Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs

Summary of work

Boehringer Ingelheim’s IPF Digital Initiative aims to raise awareness for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a poorly budgeted fatal orphan disease within the field of Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD), which is often misdiagnosed and inappropriately treated.

It is an innovative, multichannel approach with diverse platforms providing disease and treatment information for various target groups, including healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients.

The HCP platform in IPF.com offers profound disease information and serves as a homebase for three innovative and complementary training tools: ‘Images of ILD’ – teaches HCPs to correctly interpret high resolution CT (HRCT) scans; ‘IPF Sound Challenge’ – trains HCPs’ ears to differentiate between various stethoscope sounds; and ‘ePatCare ILD’ – uses real-life patient cases to connect ILD specialists and encourage them to share their expertise. The branded website global.ofev.com provides information on the newly approved drug OFEV® (nintedanib), and advises on its use for the treatment of IPF. The separate patient platform ‘Life with IPF’ with disease information, emotional support and patient stories completes the picture. All interlinked elements are distributed through social media channels, awareness campaigns and app stores to attract attention for IPF on a grand scale.

The initiative connects HCPs worldwide, in order to improve management and, ultimately, patient outcomes. 

Judges' comments

Boehringer Ingelheim carried out detailed research into this rare and fatal disease and raised awareness amongst HCPs.  This digital approach shared real life patient cases online and had excellent view rates. A small team implemented an impressive campaign.