Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical division, Janssen, has established Cancer.com as a place for patients and their caregivers to get information about the disease. The website features information on some of the most common cancer types, including breast, lung, multiple myeloma and prostate cancer.
Janssen is also partnering with some well-known organizations such as the American Cancer Society and CancerCare to help spread the word about the information resource. Cancer.com features news stories from these communities, and allows patients to tailor their experience on the site based on the what stage of their cancer journey they’re in.
“Having the URL alone of Cancer.com, we know patients are going to begin to find the website and the partnerships with advocacy organizations,” said Leslie Amendola, senior director of oncology franchise strategy at Janssen Oncology. “We intend to extend beyond the three [organizations] and build it up over time. We recently met with 50 members of the oncology advocacy community that we hope can share Cancer.com with their communities as well.”
While the site includes information on making treatment decisions for specific cancer types, Janssen stresses that the portal is not intended to replace the medical advice patients receive from their primary physician and healthcare team. However, the main aim of the site is to provide patients with a credible source of cancer information from reputable organizations such as the Mayo and Cleveland Clinics.
“We wanted to help because you can be overwhelmed with the amount of information out there [about cancer],” said Amendola. “Much of which is credible and some of which isn’t.”
The American Cancer Society, CancerCare, and Cancer Support Community have all been partners on this project since Janssen began planning for the site years ago. While Cancer.com only includes specific information on a select few cancer types, the pharmaceutical company hopes that patients with other forms of the disease will be able to find helpful news and information on the site as well.
“Pharma companies often bring branded initiatives to the community and do them through traditional means, but to be able to provide something that is truly empowering, we need that partnership with the advocacy community,” said Amendola.
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