BioMarin
Changing the perception and management of a rare disease
Brief
Diagnosed at birth, phenylketonuria—or PKU—is a lifelong enzymatic deficiency that, if untreated, can lead to cognitive impairment. The traditional standard of care involved a protein-free diet, which most patients could not follow. Perception of PKU as simply a diet condition had become the norm, and patients were not engaging with the doctors or each other. BioMarin wanted a better way to reach patients, get them into treatment, and raise awareness for BioMarin’s approved therapy, KUVAN.
Services
- Digital strategy
- UX design
- Visual design
Deliverables
- Campaign identity
- Unbranded patient website
- Unbranded HCP website
- Social campaign
- Email campaign
- Design system
- Built on Drupal
Approach
BioMarin was fighting misperceptions about PKU—not just among patients but even among some doctors. There was a common perception that PKU is a metabolic condition. Some patients were even told that they had outgrown the disease since they had reached adulthood—the campaign aimed to break through these myths while driving demand for KUVAN.
A disease education campaign for patients and their doctors re-framed the condition as a brain disease that manifests through confusion, brain fog, irritability, and other cognitive impairments. The social and digital campaign “PKU & Me” featured PKU patients and their caregivers, tools, Facebook live events, demand generation functionality, dietary tips, and community building.
Building on social media’s content strategy and design language, the patient website was also an essential destination for patients. It offered educational content segmented by age, a symptom checker, and a clinic locator to help raise awareness, particularly for patients who had fallen off therapy. Most significantly, the website helped drive live events where patients could connect for support and education.
PKUBrain was the clinical side of the initiative, targeting clinicians to raise awareness of PKU’s underlying causes and symptoms. Called “Brain, Phe, Impact,” the campaign emphasized that PKU is a brain disease and instilled a sense of urgency around correctly diagnosing patients and getting them on to therapy.
Clinicians who opted in for the RM program received emails highlighting clinical papers and KOL presentations, further enriching their education and brand awareness of KUVAN for prescribing to their patients.
