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| Olympic gold medalist Kelly Clark--Courtesy of M. Octagon, Creative Commons CC-BY SA 2.0 |
Sun Pharma wants to get the word out about its acne med, Absorica, and the company has recruited Olympic gold-medal snowboarder Kelly Clark to do the honors as part of its latest education push.
Clark, who has struggled with severe recalcitrant nodular acne since she was a teenager, will talk about how the company's Absorica treatment can help through Sun Pharma's patient education program, "Leave Acne Behind," which offers help resources and tools for patients who are dealing with the condition.
As part of the program, Clark is recording a biweekly video blog on the Absorica website, documenting her 5 months on the treatment and sharing personal stories about her experience with acne. "It's been discouraging at times, to say the least. It's been hard on my self-esteem," Clark tells viewers in the first video blog. "But today is a new chapter in my life. … I have hope for the first time that I found something that can treat my acne."
People browsing the site can scroll through tabs to see updated videos and also click on a link, "starting the conversation," which leads to information about how to talk to a healthcare provider about starting treatment.
Part of the reason Clark chose to take Absorica was because it wouldn't interfere with her training diet, she said in a video. Patients taking isotretinoin acne meds usually need to take the pills with high-fat, high-calorie diets--something athletes usually shy away from. But Absorica can be taken without regard to food, Sun Pharma said in a statement, giving it an advantage over competing brands such as Retin-A and generic meds that require big meals with their doses.
"We're very pleased that Kelly had such a positive treatment experience with Absorica," Ashish Anvekar, VP of Sun Pharma's USA Brand Division, said in a statement. "We hope that her successful journey inspires others with severe recalcitrant nodular acne to speak to their dermatologist about treatment options."
- read the statement