Salix launches digital initiatives to raise constipation awareness

Salix Pharmaceuticals announced the launch of a series of social media and digital initiatives to raise awareness during Constipation Awareness Month in December. The initiatives will discuss constipation diseases, including opioid-induced constipation, irritable bowel syndrome with constipation and chronic idiopathic constipation. It is estimated that approximately up to 80% of patients receiving opioid medications for chronic pain experience OIC,1 30 million adults have CIC, and 3.4 million have IBS-C. The initiatives launching this month culminate a year in which Salix invested in a multipronged educational campaign that included the publication of digital content reaching more than 240 million consumers with valuable information about the symptoms of OIC, IBS-C, and CIC and treatment options they can discuss with their health care providers. Constipation Awareness Month initiatives included partnerships with Johanna Grange, a lifestyle influencer who is sharing her perspectives about living with IBS-C with her 73,000 Instagram followers and in her blog, and Ethan Melillo, a pharmacist with more than 189,000 TikTok followers, who over the past year has been working with Salix to share a series of informative videos on TikTok discussing OIC and treatment options.