Teva Pharmaceuticals has a new game plan for raising awareness of tardive dyskinesia (TD).
Playing on the chronic movement disorder’s initialism, the pharma has recruited Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Davis—who also goes by T.D. and is known for his touchdown (another TD) record—to join a wide-ranging awareness blitz.
“The Other TD” is an unbranded campaign aimed at helping “undiagnosed people with TD recognize the symptoms and take action by having conversations with their healthcare providers,” Heather DeMyers, Teva’s VP of U.S. innovative medicines marketing, told Fierce Pharma Marketing in an interview.
Along with its dedicated website, campaign materials will also go out via social media, TV and other media channels, per DeMyers.
A series of TV commercials show football fans jumping off their couches to perform jubilant dances as their teams score touchdowns. A voiceover chimes in to note, “You probably know these TD moves,” before introducing “another TD”—tardive dyskinesia.
After a montage of the types of uncontrollable movements that can be caused by TD, the voiceover explains that the condition “is caused by certain prescription mental health medications” before encouraging viewers to talk to their doctors and visit the campaign’s website for more information.
Though the campaign is unbranded, links to “discover a treatment for TD” on the website do lead to the homepage for Teva’s Austedo, which has been approved to treat TD since 2017.
Close to a decade into the med’s launch, Teva chose to go unbranded with the campaign based on statistics: “The numbers don’t lie,” DeMyers said, noting that an estimated 785,000 Americans are living with TD, but only 15% have been formally diagnosed and only 5% receive treatment for it.
Particularly underdiagnosed are young men and members of racial and ethnic minority groups, she added.
“Despite the number of advancements we’ve had, there’s still a lot of undertreated patients and underdiagnosed. So, as we think about really impacting patients, we started to come together around, what else can we do?” she said. “Typical pharma will oftentimes focus on the unmet need and where our products fit in, but even before we could get there, it’s really helping to identify these patients and really having awareness and recognizing the signs and symptoms.”
With all of that in mind, the team was inspired to “think a little bit more outside the box” to come up with a way to raise awareness, according to DeMyers, ultimately leading them to tap Davis, an outspoken mental health advocate with a sizable platform, to join the cause.
“As someone who has faced my own mental health challenges, I understand the importance of speaking out and providing support for those encountering similar obstacles,” the NFL pro said in a statement. “Because of this, I am honored to be partnering with Teva to use my name and platform to increase awareness around TD and empower those who might be struggling to learn more and seek treatment.”
The sports connection also ties in nicely with the timing of the campaign’s launch, which arrives in the thick of football season.
Teva Pharmaceuticals The Other TD campaign
A still from "The Other TD" campaign. (Teva Pharmaceuticals)
“We wanted to use and capitalize right now on the audience and really create something that resonates in terms of what they could relate to,” DeMyers said.
“When your team scores a touchdown, you get excited, and you may dance,” she continued. “We wanted to bring a little bit of imagery that connects with most patients out there that they can relate to, and that’s where the ‘TD’ and the football came together.”
The company also sought to “do something that was very engaging, that caught their attention pretty quickly,” DeMyers said, suggesting that the commercials’ swift transition from touchdown dances to TD movements “catches people right there” and “capitalizes on their attention real quickly.”
From there, by helping people become more familiar with TD, Teva is aiming to impact the aforementioned statistics—by reaching not only undiagnosed patients, but also their caregivers and doctors, to boost awareness, diagnosis and treatment, according to DeMyers.
“It’s doing right by patients, and that’s really what Teva is all about,” she said.