New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba is helming AstraZeneca’s Get Body Checked Against Cancer campaign — with the help of his mom, Kristy.
Jacob, a nominee for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy, will be featured in a pair of 30- and 60-second commercials alongside Kristy throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs, which begin later this month.
The drugmaker announced the addition of the Troubas to the national ad campaign on Friday morning as part of the latest push to mobilize patients to take proactive steps towards cancer care.
The NHL has long dedicated itself to supporting cancer awareness campaigns, especially alongside AstraZeneca, which is an official sponsor of the Hockey Fights Cancer initiative to raise money for research efforts.
In February, the British pharma giant partnered with the league and the NHL Players Association to educate hockey fans around cancer risk factors and encourage them to talk with their care team about screening options.
Additionally, in the fall, the league collaborated with V Foundation for the 25th anniversary of Hockey Fights Cancer.
For its part, AstraZeneca pledged to donate $5,000 for every hat trick this season and hit its donation goal of $500,000 to the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund.
Beyond the punny connection between the act of body checking in a hockey game and getting your body checked for potential signs of cancer, the Trouba partnership exemplifies AstraZeneca’s continued interest in the oncology space.
Carlos Doti, MD, VP of AstraZeneca’s U.S. medical affairs oncology division, told MM+M that the company wants to eliminate cancer as a cause of death and recognizes the value of early detection in terms of improving patient outcomes and the likelihood of survival.
Doti said a particular focus for AstraZeneca is boosting the screening adoption for lung cancer, which trails behind other types of cancer, namely breast cancer. He said both Troubas are advocates for patients to take control of their care journey and that leveraging his star power should increase how many people get screened for cancer.
“This is one step into many things that we do to prevent cancer,” he said. “Education is key and providing access to tools is the next step.”
Among the metrics AstraZeneca will be monitoring aside from engagement with the campaign ads is the uptick in screenings, which can be tough to gauge, according to Doti. However, the drugmaker remains committed to doubling down on its efforts to drive more screenings, having just signed an agreement this week with the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center to enhance community-based lung cancer screenings for those at high risk.
Bringing the Troubas into this campaign also speaks to the evolving narrative around cancer, which has changed from that of a death sentence to a treatable disease — if caught early enough.
Doti said AstraZeneca is hopeful that the latest chapter to this campaign will dispel the stigmas around certain cancers, including the notion that lung cancer is driven by behaviors and lifestyle choices.
He added that while there is still considerable room for improvement when it comes to discussing cancer and getting patients screened for the disease, aligning with a popular hockey player can help influence the conversation.
“We found the right partner in the NHL and the NHL Players Associations in the fight against cancer,” he said. “When we sat down, we immediately found out everything in common, where we can work together and we did it.”
