Greg Grunberg, actor, producer and comic book author, has been in some of the most influential shows and movies in the last 20 years, including “Felicity,” “Heroes,” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” However; the most important role for Grunberg is that of father, caregiver and advocate for his son, Jake, who is living with epilepsy.
Grunberg has joined with epilepsy drug maker Jazz Pharmaceuticals to raise awareness of epilepsy and the care that goes into supporting someone with the disease in the web series called "The Care Giver.”
The series sees Grunberg travel around the country meeting with other parents and caregivers to those with epilepsy. Not only does Grunberg commiserate and connect with the other caregivers, they are then treated to a “Day of Care” themselves.
“We know with a disorder, especially of epilepsy really expands beyond just one individual living with a disorder and expands out to the entire community around them. So we wanted to facilitate this caregiver to caregiver connection,” Tim Holick, Jazz’s director for Epidiolex marketing, said. “We try to connect caregivers with stories of hope and support, and most importantly, recognize the work that they do for caring for a loved one with epilepsy. And that's where Greg Grunberg came in to help act as a host.”
The first series launched in February and featured three families, with each family story broken into four episodes: meeting the family, the struggles with epilepsy, finding the right treatment with an emphasis on “not settling” and then talk of the future. For the second series, which will launch later this year and continue into the next, it’s three parts per family: meeting the family and Grunberg taking them away for the “Day of Care,” the struggle, the treatment and hope for the future.
Holick describes the project as “lightly branded” as Epidiolex comes up in the discussions of treatment but is not the focus of the series.
Promotion of the series includes Grunberg filming short TikToks as well as promotion across his other social channels. Jazz will also promote on its social platforms all with links to the series. Holick emphasizes that there is something for every family that is dealing with epilepsy as they have chosen all different situations to profile.
The constant thread throughout the series is Grunberg who really connects with the other carers.
“We're really excited to be able to work with Greg, who has been a pillar of inspiration in the epilepsy community for years. We were fortunate enough to find him and partner with him and do this first of its kind recognition of caregivers,” said Holick.
“We're hoping most important thing is that they continue to fight and never give up as a caregiver because your loved one is worth it and we know what you're going through.
Jazz launched itself into the epilepsy market in early 2021 with the $7.2 billion buyout of GW Pharmaceuticals and its epilepsy med Epidiolex. The drug is cannabis-based and approved to treat seizures from Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, tuberous sclerosis complex or Dravet syndrome.
Despite COVID-19, Epidiolex racked up 70% sales growth in 2020, GW said in its preliminary full-year sales report, snagging $144 million in the fourth quarter and $510 million for the full year. The drug is the first cannabis-derived medicine approved by the FDA and is approved as Epidyolex from the European Medicines Agency.