Beth Snyder Bulik
Senior Editor

In Amgen’s new oncology video series, patient Gina calls her colorectal cancer diagnosis “the best worst thing that’s ever happened to me.” She goes on to talk about her Stage IV diagnosis and initial, terminal prognosis four years ago, but also describes her strong family support system and a group created by her husband around a healing star theme.

Gina is one of seven “Patient Points of View” in Amgen Oncology’s new YouTube series, debuting today, and an example of the personal, forthright and unscripted perspectives each person offers. The unbranded campaign includes people with non-small cell lung cancer, small cell lung cancer and gastric cancer as well. Amgen’s goal is to “give them the microphone” to tell their stories for self-empowerment, but also for employees and others who can learn from them, said Michelle Carrillo, executive director of advocacy at Amgen. Several of the videos include Amgen researchers who talk about their work and hopes for creating transformative medicines.

“Every time we hear from patients, we ask them, ‘What advice would you give to Amgen and what would you like to see?’ And the answer is ‘research, research, research.’ That’s giving them hope for the future,” she said.

The new campaign is part of Amgen’s broader Patient Voices initiative and team that officially formed last fall. The group works with patients across Amgen therapy and research areas to make long-term connections, listen to their stories and gather input on what Amgen can do better to help them. That can result in patient visits to labs and conversations with researchers, or as in this case, a campaign built around their stories. Amgen has long-term relationships with each of the patients in the new oncology series.

The videos will be shown at Amgen’s booth this weekend at ASCO, and will roll out across Amgen social media posts on Twitter, LinkedIn and on its website. Although the work is unbranded and the patients are not on Amgen therapies, the biopharma has a broad oncology portfolio that includes Lumakras, Blincyto and Kyprolis, along with at least 10 early-stage candidates.

Carrillo said whether it is family members, friends, advocacy groups or personal support groups like Gina’s, the common denominators in the Amgen patients’ stories are strength through support, hope and a renewed appreciation for life.

Gina ends her video saying, “The reason I say that cancer is the best worst thing that ever happened to me is because I had to understand who I was, not just based on what I was doing. It helped me to become more connected to the people I love, helped to show me the power of vulnerability and reveal the purpose of what I could do moving forward.”

Reference:https://endpts.com/