• by Les Luchter , 8 hours ago

Around 30,000 people annually in the U.S. with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) also get diagnosed with specific epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations, a condition that affects mostly non-smokers.

It’s a $4 billion+ market globally, says DelveInsight Business Research, which points to AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso as leading the charge against the disease.

Now, after 10 years on the market, Tagrisso is running its first consumer-targeted commercials: a :90 spot  and a totally separate :15 one.

Bringing a new angle to the pharma trope of patients engaging in various activities because they use the advertised drug, the longer spot plays off the Tagrisso name. “Why do I take Tagrisso?” asks one user.  “TagrisSO I can make pancakes,” she replies. Other lines in the spot include: “TragrisSO I can share my handiwork,” concluding with “TagrisSO I can live longer” and “TagrisSO I can ask for the #1 prescribed medicine for EFGR+ metastatic NSCLC.”

Some two-thirds of the ad is taken up with a rundown of potential side effects and risks, a FDA requirement that’s unneeded in the :15 spot because it includes no statements of product efficacy nor claims. Instead, it boasts that “since its approval 10 years ago, Tagrisso has offered a decade of research, a decade of partnership, and a decade of commitment to patients.”

The campaign kicked off in May with a one-month prime-time presence over such linear TV vehicles as NBC’s “Today,” the “CBS Evening News,” USA Network, CNN, Fox and MSNBC. A line at the end of the :90 spot advised viewers to “see our ad in Southern Living Magazine,” which served as “book of record,” per a spokesperson. (The “book of record is part of FDA guidelines for direct-to-consumer pharma ads, in which a print ad provides more detailed safety info about the product.)

After Tagrisso’s linear TV advertising ended, the campaign’s TV portion shifted to CTV, running through September, with placements including Hulu and Roku.

The campaign also includes paid search, display, social (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube pre-roll), audio (podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, IHeart Radio), print (patient and caregiver publications), point-of-care materials, and collaborations with patient advocacy groups to provide educational resources at events.

GSD&M has done the creative for the campaign, with CMI and Mindshare handling media.

Over 66,000 Americans have benefited from Tagrisso over the past decade, and one aim of the :90 spot -- although not mentioned explicitly in the ad -- is for NSCLC patients to get biomarker testing done, AstraZeneca’s Arun Krishna, vice president, head of lung cancer franchise, U.S. oncology business, tells Marketing Daily. That would be a result of the ad’s final line: “Ask your doctor if you’re EFGR+ and if Tagrisso is right for you.”

AstraZeneca has also just launched Datroway, which treats NSCLC patients with EGFR mutations, but only after they’ve already used Tagrisso and undergone chemotherapy.