Ted Danson has teamed up with Bristol Myers Squibb to show how plaque psoriasis patients can get to a good place. The actor, who developed psoriasis at age 25, is fronting a new campaign to show how BMS’ Sotyktu can help alleviate physical, mental and social burdens linked to the skin condition.
BMS has made Danson, an actor known for roles in TV shows such as "Cheers" and "The Good Place," the face of its “SO, Have You Found It?” campaign. The campaign, which builds on “Found It” DTC spots that BMS began running last year, will discuss psoriasis, how it affects lives and the impact effective therapies can have.
To kick off the campaign, BMS has released a four-minute video in which Danson interviews a patient who took Sotyktu to treat their psoriasis. Danson, who is not taking Sotyktu, discussed how psoriasis affected his life.
“My first reaction was I was so angry that my body was somehow betraying me. People would ask me to go swimming. I'd make up the craziest excuses not to be in a bathing suit or spas. Never went to a spa,” Danson said. “I wonder if we come across as whiners. ‘Oh, they have patchy skin. Big deal.’ But it actually does impact not just your emotion, but it's not good for your body.”
After Danson and the interviewee, Emily, share their early experiences with psoriasis, the actor turns the chat to the option “to take something that is working with your chemistry because you're treating it at its source.” Emily explains that she spoke to her dermatologist, began taking Sotyktu and now has “a sense of freedom and relief.”
The video is the latest in an industrywide set of promotional materials to focus on how psoriasis affects quality of life. Almirall made a multipart drama series about how psoriasis can shape lives. And Amgen, which paid BMS $13.4 billion for the psoriasis blockbuster Otezla, ran an ad about a man who “thinks his flaky red patches are all people see.”
BMS offloaded Otezla to clear a barrier to its merger with Celgene. The deal made deucravacitinib, which is now sold as Sotyktu, the focus of BMS’ work on psoriasis. BMS won FDA approval in 2022 and racked up (PDF) sales of $170 million globally last year. The company told investors in February that it expects to see around 10,000 paid prescriptions in the first quarter and roughly double that figure this year.