Last summer, my sister Becky approached me with an idea.
He wanted my help to build a platform on CNBC to highlight the 30 million Americans living with a rare disease.
Becky hoped that doing so would help give a voice to the millions of people who are often ignored by the medical community… suffering from diseases most of us have never heard of.
His vision was to create a space for that community, a space that connects people to the incredible work that rare disease advocacy groups are already doing, and builds on it to also reach CNBC's unique audience, an audience with the power and influence to help make change for rare disease patients and their families.
I felt intimidated by the challenge. Not only because of the amount of work I knew would be required to meet the launch deadline, but also because of the level of empathy and sense of responsibility I knew it would be required to get it right. He wasn't sure he was up to the task.
Fortunately, Becky and I were not alone.
Dozens of our colleagues supported CNBC Cures. They dedicated their time and talent to working on something that has inspired everyone associated with it.
And thanks to their efforts, CNBC Cures has had some early success.
There have been more than a dozen stories on our air highlighting the rare disease community since we launched the program on January 8.
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.
We've had thousands of listeners streaming episodes of The Path with Becky Quick, the Cures podcast series we launched where Becky shares personal and emotional stories from people living with rare diseases.
We're also gaining some traction on social media, with Cures videos combining to reach 1 million views on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Our 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. And the free livestream of the event had more than 8,000 views.
On Thursday we aired our one-hour documentary, “CNBC Cures: Defying Rare Disease.” The special allowed Becky to come out from behind the host's desk to share her family's private battle with a rare disease and discuss her daughter Kaylie's SYNGAP-1 diagnosis. Through her 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 have spoken more consistently about issues affecting the rare disease community than in the past. two years previous.
It hasn't felt forced or rushed. Because people care about the message.
That speaks to the importance and relevance of these stories.
What I have learned through this process is that almost everyone knows someone who suffers from a rare disease. And the issues we're discussing – from regulatory reform to scientific innovation to access to medicines – don't just matter to the rare disease community… they're issues that matter to all of us.
They are the themes that will continue to be the driving force behind CNBC Cures and the themes that we will use to frame the stories we bring to you from this incredible community.
But most importantly, over the past two months we have heard a lot from you, our viewers and readers. We have received hundreds of emails…more than we have been able to respond to, although we are trying.
You have shared your stories with us and brought us into your lives. It has made us smarter and more relevant, and affirmed that we are on the right path.
It's all the justification we need to know that this is an area worth investing in as a network.
Thank you for your continued support and inspiration.
And keep following CNBC Cures, because we're just getting started.
For more information on CNBC Cures, check out CNBC.com/cures. To subscribe to the newsletter, Click here. To watch the latest episode of “The Path with Becky Quick,” Click here.
