admin
More than a decade after earning FDA approval for Xiaflex as a nonsurgical treatment option for Dupuytren’s contracture, Endo is debuting its first-ever branded TV commercial in the indication.
In a recent interview with Fierce Pharma Marketing about the “Steve’s Journey” campaign, Dayna Sracic, the company’s executive director of consumer marketing, acknowledged the “unusual case study” of that timeline but she said it was guided by years of research.
“What we’ve learned through market research is many patients are very deferential to their physicians, and the dynamic in an orthopedic office for someone with Dupuytren’s contracture tends to be difficult to get an honest and fair representation of nonsurgical options, specifically Xiaflex,” she said.
The research also shows, however, that people with Dupuytren’s symptoms who request Xiaflex by name “are likely to be granted that request,” she added. So, as Endo approaches the milestone of nearly 250,000 patients treated with Xiaflex, the company is seizing the opportunity “to really galvanize patients to be specific in their request for Xiaflex as the only FDA-approved nonsurgical option” for Dupuytren’s contracture, Sracic said.
Xiaflex is also approved to treat Peyronie’s disease, an indication in which the company has been running branded spots for several years. Its Dupuytren’s-focused efforts, however, have until now been of the unbranded, awareness-raising variety.
With Dupuytren’s, the tissue under the skin of the hand thickens and tightens over time, creating a hard lump that can eventually extend into a cordlike shape that pulls one or more fingers toward the palm.
The new commercial stars an actual Xiaflex user, Steve, and his wife Gisele. They discuss how Steve’s Dupuytren’s previously kept him from performing everyday tasks and gestures, including holding Gisele’s hand. But, with the help of Endo’s medication, throughout the ad, Steve is shown laying his hand flat on a table, flexing his hand and, most importantly, holding hands with his wife, while a voice-over encourages viewers to “live your life hands-on with Xiaflex.”
Steve was a familiar face for Endo: He was previously featured in a digital video series, “Coffee & Cords,” that the company launched in 2022 to encourage open conversations between people with Dupuytren’s about life with the condition and available treatment options, both surgical and nonsurgical. He hadn’t yet begun any treatment for his Dupuytren’s when he participated, but the conversations led him to try out Xiaflex, according to Sracic.
“When we followed up with him, his story was compelling,” Sracic said. “So, we embarked on getting [him] and his wife Gisele to share their story to help others feel confident that they can live life hands-on by seeking treatment with Xiaflex.”
Endo’s media plan is broadly aimed at people aged 50 and older, Sracic said, as the progressive condition is most likely to develop around middle age. The ad is slated to air across linear and connected TV as well as online, pegged to news and sports programs, TV series like “Survivor” and “Matlock” and cable channels including History and Discovery.
Within that group, Endo is particularly focused on reaching “diagnosed and untreated” patients, according to the exec.
“Most of them have seen a physician and, in some cases, a hand specialist and have been given instructions to either watch and wait until their contracture gets more progressed, without true guidance on when to come back and find treatment, or they’ve been told surgery is their only option,” she said.
The ad is meant to offer an alternative option, encouraging those viewers to specifically request a conversation with their doctors about nonsurgical Xiaflex.
As the campaign continues, Endo will be closely watching the number of visitors to the associated HandsOnLife.com URL, which automatically redirects to the Xiaflex page for Dupuytren’s contracture. From there, it’ll be tracking what Sracic labeled the “primary KPI”: the number of visitors who use the site’s locator tool to find a nearby hand specialist.
Additionally, even as it rolls out the branded push, Endo will continue to air the unbranded “Reminders” awareness campaign it launched last summer, in what Sracic described as “our hybrid activation program.”
“The two in concert really help motivate Dupuytren’s contracture patients at the right point with the right information and right journey,” she said. “We use a lot of data in our media targeting to give them the right message based on their contextual searches, based on the content that they’re exploring online and where they are in their journey with the disease.”
