Sumitomo brings together Gemtesa 'Go-Getters' to discuss overactive bladder symptoms

Sumitomo Pharma’s Gemtesa marketing team is going again, re-upping its “Time To Go” campaign for a third year in a fresh push to get patients to talk to physicians about overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms.

Urovant Sciences, now part of Sumitomo, partnered with OAB patient and "21 Jump Street" actor Holly Robinson Peete for the campaign early last year. Later, Sumitomo extended the project by making Peete its first “Gemtesa Go-Getter.” The drugmaker planned to enlist other Go-Getters to serve as patient ambassadors in a push to share stories of how people acted to get their OAB under control.

The latest iteration of the campaign builds on Sumitomo’s work to expand the Go-Getter program. The “Time to Go” website now features a video in which Peete talks to two Go-Getters, OAB patients Dar and Diane.

In the six-minute video, the three women discuss the experiences that led them to talk to physicians about OAB. Dar and Diane describe how they began to worry about where the next restroom was when traveling or playing golf.

“I went to the doctor because I was having accidents. I wasn't making it, and there's nothing more embarrassing than having an accident in public,” Dar said. “I didn't want to live like that. I'm active, I golf, I swim, I go and play cards, I go for walks. I didn't want to have to worry about ... going for a mile walk and getting halfway out there and it's like, ‘shoot, I'm not going to make it’.”

Dar said she was at “breaking point” and therefore found it easy to talk to her doctor. Encouraged by her friends, Peete went to her doctor before reaching that point but was “a little nervous” about discussing her symptoms because “it was embarrassing.” Diane advised people with symptoms to talk to a physician and their friends, adding that “you'll be surprised to find out who else is experiencing the same thing.”

Sumitomo could benefit if people act on Diane’s advice. Gemtesa is one of three key growth drivers at the company, which laid off 400 staffers earlier this year in response to a “severe business environment.” Sales of the OAB drug hit (PDF) $165 million in the most recent quarter, beating Sumitomo’s target despite volumes growing slightly less than expected.

Gemtesa sales continued to grow after generic copies of Astellas’ rival OAB medicine Myrbetriq came to market in the U.S. in April. The ability to keep growing sales in the changing environment kept Sumitomo on track to hit its full-year sales target at the midpoint of its financial year, although it told investors “uncertainties due to insurance resets after January 2025” remain.