GEMTESA®
Urovant Sciences, Inc., Area 23, an IPG Health Company, EVERSANA INTOUCH, Slate 360, and Carbon91
Approximately 30 million Americans older than 40 experience bothersome symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB) and the prevalence increases with age. It had been nearly a decade since the last development in therapy for this life-impacting condition. In December 2020, a startup out of southern California, Urovant Sciences, Inc., received FDA approval for once-daily GEMTESA—the first new oral OAB medication approved by the FDA since 2012. The treatment gap is evident: of those 30 million Americans with OAB, only 16 million have seen a doctor about the condition and only three million people are on treatment at any given time. While Urovant realized this, launching a new company, a new sales team, and a new therapy for OAB amidst the pandemic in early 2021 would be challenging. The COVID-related constraints on direct outreach demanded specific targeting of audiences, development of immediately persuasive messaging, and persistent follow-up to foster engagement.
Extensive quantitative and qualitative research prioritized the most effective messaging with patients and with HCPs to develop an optimal story flow. This included three key points about the product’s innovation: 1) GEMTESA has shown significant reductions in all three key OAB symptoms vs. placebo at 12 weeks (urgency, frequency, leakage); 2) it’s easy to administer—one crushable pill, one strength, once daily; 3) it has shown no significant impact on blood pressure vs. placebo. With all of this, GEMTESA was shown to be safe and tolerable—with only 2% of study participants discontinuing GEMTESA due to side effects. The most common side effects seen were headache, urinary tract infection, nasal congestion, sore throat or runny nose, diarrhea, nausea, and upper respiratory tract infection.
Additionally, Urovant Sciences launched a non-branded digital campaign in 2020 aimed at generating information, resources, and social discussion with OAB patients about their struggle with OAB. This ensured a fast start to driving in-office discussions quickly at launch. The branded launch creative—“More time here, less time there with GEMTESA”—positioned an aspirational reality where the patient could appreciate less time in the restroom and more time in the moment.
GEMTESA reached universal aided awareness (92%) and achieved 60% unaided awareness vs. the 60% goal while also exceeding launch expectations, ending the fiscal year far above goal, with more than 52,000 patients treated.
