CNTVRS

Obtain a favourable public decision by pushing an issue on the public agenda.

Unblocking the political process to get an innovative treatment covered by the Health system.

• Cancer medication for incurable patients whose disease is resistant to both chemotherapy and hormonal therapy;
• No curative effects but adds several months to life expectancy;
• Already funded by medical systems in several European countries;
• Its medical relevance was validated by the French National Authority for Health (HAS);
• Registration as a reimbursable drug usually occurs within 2 months of validation;
• As a big pharmaceutical company, the client was automatically perceived as suspicious, in a context where various scandals had damaged trust.

Three-step strategy

Working behind the scenes:

• Drafting messages to be used with public authorities, based on science and comparative data;
• Regular meetings and talks with key public stakeholders;
• After several months and despite promising declarations, no concrete decision was made.

Rallying to succeed

• Organising a network of allies, involving patients associations and families, healthcare professionals, experts;
• Developing communication tools to draw public authorities’ attention;
• Providing patients’ spokespeople with media training sessions.

Shifting the focus

• Promoting the voice of the patients associations instead of the pharmaceutical firm’s.
• Shifting the debate from the treatment itself to whether France could still afford to give cancer patients a few extra months of life.

Publicising the issue

• First step: Faced with the inertia of public authorities, a first article was published in National dayly newspaper with a wide circulation.
• Speeding up the actions: A letter was sent by the president of the association to the French Prime Minister and oncologists to gather their support; publication of an open letter to the Minister of Health co-signed by renowned oncologists in popular monthly newspaper; briefing addressed to journalists ; publication of a dispatch on the topic by press agency APM, relayed by both general and specialised press outlets such as Le Monde, Les Echos, Le Point as well as trade media.
• Repeated broadcast of the association president and patients’ interviews.
• Challenged on the topic during his intervention on a national radio channel, the Minister of Health announced the drug would be reimbursed.

The decision to reimburse the drug was taken after less than two-month campaigning.

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