Amgen’s marketing team has flown out of the traps in 2024, using the Rose Parade New Year celebration to raise awareness of kidney disease and an associated rare condition targeted in its $3.7 billion takeover of ChemoCentryx.
The Rose Parade, an event that dates back to 1890, takes place each year on Jan. 1 in California. Watched in person and on TV, floats with elaborate floral decorations travel 5.5 miles along a road. Core Kidney, a patient support and advocacy group, entered one of the floats in the 2024 event, with the support of Amgen, Baxter, DaVita and Travere Therapeutics.
The sponsorship included reserved seats on the float, which Amgen gave to people impacted by kidney disease. Core Kidney’s website lists a set of “indicative” sponsorship levels that range in price from $20,000 to $250,000.
Amgen has a long-standing interest in kidney disease. Aranesp and Epogen, both of which treat anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD), helped build the biotech into the big company it is today. Neither of those drugs is a growth opportunity, though. The medicines, plus another CKD drug, Parsabiv, are part of a portfolio of established products that suffered a 30% drop in sales in the third quarter.
Murdo Gordon, executive vice president, global commercial operations at Amgen, signaled where the company’s interest in kidney disease lies today in a statement to disclose the Rose Parade sponsorship. Gordon said kidney disease “can be the result of other, rare conditions like ANCA-associated vasculitis,” a disease targeted by the drug, Tavneos, that Amgen acquired in its $3.7 billion takeover of ChemoCentryx.
ANCA-associated vasculitis damages small blood vessels, particularly in the kidneys. That fact makes the kidney disease community an important sector for Amgen’s attempt to turn Tavneos into a big product and offset its upcoming patent cliff. Sales of Tavneos, which won approval in 2021, climbed to $37 million in the third quarter.
Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify details of the sponsorship.