• by Les Luchter , April 22, 2025

Two separate companies, UCB and Sun Pharmaceutical, are employing celebrities – Dr. Pimple Popper and Art Garfunkel -- in dermatology-related campaigns.

Dr. Pimple Popper

Dr. Pimple Popper is “Breaking Out.”

Not only did dermatologist Sandra Lee’s reality series of that title premiere Monday on Lifetime, but so did her roles in two Instagram series that expand pharma firm UCB’s year-long “Make HStory” unbranded awareness campaign for HS (hidradenitis suppurativa). The first episode of The HStory Makers, in which Dr. Lee stars with HS patients, is up now, while “Ask the HStorian,” in which she goes solo, is coming soon.

HS, aka “acne inversa,” affects an estimated 3.3 million Americans. It largely manifests itself through permanent scarring, caused by boil-like abscesses, most often occurring in skin creases like armpits, the groin area, and the buttocks. 

Dr. Pimple Popper/Sandra Lee is the long-time purveyor of graphic pimple-popping videos through YouTube and her former long-running TLC series.

UCB,incidentally, sells Bimzelx, a new drug that fights HS. Competitors include Novartis’ Cosentyx and a drug under development by Abbvie.

No drug was approved for HS by the FDA until 2021, when Abbvie’s blockbuster anti-inflammatory Humira, now available under different names from numerous companies, received that designation.

Dr. Pimple Popper/Sandra Lee is no stranger to unbranded pharma awareness campaigns. In 2023, she teamed with Sun Pharmaceutical for "AH-ha! It's Acne Hormones," which called attention to hormones as a major underlying cause of acne.”

Art Garfunkel

Sun Pharma, meanwhile, has turned to another celeb, music icon Art Garfunkel, to support Ilumya, its treatment for plaque psoriasis.

“In my public life, I masked my moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis from the world, no matter what discomfort I felt,” Garfunkel explains in a new 4:30 video that joins the brand’s year-old "I Luv Ya for The Long Haul” campaign. “I’m finally ready to give my history with psoriasis a voice.”

In the video, Kim, his wife since 1988, shares a recollection with him of how “during outdoor summer concerts, you dressed like it was the middle of the fall” -- as the screen shows a photo of a young Garfunkel on stage in a turtleneck at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. 

After explaining how Ilumya has finally solved his problem, the couple sings “Feelin’ Groovy,” a song made famous by Garfunkel’s former duo (Simon & Garfunkel).

"Art's music has impacted millions and his experience, shared for the first time, is sure to leave a lasting impression," Maureen Shannon, Sun Pharma’s head of biologics marketing, said in a statement.