All materials were developed in line with Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) guidelines. The ABPI is recognised by the government as the industry body negotiating on behalf of the branded pharmaceutical industry for statutory consultation requirements including the pricing scheme for medicines in the UK. Local markets then adapted the campaign according to their requirements. It was agreed that local markets would ensure compliancy of the campaign to regulations in their area.

Activities undertaken by the pharmaceutical industry must comply with the Code of Practice set by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). The Code contains 26 clauses that reflect and extend beyond UK law, ensuring a professional, ethical and transparent manner by which pharmaceutical companies must act to benefit patients. It applies to the provision of medical goods and services that enhance patient care, or benefit the health service, as well as any promotional materials directed at healthcare professionals.

The multichannel campaigns contain a variety of information types governed by different clauses of the Code. Where the information served to improve diagnosis and treatment rates as opposed to directly promoting a product, the involvement of the pharmaceutical company was made clear. Promotional content was directed towards healthcare professionals only and displayed all required information and disclosures, for example the prescribing information and adverse event reporting instructions.

Special considerations were also taken due to the digital nature of the campaign, such as ensuring content was monitored and patient access was restricted.

In the global rollout of the campaigns, local markets were responsible for adapting the materials to ensure compliance with their local regulations.

Over 3% of the world’s population is infected with hepatitis C, a silent, but deadly, virus. Treatment has been available for some time, but therapy was long and had a success rate of only 40%. For many, living with the disease was better than enduring treatment.

With the launch of INCIVO, cure rates increased to 80% and treatment duration shortened. Despite this, some HCPs were still choosing not to treat patients. There was a perceived lack of urgency around treatment – they believed that patients could afford to wait.

Our campaign needed to compel HCPs to re-think ‘warehousing’ patients and consider the full implication of their decision to wait. We worked hard to understand the audience, their concerns and ambitions and, most importantly, their treatment triggers. Aligning a smart creative with robust segmentation, the “urgency to treat” campaign was both challenging and personal.

The integrated campaign was not about shouting the loudest, but being the smartest. Engaging with the target audience where and when they chose.

By the end of 2013, INCIVO had 70% of the PI market and over 110,000 patients had been treated with it. The campaign has been localised into 16 markets.

The objective of the campaign was to reinforce to healthcare professionals the sense of urgency around treating patients infected with hepatitis C.

By treating at an earlier stage of disease, patients have a much better chance of being cured and with a shorter treatment duration. Cure from hepatitis C also potentially removes the need for liver transplantation, saving the broader society time, money and resource.

Our target was to secure >65% market share, versus other new competitors to the market place. We also had a goal of ensuring uptake in >70% of local markets within our region.

The INCIVO “urgency to treat” campaign was created for HCPs only, and therefore, this material cannot be viewed by the general public, in accordance with EU legislation.

We created a suite of materials to deliver across a variety of platforms, focusing on either more rational or more emotional messaging. Using the right channel, at the right time, for the right customer.

Rational highlights:

• SVR App – enabling HCPs to input patient-specific data and highlighting the benefit in predicted treatment duration and cure rates

• Cost of cure App –highlighting the cost benefits of treating earlier

Emotional highlights:

• Campaign video – delivered at the global congress

• Prescribing decision tree – to encourage HCPs to focus on that moment of deciding to treat or wait. The HCP is presented with a patient profile and asked to make the choice between treat and wait, before seeing the impact of their decision as the patient’s life unfolds

To drive success we developed an application that supported markets in deploying the central campaign based on local strategic imperatives.

By the end of 2013, INCIVO had won 70% of the hepatitis C PI market. In addition to this, more than 110,000 patients worldwide have been treated with INCIVO and the number continues to rise.

The campaign itself has been adopted across 15+ countries, representing >75% of the region.

Our campaign messaging was also positively reported on by Bloomberg, who noted:

“To stoke demand, INCIVO’s booth at a meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver in Amsterdam in April features a video with the message ‘Treat now to take your patient’s life off hold.’

Some doctors agree. The practice of delaying treatment… known as warehousing is “irrational, and almost unethical”, said Mitchell Shiffman, a clinician who sees about 1,000 new hepatitis C patients a year at the Liver Institute of Virginia. “If a patient can be cured now, why do you want to tell them to wait?”

We created a segmentation model based on HCP mindsets and behaviours, to ensure that we created a campaign which communicated effectively with our target audience. We delivered the right story, at the right time, to the right physician.

We created a flexible integrated campaign, including more patient-centric communications (urgency to treat video, patient profiles, prescribing decision trees) and other more rational tools (SVR app, cost of cure, etc). To engage with all target HCPs, our stories were based around both rational and emotional factors such as risk of transmission, better patient outcomes, and burden of disease.

Alongside the campaign, an internal programme engaged local affiliates to maximise the tools, engage customers and drive market share.

All materials were developed in line with Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) guidelines. The ABPI is recognised by the government as the industry body negotiating on behalf of the branded pharmaceutical industry for statutory consultation requirements including the pricing scheme for medicines in the UK. Local markets then adapted the campaign according to their requirements. It was agreed that local markets would ensure compliancy of the campaign to regulations in their area.