Roche pairs diabetes message and veterans' concert in 2nd annual iHeart partnership

Roche is ready to rock with veterans in November as sponsor of iHeart’s military country music concert during National Diabetes Month.

The event at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville spotlights both veterans and diabetes. Veterans Affairs reports one in four of its military patients have diabetes, compared with one in 10 nonveterans.

This is the second year Roche has sponsored the concert, but the Swiss drugmaker has been working with iHeartMedia for several years to help inform people with diabetes about their options, including Roche's own Accu-Chek testing supplies, Matt Logan, VP of marketing for Roche Diabetes Care, said in an email interview.

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“Country music ranks high for people with diabetes, and the iHeartCountry One Night for Our Military reaches thousands of people who may be living with or know someone living with diabetes. To spread awareness surrounding this complex condition, attending a large-scale event … allows us to engage in the larger conversation,” he said.

The audience will include veterans from nearby Nashville military bases Fort Knox and Fort Campbell. The concert will be broadcast later, on Nov. 11, on iHeartRadio country stations across the country and on LiveXlive.com at 7 p.m.

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As part of the effort, Roche is working with the Red Cross to donate comfort kits to troops deployed oversees.

Roche Diabetes Care, which includes Accu-Chek, is lagging last year's revenues, recently reporting a 2% year-over-year decline in sales through the first nine months of the year.