November event, she reiterated that she’d “started feeling really better this last year” and expressed surprise at how dramatically her condition had improved following the transplant and new treatment regimen, saying, “I just had no strength. I didn’t think I’d get to feel this grounded.”