Amgen, LeBron James and world’s top-subscribed YouTuber MrBeast may sound like a Mad Lib of unrelated influences, but the unlikely trio has one thing in common: a drive to fight childhood cancer.
Amgen’s EVP of R&D, AI and Data Jay Bradner, M.D., appeared alongside the Stand Up to Cancer charity and Jimmy Donaldson, who goes by MrBeast on his social media channels, in a new MrBeast YouTube video “I Helped 100 Kids Fight Cancer.” Along with Bradner, the video featured LeBron James, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, social media influencer-physician Mikhail Oskarovich (Doctor Mike) and several others to spread the message of pediatric cancer awareness as Donaldson granted 100 patients their biggest wish.
The July 25 video has so far garnered 1.2 million likes and over 30 million views and marks the start of a larger collaboration between Amgen, Donaldson’s Beast Philanthropy and Stand Up to Cancer and St. Baldrick’s Childhood Cancer Research Foundation.
Called the Pediatric Cancer Dream Team, the awareness and fundraising project looks to accelerate oncology research and help treat the some 15,000 childhood cancer patients diagnosed annually. The initiative will also work to unite scientists and physicians working collaboratively across institutions under the same goal of advancing discoveries that could improve outcomes for children facing cancer “as fast as possible,” Amgen’s head of corporate affairs Susie Tappouni explained in an interview.
With incidence rates of certain cancer types rising in people under the age of 50, notably colorectal and head and neck cancers, according to the National Institute of Health, “the stakes are high,” Tappouni added.
“Behind every life saved is an army of doctors, researchers, volunteers, and organizations—like Stand Up To Cancer, which raises awareness and funds research to detect and treat cancers, and St. Baldrick’s, where heroes and volunteers shave their heads in solidarity with kids fighting cancer—as well as companies like Amgen, who are developing the next generation of cancer treatments,” Donaldson said in the video. “Together, every step brings us a little closer to a world without cancer.”
At the end of the video, Donaldson, along with his “friends at Amgen and Saint Baldrick’s,” announced a $6.5 million donation to help kickstart the Dream Team, hauling in buckets full of $1 million in cash to physically display the funding.
“No child should die of cancer,” Bradner said in the video. “Basic research gives me incredible hope, so that children don’t have to go two and a half years of toxic therapy.”
“The progress we’ve seen in pediatric cancer is the result of decades of collaborative discovery research,” he added in an Amgen press release. “At Amgen, we are committed to advancing cancer research, because every breakthrough brings us closer to changing what’s possible for children and families facing cancer.”
The company sees the collaboration as a route to introducing millions to the role research plays in cancer treatment and introducing Amgen to a broader audience, it explained in the release.
“By combining the unique reach of partners like Beast Philanthropy and Stand Up To Cancer with investments in innovative research, we have an opportunity to accelerate discoveries that can improve outcomes for children and families around the world living with the most serious diseases,” Amgen’s CEO Robert Bradway noted in a Stand Up to Cancer release.
Pharma companies have turned to social media channels like YouTube before to promote their products or boost disease awareness, but with 510 million subscribers following his channel, Donaldson’s reach and audience is unmatched. The opportunity for Amgen to spread its message and bring its mission to one of the world’s largest audiences was “unique” and one that was “really special,” Tappouni said.
“The idea here was to use creator-led storytelling, which is something that we know well, but this was on a scale that was new to us,” she explained, noting that it’s “not a traditional healthcare campaign” but serves to help a wide audience understand “why research matters” and instill the significance of the message in a younger generation.
Amgen and its portfolio of cancer medicines that can treat kids is hallmarked by bispecific T-cell engager Blincyto, a leukemia treatment that can be used in kids one month of age and older. The company has long supported pediatric cancer efforts, such as through a partnership with World Child Cancer that looks to fill lymphoma treatment gaps in five low-and middle-income countries and other access programs.