Today’s newspapers are full of news of a paradigm shift in cancer therapy, following results from early tests of a new skin cancer drug. Pembrolizumab works by prompting the body’s own immune system to attack the cancer cells, with the study suggesting that it can increase survival chances sevenfold.
It’s an amazing story – breakthroughs more often arrive in increments rather than leaps, and news such as this has the power to engender real hope among anyone living with this disease.
The manufacturers, MSD, are hoping to apply for a European licence by the end of the year and it is being fast tracked for licensing in the US.
We often talk about patient empowerment, and about the patient as consumer.
But, of course, there are some essential differences between consuming the latest piece of Apple tech and consuming healthcare services. And not the least of these is brought to the fore by today’s announcement: speed of access.
As consumers, we are more and more used to instant gratification – we want what we want, when we want it; and more often than not, we want it right now. And brands, marketers and retailers have all spent the last decade or so falling over themselves to make sure they can oblige.
And how much more true is this desire, when we want something that can so profoundly affect our quality of life, or indeed our length of life? But, however fast the fast tracking, the time between announcement and availability of breakthrough treatments is going to be too long for many individuals.
Sometimes, the empowered patient just hasn’t got that much power.
As healthcare marketers, particularly when we’re working on chronic conditions, this is the extra dimension that we have to consider, but which our colleagues marketing yoghurt don’t have to worry about. Our job is as much about education to manage expectations as it is about driving demand.
Challenging, isn’t it?
