Get the Inside Story

DTC Relaunch of TYKERB (lapatinib) at GSK

When your big sister is a famous hero, it can be hard to stand out. In breast cancer, everyone knows HERCEPTIN. Heralded as a miracle drug in the 1990s, HERCEPTIN was one of the first revolutionary “smart drugs” to target an oncogenic receptor, and it flipped the prognosis for women with HER2+ disease from dire to hopeful.

TYKERB is the other HER2-targeted drug.

The TYKERB brand got lost in the supernova halo around HERCEPTIN. Seven years after its approval for HER2+ metastatic breast cancer, TYKERB was still little-known among patients. And its DTC voice had gone silent.

With new competitors on the way, it was time to reinvigorate TYKERB and relaunch it directly to patients.

Brand identity workshopping led to a new strategic positioning and personality for TYKERB and, ultimately, to a new campaign that differentiated it from its more famous sister while sharing in the bank of trust in HER2-targeting.

Get the Inside Story told women about a second line of HER2-targeted defense that worked differently, from inside tumor cells. Its iconic image of a light bulb glowing with purple light from the inside reassured women that when HERCEPTIN stopped working, TYKERB provides another idea for how to maintain their HER2 blockade. For HCPs, the campaign included a new video animation of the MOA of TYKERB inside tumor cells.