• by Les Luchter , March 23, 2025

Teaming with the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) in a multiyear deal, AstraZeneca’s seven-year-old Fasenra asthma medication has launched its first-ever sports partnership.

The brand began the relationship as presenting sponsor of the Texas Open in Dallas this past weekend, where attendees could practice hitting pickleballs against “eosinophils” on an LED wall -- while learning how high levels of those white blood cellsin respiratory systemscan cause severe eosinophilic asthma, the condition treated by Fasenra.

Pickleball is also featured in the latest Fasenra commercial, which ran during the tournament TV coverage. The spot is an outgrowth of a year-old campaign that shows patients getting back to activities they had previously missed due to the condition.

So why pickleball?

It “fits our demographic super well,” Matt Gray, AstraZeneca’s executive director, for Fasenra, tells pickleball publication The Conway Bulletin. “We see a lot of patients in that 30- to 60-year-old age group who are taking up pickleball as their sport of choice because it is something that everyone can get back out and do.’”

Asked by Marketing Daily how many pickleball tournament attendees are potential Fasenra patients, Gray replied, “Asthma impacts more than 26 million people in the U.S., and 70% of adults with severe asthma may have eosinophilic asthma.”  

Based on estimates that 5%-10% of asthma patients suffer from severe asthma, that puts the number of eosinophilic asthma sufferers at up to 1.8 million Americans.

“As many PPA attendees may have asthma themselves or know someone who do, we fostered this partnership with the PPA to increase awareness around eosinophilic asthma,” explains Gray, “and encourage patients to speak with their healthcare providers about asthma control and treatment options.”

Fasenra will be title sponsor of the PPA’s Virginia Beach Cup in October.