Edelman x AveXis/Novartis
Recently, the company formerly known as AveXis, was renamed Novartis Gene Therapies, which a Novartis press release called a business of “growing importance.” I worked on some important launch materials for this group, and am proud of the contributions we made to the company’s gene therapy marketing strategy, particularly because of the challenges we faced prior and up to the Covid-19 pandemic, which ushered in heretofore unseen enthusiasm for mRNA treatments.
I worked as the writer for two campaign video deliverables. (Right)
One, was a digital video asset for the company’s social media channels, documenting the journey of baby girl named Stella with a life-threatening disease called, spinal muscular atrophy or SMA. The company developed a genetic therapy to treat the disease called Zolgensma.
The other was an animated video explaining the process and administration of AveXis/Novartis Gene Therapies and Zolgensma, specifically.
VIDEO: “How Our Gene Therapies Work”
Of particular challenge was the fact that before the Covid-19 pandemic, studies reflected a general histency toward gene therapies among the general public. Of course, now, the majority of Americans currently have taken an mRNA vaccine with multiple boosters. However, in early 2020, the treatment was quite novel and lived outside the public’s understanding of how one might work. My job was to break down the process into a concise and compliant story, explaining the painstaking efforts the elite team at AveXis/Novartis Gene Therapies went through in crafting Zolgensma, for a then skeptical audience.
VIDEO: “Stella’s Story”
Documenting Baby Stella’s birthday was an experience without parallel. Slated to shoot in late March, 2020, our team’s production plan was forced to pivot, as the world locked down in quarantine,
What would follow was the first of many remote shoots in 2020. However, the power of Stella’s mother’s storytelling punched through the screen and stands as one of the most impactful projects I’ve ever worked on.
Through tears, Stella’s mother recounted her daughter’s diagnosis in utero, learning Stella would likely never see her first birthday and, then, the client’s heroic administration of a life saving mRNA treatment that edited away the SMA in Baby Stella’s genes, enabling her to move, communicate, and, in fact, celebrate her first birthday, which we were there to document via Zoom. As the writer, I found myself with a glut of soundbites and story options.
However, the asset was ultimately sunsetted when in-person shooting returned. Regardless, this project remains an indelible professional experience and I’ll never forget it.
