News
Texas billboard campaign aims to raise Alpha-1 awareness, detection
Outdoor billboards spotlighting Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency are now in place in prime visibility spots along highways in Tyler and Dallas, Texas.
For 12 weeks, the billboards, sponsored by Baxter BioTherapeutics, will encourage people to visit a website that will land them on an Alpha-1 testing page.
Two designs for the Alpha-1 detection billboards in Texas
The company also conducted educational programs in both the Dallas and Tyler area during August to draw awareness of physicians and patient groups to the billboards and the detection campaign.
James Stocks, MD, Professor of Medicine/Director for clinical research at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, TX, praised the outreach and education effort for Alpha-1, which is often misdiagnosed and under-diagnosed.
“Epidemiology data estimates around 100,000 Americans have severe AATD,” said Stocks, “but not even 5,000 have yet been identified. This reflects a systematic flaw in how physicians recognize uncommon diseases among their patients. This novel billboard approach tries to bring the Alpha-1 message directly to the patient. We view it as patient education and empowerment.”
One of the Alpha-1 detection billboards in place beside a Texas highway
Stocks also supported the concept of self-referral to be tested for a health condition, calling it “a revolutionary concept in identifying rare diseases, and we should utilize it more frequently.”
Baxter BioScience is the manufacturer of Aralast, an augmentation therapy for Alpha-1.
