Over 3% of the world’s population is infected with hepatitis C, a silent, but deadly, virus. Treatment has been available for some time, but therapy was long and had a success rate of only 40%. For many, living with the disease was better than enduring treatment.

With the launch of INCIVO, cure rates increased to 80% and treatment duration shortened. Despite this, some HCPs were still choosing not to treat patients. There was a perceived lack of urgency around treatment – they believed that patients could afford to wait.

Our campaign needed to compel HCPs to re-think ‘warehousing’ patients and consider the full implication of their decision to wait. We worked hard to understand the audience, their concerns and ambitions and, most importantly, their treatment triggers. Aligning a smart creative with robust segmentation, the “urgency to treat” campaign was both challenging and personal.

The integrated campaign was not about shouting the loudest, but being the smartest. Engaging with the target audience where and when they chose.

By the end of 2013, INCIVO had 70% of the PI market and over 110,000 patients had been treated with it. The campaign has been localised into 16 markets.

We created a suite of materials to deliver across a variety of platforms, focusing on either more rational or more emotional messaging. Using the right channel, at the right time, for the right customer.

Rational highlights:

• SVR App – enabling HCPs to input patient-specific data and highlighting the benefit in predicted treatment duration and cure rates

• Cost of cure App –highlighting the cost benefits of treating earlier

Emotional highlights:

• Campaign video – delivered at the global congress

• Prescribing decision tree – to encourage HCPs to focus on that moment of deciding to treat or wait. The HCP is presented with a patient profile and asked to make the choice between treat and wait, before seeing the impact of their decision as the patient’s life unfolds

To drive success we developed an application that supported markets in deploying the central campaign based on local strategic imperatives.

By the end of 2013, INCIVO had won 70% of the hepatitis C PI market. In addition to this, more than 110,000 patients worldwide have been treated with INCIVO and the number continues to rise.

The campaign itself has been adopted across 15+ countries, representing >75% of the region.

Our campaign messaging was also positively reported on by Bloomberg, who noted:

“To stoke demand, INCIVO’s booth at a meeting of the European Association for the Study of Liver in Amsterdam in April features a video with the message ‘Treat now to take your patient’s life off hold.’

Some doctors agree. The practice of delaying treatment… known as warehousing is “irrational, and almost unethical”, said Mitchell Shiffman, a clinician who sees about 1,000 new hepatitis C patients a year at the Liver Institute of Virginia. “If a patient can be cured now, why do you want to tell them to wait?”