With the launch of a new branded initiative, Bristol Myers Squibb is crafting a recipe for both ramping up its Cobenfy rollout and boosting schizophrenia awareness and education.
“Cobenfy Connections” is aimed at highlighting the importance of open and honest conversations about life with schizophrenia among patients, caregivers and doctors—and, in doing so, breaking down stigma attached to the oft-misunderstood mental health condition.
The campaign, which launched amid last Friday’s World Mental Health Day, stars Gail Simmons, cookbook author and longtime “Top Chef” judge, whose older brother Alan was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
For the initiative, Simmons sat down for a meal with two people living with schizophrenia, Avary and Chanel—both of whom use Cobenfy—as well as Avary’s wife, Chanel’s mother and psychiatrist Patricia Ares-Romero, M.D. In videos shared on the Cobenfy Connections website, the participants discuss their experiences with the condition, the power of a strong support system and the importance of finding an effective treatment plan.
Simmons reflected on the difficulties her family faced in finding helpful resources to support her brother’s diagnosis, adding in a statement that by joining the BMS project, “I hope to empower others to open up and explore what’s possible with the right support and treatment.”
“We often take sitting at the table with loved ones for granted. Partnering with Gail let us create a space where people living with schizophrenia and their families could connect and share their experiences,” Carlos Dortrait, BMS's senior VP of neuroscience commercialization, said in the launch announcement. “Our goal is simple: to create more spaces where experiences are shared, courage is celebrated, and stories like those of Chanel and Avary bring hope—showing how connection, community, and the right treatment can make a difference.”
The branded initiative comes as BMS works to steadily increase uptake of Cobenfy, whose fall 2024 approval introduced the first new mechanism of action in antipsychotic schizophrenia treatments in decades.
That novel status seems to have led to a modest early start for the drug: Most recently, BMS reported $35 million in Cobenfy sales for the second quarter, amid projections of an eventual multibillion-dollar sales peak for the med.
During a second-quarter call with investors, BMS Chief Commercialization Officer Adam Lenkowsky noted that “it takes multiple calls to change physician behavior,” adding that the company was in the process of expanding its community field sales force to support repeated physician contacts.