Colorectal cancer, if caught early, has a 90% survival rate. The key, of course, is the “caught early” part. The barriers to catching it early can be numerous, especially in medically underserved communities.
Bausch Health’s GI division, Salix Pharmaceuticals, has donated the pharma’s prescription bowel prep, Plenvu, to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance for a pilot program with Independence Blue Cross of Philadelphia. The goal is to get at least 5,000 Black men and women in Philadelphia screened for the disease.
Salix and the Alliance already have an ongoing relationship, but this new project was the first time that Salix has donated prep.
“We are both motivated in terms of early detection and ultimately prevention, and the best way to address that is through a patient undergoing a colonoscopy,” Nicola Kayel, vice president for GI marketing at Salix, said in an interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing.
“When they approached us with this particular idea, they wanted to address health equities—they really wanted to break down barriers to prevention and treatment, particularly among those who lack access to care. It seemed to be the automatic connection that the best way to do that would be through a donation of our prescription bowel prep products.”
Of course there’s no point in prep without the colonoscopy; that’s where the Alliance with the investment from Independence Blue Cross comes in with this project to create a screening program in Philadelphia that is scalable and sustainable.
“The issue with access in general, whether it's the prep, whether it's just getting access to a personal healthcare provider, or a gastrointestinal expert—the whole issue of access is fraught,” Marcie Klein, senior vice president of prevention at the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, said.
“Our goal at the Alliance—especially with this pilot—is to break down those barriers and increase access across the board. It's about an end-to-end navigation process.
"It's about driving folks who may be, you know, hesitant to get screened at all or even discuss colorectal cancer based on stigma, etc., drive them to the Alliance, learn about the pilot, get them navigated to a proper screening tool, FIT kit or colonoscopy, and then deliver that screening. So it's an end-to-end process. It's very targeted and strategic to make sure that those folks that we are navigating actually complete the test and get the care they need.”
Salix’s GI portfolio includes the prescription bowel prep Plenvu; Xifaxan for overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) and irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D); Trulance for irritable bowel syndrome with constipation (IBS-C) and chronic idiopathic constipation (CIC); and Relistor for opioid-induced constipation (OIC).