Sanofi teams up with American Lung Association in 'harrowing' RSV awareness push

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by Lindsey Francy Sep 20, 2022 News
Sanofi teams up with American Lung Association in

One of the scariest moments in a parent's life is when their baby is not breathing. In a new awareness push, the American Lung Association is dealing with this horror.

While we have all been aware of the threat of infectious respiratory diseases, other, equally and sometimes more serious respiratory infections are being seen as less dangerous than they actually are.

The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a seasonal cold virus, came back with a vengeance last summer after social restrictions were lifted, despite the fact that it almost vanished in 2020.

The new campaign is being led by the ALA with help from Sanofi, which helped develop the drug Beyfortus.

The European regulators recommended that Beyfortus be given the go-ahead to preventRSV in infants. The two companies are working on a vaccine that recently passed phase 3 trials.

In addition to its regulatory submission in the U.S., which is planned in the second half of this year, it will also be launching its own consumer campaign in the U.S.

The initiative builds on our support of the American Lung Association's RSV Educational Campaign by continuing to help expand awareness of the disease.

For a healthy adult,RSV will typically present as a heavy cold, but in older people, it can cause severe pneumonia.

The leading cause of hospitalizations in infants in the West is bronchiolitis. Almost all babies survive, but sometimes they need oxygen and a feeding tube for a few days, with the object of care being to support the baby while it fights the infection.

There is a drug for infants called Synagis that is sold by Sobi.

For the ALA and Sanofi campaign, the pair have asked real patients to share their stories that they describe as being 'harrowing and hopeful' of their experiences with their children who have been impacted by the disease

When Sarah Driscoll's daughter was born, she was worried aboutRSV. The symptoms of a cold started to show after a holiday gathering.

She wrote that she was placed in thePICU to be cared for while her tiny body fought against the disease.

She was never alone, that's what we did. Charley was put on a breathing machine. They had to feed themselves. I have a lot of memories like that from her time in the PICU, but mostly those days are in my mind. She was better. She said that they were able to bring her home after five days in the hospital.

It is a similar situation for the Lopez family who have twins. Alex was having a hard time breathing. We needed to rush him to the hospital when we realized this was serious. We were scared because we had never experienced something like this before.

The key purpose of the campaign is to help drive parental awareness and education about the disease, while also encouraging parents to speak with their child's healthcare provider about the disease.

The goal is to help make a difference by increasing the number of parents who know what RSV is and how unpredictable and dangerous it can be for any infant.

We know that personal stories are an incredibly powerful tool to educate and that it's important to create a space for people'sRSV stories to be heard in their own words Patient stories help to drive awareness and education, and illustrate the burden of this disease.

It was clear to both organizations that parent storytellers had to be at the center of this initiative in order to help address the low levels of awareness within this community.