Client: AngioDynamics
Service: Public Relations (PR)
Background: Prostate cancer affects around 60,000 men each year in the UK but many patients are still presented with traditional options such as surgery or radiotherapy, both of which can carry significant long term side effects including erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence.
U.S. medical technology company AngioDynamics were keen to raise awareness of the NanoKnife System, a focal therapy technology designed to treat prostate tumours while preserving surrounding tissue. Unlike thermal treatments, NanoKnife uses electrical pulses to destroy cancer cells without damaging nearby structures that are critical for urinary and sexual function.
Despite growing clinical interest in focal therapy, access and awareness remain inconsistent across the UK. Many patients are not informed about these newer treatmentoptions during the decision making process.
This created an opportunity to raise national awareness of both the technology and the wider conversation around patient choice and quality of life after prostate cancer treatment.
Objectives: The campaign was designed to achieve several key objectives, including increasing national awareness of focal therapy as an emerging treatment approach for prostate cancer, positioning NanoKnife™ as an innovative technology within the evolving treatment landscape, highlighting the quality-of-life benefits associated with targeted prostate cancer treatment, and generating high-profile national media coverage to reach patients, clinicians and healthcare decision makers.
The Solution: The PR strategy focused on a broader healthcare narrative centred on quality of life after prostate cancer treatment. SCS developed a media story highlighting growing concern among clinicians that many patients are not being offered focal therapy options, despite the availability of technologies that could significantly reduce long term side effects. Central to this was NanoKnife, supported by clinical trial data, which reduces the risk of side effects such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction. The approach framed the issue around patient outcomes and quality of life, highlighted the gap between available technology and patient access, and featured both expert clinical voices and real patient case studies to bring the impact to life. It also connected the discussion to broader NHS treatment pathways, creating a strong news angle that aligned with wider healthcare debates and provided journalists with a meaningful, public interest story.
Results: The campaign secured high impact national coverage that brought focal therapy and NanoKnife into the spotlight, with major features appearing in The Times, Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail, placing the technology within a prominent national healthcare discussion. This coverage increased awareness of focal therapy by clearly explaining the concept of targeted prostate cancer treatment and its potential benefits for patients, while expert commentary and clinical context reinforced NanoKnife’s credibility as an innovative, minimally invasive treatment option. The campaign also drove greater visibility around the issue of unequal access to focal therapy across the NHS, contributing to a wider conversation about treatment choice and patient outcomes. Overall, it demonstrated how strategic PR can transform a complex medical technology story into a compelling national narrative, using patient outcomes, clinical expertise and real-world impact to highlight an approach that could significantly improve quality of life for prostate cancer patients.
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