Researchers for the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) were presenting data that showed that TAXOL® (paclitaxel) used in combination with the most commonly prescribed anti-cancer agent Adriamycin had greater efficacy than either drug used alone to treat metastatic breast cancer.

The study also found that TAXOL provided equal efficacy to Adriamycin when used as a single agent for the disease. These studies were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). A series of other significant announcements at ASCO threatened to overshadow these important developments. TAXOL’s manufacturer, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), needed to convince major national and international health media that this advancement was a monumental breakthrough that would result in saving thousands of women’s lives.

Spectrum Science Communications coordinated the media outreach activity of 10 BMS staff and four Spectrum staff. An onsite “nerve center” was created at a hotel near the ASCO meeting to coordinate the activities of the researchers and the more than 100 reporters attending the event. Spectrum conducted satellite media tour featuring key researchers. 

More than 100 local television news stations aired the VNR or used interviews provided by satellite. The Washington Post ran a front page story on the TAXOL development. Prominent stories also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and on Dow Jones Newswire. Leading cancer researcher Larry Norton, MD, announced on the NBC “Today Show” that the TAXOL news announcement was the single largest advance in breast cancer treatment since the development of chemotherapy. Spectrum estimates that one in three Americans was exposed to a news story about the study.