The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) has launched a national “Fight for Our Lives” campaign, producing videos and other materials that show the stories behind biotech breakthroughs and their impact on patients.
The video begins with a patient and shows people at the moment they realize they or a loved one may have a health problem. “It starts with the symptoms, then unexpected test results, and then the diagnosis changes everything,” one woman says while listening to sad music. The focus then shifts to drug developers, and one man says, “It starts with a science teacher, a family member who gets sick, and a stubborn determination to find out why.”
The interaction between patient and researcher continues throughout the first half of the video, as the American flag waves in the wind, the strings swell, and the man says, “This is American biotechnology.” The video ends with the line, “This is the fight of our lives, and losing is not an option.”
The main video features patients that BIO has featured in a series of short films. One film focuses on a boy named Ben, who gains weight at an alarming rate before being given an experimental drug that changes his life. Other videos feature the first patient to receive CAR-T cell therapy for multiple sclerosis and a woman who rebuilds her life after an antibiotic-resistant infection that caused multiple organ failure.
In addition to publishing the video on its campaign website, BIO plans to use national streaming, digital, and out-of-home advertising to reach people with its message. Live events held throughout the year are also part of the strategy.
BIO is running a campaign to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the U.S. biotechnology industry, which began with the founding of Genentech in 1976. The celebrations come at a difficult time for the sector, which faces a rapidly emerging hotspot of competing biotechs in China, an unpredictable FDA, and most-favored-nation pricing.
