The next Mindy Kaling project? Advocating for people with plaque psoriasis.
The comedy maven has come aboard Bristol Myers Squibb’s recently launched “SO, Have You Found It?” campaign alongside fellow NBC sitcom alum Ted Danson. The campaign—in support of BMS’ Sotyktu—is meant to open up the conversation around the realities of living with plaque psoriasis and how treatments like Sotyktu allow patients to be defined by their unique “it” factor, rather than by the skin condition.
From there, the ads are aiming to encourage patients to speak to their doctors about finding the right treatment.
Neither Kaling nor Danson is currently taking Sotyktu, and of the pair, only Danson has plaque psoriasis; Kaling has joined the campaign to strengthen its push for patient empowerment and self-advocacy.
Danson’s first “SO, Have You Found It?” promo went live in March. In a four-minute video that kicked off the campaign, the Emmy winner discussed his own journey with psoriasis—which he developed at the age of 25—and interviewed a Sotyktu patient about how the medication has provided her with “a sense of freedom and relief.”
In a new teaser video sent to Fierce Pharma Marketing, Danson references the previous promo, saying, “Ever since I opened up about it in my last video … I have learned a lot more about the different treatments that are available out there.” Kaling cuts in to joke that the video is a must-watch because it’s “so revealing,” and after some pushback from Danson, she clarifies that it’s a “tasteful” type of revealing, rather than anything scandalous or shocking—though she jumps back in later on to quip that it’s “really juicy.”
As the 45-second spot goes on, Kaling confirms that, though not living with the disease herself, “I’m here to advocate for those living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis,” before Danson closes it out with the promise of more to come from the two of them “soon”—so, “stay tuned, folks.”
Danson and Kaling appeared on NBC’s Today show on Tuesday to promote their participation in the BMS campaign. Amid all the usual morning-show chatter, Danson shared his experience of living with psoriasis and suggested that it may have contributed to his award-winning brand of comedy: “Perhaps my kind of self-deprecating sense of humor, which I enjoy, that kind of came out of that, probably, trying to beat people to the punch,” he said.
The “SO, Have You Found It?” campaign builds on BMS’ first Sotyktu DTC push. Dubbed “Found It,” the ad series launched during the Grammy Awards in early 2023, just a few months after Sotyktu was approved by the FDA for plaque psoriasis in September 2022, and depicts psoriasis patients being unafraid to don revealing clothing after beginning treatment with Sotyktu.
Since then, BMS has expanded its promotion efforts for the drug to include another campaign. “Clear Understanding” began last summer, with a series of videos in which real-life psoriasis patients share their stories of living with the condition.