#AlémDosCentímetros

When height stopped being the whole story

Office

Brazil

Services

Public Relations
Advocacy
Health Literacy
Media Relations KOL & Influencer Engagement
Content Strategy

Date

2025-2026

Achondroplasia is the most common form of dwarfism, yet public understanding of the condition has often stopped at its most visible characteristic: height.

That perception leaves much of the medical reality unseen. Achondroplasia can affect mobility, hearing, sleep, spinal health, pain and long-term independence. For people living with the condition, its impact extends into everyday life through physical barriers, social stigma and challenges to autonomy and quality of life.

In 2025, the issue became particularly urgent when Conitec, the Brazilian Ministry of Health body responsible for evaluating new technologies for the public health system, issued a preliminary recommendation against incorporating VOXZOGO™ (vosoritide) into the SUS.

For BioMarin, the challenge was to help move the public debate beyond the idea of “gaining centimeters” and bring attention to what was really at stake: health, functionality, autonomy and access to care. The Conitec public consultation created a decisive opportunity for patients, families, specialists and society to take part in that discussion.

How do you move a conversation about height toward one about health, autonomy and access to care?

Solution

Putting health at the center of the conversation.

We built AlémdosCentímetros as a PR and advocacy platform designed to change how achondroplasia was understood and discussed.

The strategy brought medical expertise and lived experience into the same conversation. Specialists helped explain the clinical realities of the condition in accessible language, while patients, families and associations made its everyday impact visible through first-hand stories. We wanted to give the public enough context to understand why the debate around treatment could not be reduced to height.

We then took that narrative into some of Brazil’s most influential media and public forums. Globo’s Encontro combined specialist information with personal testimony and directed audiences to an educational platform. Band extended the discussion across television and digital content, including a dedicated hub on achondroplasia.
The conversation also moved into spaces where health policy and access could be discussed in greater depth. A Folha de S.Paulo seminar brought together physicians, legislators, advocates and families, while a JOTA roundtable in Brasília connected clinical innovation with public policy and the lived experience of the achondroplasia community.

Trusted health voices helped expand the reach of the issue. Dr. Ana Escobar dedicated a week of content to achondroplasia and the public consultation. Dr. Drauzio Varella’s platform combined educational journalism with a videocast featuring medical expertise and the perspective of a patient association. Radio content, branded editorial pieces and patient stories kept the topic visible and gave people clear ways to participate in the consultation.