These series of films were played at a Novartis National Sales Conference. They launched a joint campaign for Galvus (for type 2 diabetes) and Exforge (for hypertension). The campaign “The patients you know” challenged Novartis representatives to open up a dialogue about treating the patient rather than a disease in isolation. After the sales conference the campaign was launched to doctors nationwide.

The Australian pharmaceutical environment is one of the most regulated in the world in regards to restrictions on the promotion of product to health professionals and consumers.

Doctors often put a particular type of patient in the ‘too hard basket’. They may suffer from multiple disease states (diabetes and hypertension) but they’re often viewed as difficult to treat and problematic to manage and don’t get the care that they need.

These series of films were designed to elicit empathy for these patients and picture them as good people who too frequently have looked after other people at the expense of their own.

This joint campaign for Galvus (type 2 diabetes) and Exforge (hypertension) motivated sales representatives and urged doctors to consider giving these people more options for their treatment.