News - 13 Mar `24Lessons In Marketing: How To Sell A Disease To Big Pharma

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Seeing Incyte’s “See What’s Possible” campaign — complete with larger-than-life vitiligo models at the AAD meeting in San Diego — was a milestone for our community.

For years, vitiligo flew below the healthcare industry’s radar. Today, it’s front-and-center: the first FDA-approved therapy is on the market, and more than 40 companies are investing in vitiligo R&D.

That momentum didn’t appear by chance; it grew from steady advocacy, data-driven storytelling, and a lot of patient and caregiver voices refusing to be invisible.

It’s proof that even a small non-profit like VRF can help shift perceptions and priorities across an entire field. We’re even considering a white paper on the journey, with the working title “How to Bring an Overlooked Disease to Pharma’s Attention.”

If you’d like to contribute insights or client-side perspectives, let us know!

— Yan Valle

CEO, Vitiligo Research Foundation | Author, A No-Nonsense Guide to Vitiligo

Vitiligo marketing

AAD, 2024

AAD, 2025