How CNBC Cures is bringing rare disease stories to a national audience
Last summer, my sister Becky came to me with an idea.
He asked me for help at CNBC to create a platform that would shed light on the 30 million Americans living with a rare disease.
Becky hoped that doing this would help give a voice to the millions of people who suffer from diseases most of us have never even heard of, often overlooked by the medical community.
His vision was to create a space. HE community — a space that connects people to the incredible work already being done by rare disease advocacy groups and builds on that by reaching CNBC’s unique audience—an audience with the power and influence to help create change for rare disease patients and their families.
I was afraid of this challenge. Not just because of the amount of work I knew was required to meet our launch date, but also because of the level of empathy and sense of responsibility I knew was required to do it well. I wasn’t sure if I would be up to the task.
Luckily, Becky and I were not alone.
Dozens of our colleagues marched behind CNBC Cures. They dedicated their time and talents to working on something that inspired everyone associated with it.
And thanks to their efforts, CNBC Cures has seen some early success.
Since we launched on January 8, our coverage has included more than a dozen stories highlighting the rare disease community.
More than 20,000 subscribers have signed up for the CNBC Cures Newsletter, making it one of the fastest-growing newsletters the network has ever launched.
Thousands of listeners have streamed episodes of The Path with Becky Quick, the Cures podcast series we launched, in which Becky shares the personal and emotional stories of people living with rare diseases.
We’re also seeing interest on social media, with Cures’ videos being viewed 1 million times on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Tickets for the first annual CNBC Cures Summit, a live event where Warren Buffett shook hands with Boomer Esiason and Regeneron CEO Leonard Schleifer, sold out shortly after registration opened. The free live broadcast of the event was watched more than 8,000 times.
On Thursday, we released our one-hour documentary, “CNBC Treats: The Fight Against Rare Diseases.” The special allows Becky to come out from behind the news desk to share her family’s special battle with rare diseases and discuss her daughter Kaylie’s SYNGAP-1 diagnosis. Through her own story and others like it, Becky revealed the stark reality of patients caught between groundbreaking scientific advances and persistent gaps in funding, access and support.
In the two months since we launched Cures, we’ve spoken more consistently than before about the issues affecting the rare disease community. two years former.
There was no force and it wasn’t rushed. Because people care about the message.
This speaks to the importance and relevance of these stories.
What I’ve learned through this process is that almost everyone knows someone affected by a rare disease. From regulatory reform to scientific innovation to access to medicines, the issues we discuss are not just important to the rare disease community, they are important to all of us.
These are the topics that will continue to be the driving force behind CNBC Cures and the ones we will use to frame the stories we bring to you from this incredible community.
But most importantly, we’ve heard so much from you, our viewers, and our readers over the last two months. We received hundreds of emails…more than we were able to respond to even though we tried.
You shared your stories with us, you included us in your life. You have made us smarter and more relevant and confirmed that we are on the right track.
That’s all we need to know that this is an area worth investing in as a network.
Thank you for your continued support and inspiration.
And stay tuned to CNBC Cures because we’re just getting started.
For more information on CNBC Treatments, check out CNBC.com/cures. To sign up for the newsletter, Click here. To check out the latest episode of “The Path with Becky Quick”, Click here.
