• by Les Luchter , January 23, 2023

“Millions have chronic kidney disease, and 90% don’t know they have it,” declares a new one-minute AstraZeneca spot for Farxiga, which treats the condition.

The ad starts with a man saying he has high blood pressure, so he’s a target for chronic kidney disease (CKD), followed by a woman with type 2 diabetes saying she’s a target as well.

Farxiga’s suggestion to viewers with high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes: “Ask for your kidney numbers.”

“Declining kidney function is not always discussed with patients, and a formal CKD diagnosis usually only occurs in the later stages when significant kidney function has already been lost,” Sarah Walters, AstraZeneca’s vice president, U.S. for Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolic Diseases, tells Marketing Daily. “We know that CKD tends to get worse over time, and the earlier treatment starts, the better for patient outcomes.”

The new commercial comes a year after Farxiga made its first TV pitch to high blood pressure and diabetes patients following its 2021 approval for CKD by the Food & Drug Adminstration. The drug was originally approved by the FDA in 2014 as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

In its approval of Farxiga for CKD,, the FDA cited a “significant unmet need for therapies” to treat the condition, which “can cause kidney function decline, kidney failure, cardiovascular death and hospitalization for heart failure.”

Walters says that while last year’s ad “aimed to raise awareness of CKD and its prevalence when there was little to no emphasis on the disease on such a large scale,” the new ad “makes it clear that type 2 diabetes or hypertension patients having CKD is now and near, rather than the far-off future.”

“Large scale” may be an understatement. Walters estimates that 37 million Americans have CKD, including 20% of those with high blood pressure, and over a third of those with type 2 diabetes.

To reach them, Farxiga’s new “We are Targets’ campaign, which will run throughout the year, includes linear TV, digital TV, online video, display and banner ads, social media, search, and endemic websites like WebMD and Healthline.

Two agencies  worked on the campaign: PG’s MRM and Healix.