McCann Health and Janssen Use Music to Help Patients Through Treatment
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PAH (Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension) is a fatal, rare disease that makes it difficult for oxygen to be properly distributed throughout the body, causing patients to feel short of breath. While PAH can’t be cured, it can be treated. A mandatory provision of treatment is the “6-minute walk test” which monitors a patient’s condition. The walk is so suffocating and lonely for patients that many are reluctant to take the test or refuse it altogether. McCann Health Japan and Janssen Pharmaceutical, which provides treatment drugs for PAH, launched “6 Minutes Together” to help remedy the situation.
“6 Minutes Together” is an original music playlist aimed at making the 6-minute walk test a more positive experience. In a collaboration with PAH specialists and Spotify, 40 artists in Japan and around the world offered 6-minute songs labeled with exact beats per minute (BPM) to match patients’ walk speeds. The playlist also includes a 6-minute original audio recording of medical tips for patients by Professor Tamura, a PAH specialist, and a new song titled “6 Minutes” by one of Japan’s most well-known artists, Yo Hitoto.
Since its launch on April 22, 2021, the campaign has gained 118M media impressions, an unprecedented number for rare disease campaigns, and was covered by more than 80 media outlets. PAH specialists are hopeful that the awareness generated by “6 Minutes Together” will promote early diagnosis, and intervention, for patients.
