Ad Stars: Euro RSCG (Tysabri)

PATIENT POWER
agency: Euro RSCG Life Metamax NY
brand: Tysabri
client: Biogen Idec and Elan
photo from left: John Born, VP, associate creative director • Julien Maculan, art director • Julien Jarreau, EVP, chief creative officer • Mark Inaba, VP, group art supervisor • Lori Spielberger, EVP, chief creative officer

In many disease areas, patient advocacy groups are getting better organized and more informed. And when you consider the recent actions of the multiple sclerosis community, these patients are proving to be a growing force that is taking matters into their own hands. In fact, MS patients were partly responsible for the reintroduction of Tysabri to the market after Biogen Idec and Elan voluntarily withdrew it in 2005.

As a salute to this growing momentum, Biogen Idec and Euro RSCG created the educational campaign "High Hopes." They rolled out the fully integrated campaign to both physicians and patients.

Given the risks associated with Tysabri, it was important that the campaign deal with the issue head-on. But at the end of the day, the patients were clamoring for the drug because for many it was the best treatment. "Our challenge was to translate clinical data into tangible benefits patients could understand in the context of their lives," says John Born of Euro RSCG Life Metamax NY. But Euro RSCG also sought to honor MS patients' community network. From their research, the agency knew that patients craved hearing from other patients. Euro RSCG incorporated that into their materials, and they created a patient brochure written in the voice of Barbara, an MS patient and Tysabri user.

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