Practice Areas

Health

 

Mylan Pharmaceuticals - Launching Apokyn - The First Rescue Therapy for Parkinson's Patients

 

Challenge

Mylan turned to CRT/tanaka to help launch APOKYN - the first therapy designed to rescue Parkinson's patients from debilitating "off" episodes. When these episodes occur, Parkinson's patients are unable to get out of a chair, walk or handle simple activities.

Initial research indicated wide spread awareness of the medication among physicians, but not within the patient population. Mylan hired CRT/tanaka to build awareness for APOKYN within the Parkinson's community and educate patients about the availability of the therapy.

 

Solution

In order to get patients to believe in the therapy, CRT/tanaka felt people needed to see APOKYN in action. The Agency implemented a multi-wave media relations and patient education strategy. The first wave focused on reaching national media and medical publications by leveraging the FDA approval announcement. The second wave focused on enabling reporters in high patient population cities to actually see the drug in action. The third wave focused on leveraging major Parkinson's conferences and creating a series of "Rescue Summits" in partnership with the American Parkinson's Disease Association.

 

Results

Within one year of the launch, the campaign reached more than 38 million consumers with a media value in excess of $1.7 million (a 500 percent return on investment). It included a first-ever, live "before and after" demonstration on the NBC Today Show in which a patient showed a national audience the debilitating nature of "off" episodes and how APOKYN rescues a patient. The "events" campaign reached more than 15,000 Parkinson's patients and caregivers. Follow-up surveys indicated that a majority of patients would be speaking with their physician and friends about APOKYN.