The pharmaceutical company will donate money for each strike-out made by the team’s pitcher for the remainder of the regular season.
The pharma industry has a history of building partnerships with organizations outside of pharma to raise awareness for various diseases. This practice has become more important in recent years due to the erosion of traditional marketing and communication channels. It’s harder than ever to reach people, which is why it’s so important for pharma companies to expand their partnership networks.
About 233 people are diagnosed with cancer every hour in the United States.
AbbVie and the Chicago Cubs are partnering to raise funding for the American Cancer Society.
For every strike-out by the Cubs' pitcher during the regular season, AbbVie will donate $233 to cancer funding.
AbbVie announced a partnership with the Chicago Cubs to help raise money for the American Cancer Society.1 According to AbbVie, about 233 Americans are diagnosed with cancer every hour. To help raise awareness for that number, AbbVie will donate $233 for every strike out by the Chicago Cubs pitcher for the remainder of the 2025 regular season.
The partnership officially began on May 30 during the Cubs’ game against the Cincinnati Reds.
In a press release, AbbVie’s senior vice president of corporate affairs Tracies Haas said, “ Every strikeout this Chicago Cubs season is more than a statistic on the scoreboard––it is a step forward in supporting those living with and fighting cancer. Together with our hometown partner the Chicago Cubs, we aim to create greater awareness for cancer advocacy and to make a remarkable impact for those living with cancer worldwide."
In the same press release, the vice president of the Cubs’ corporate partnerships Alex Seyferth added, “We're honored to team up with AbbVie and do our part to help strikeout cancer. Every dollar raised will go to organizations on the front line of fighting this terrible disease. Together, the Cubs and AbbVie are committed to raising awareness and donations to help those impacted by cancer."
Nancy R. Daly, chief executive officer of Conquer Cancer, an ASCO foundation that funds research for every form of cancer, also said, “We're incredibly grateful to be a beneficiary of the 'Striking Out Cancer' campaign. The support from AbbVie and Cubs Charities is vital, enabling us to advance our critical work and bringing us closer to achieving our vision of a world where cancer is prevented or cured, and every survivor is healthy."
All of the money raised during the regular season will be donated to Cubs Charities and Conquer Cancer.
Earlier this month, AbbVie also announced a collaboration and license agreement with ADARx Pharmaceuticals to develop siRNA therapeutics across neuroscience, immunology, and oncology.2
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In a press release issued at the time, AbbVie’s senior vice president and global head of discovery research Jonathon Sedgwick said, “siRNA is a promising genetic medicine approach for silencing disease-causing genes, but challenges still remain in targeting and delivering siRNA effectively. We are very pleased to collaborate with ADARx, leveraging their proprietary RNA technology alongside our antibody, ADC, and therapeutic area research and development expertise to bring siRNA forward as a potential novel therapeutic modality alongside our other established approaches. Together, we're committed to developing innovative solutions for difficult-to-treat diseases across neuroscience, immunology and oncology."
ADARx co-founder, president, and chief executive officer Zhen Li, PhD, added, “This collaboration with AbbVie further validates the differentiated RNA technology that we have developed at ADARx and has the potential to unlock tremendous clinical and commercial potential across multiple disease areas. AbbVie's research and development expertise combined with its global commercial reach make them the ideal strategic collaborator to accelerate these programs for the potential benefit of patients worldwide. In addition to this strategic collaboration with AbbVie, ADARx continues to advance a deep pipeline of wholly-owned clinical-stage programs that span complement-mediated, cardiovascular and thrombotic diseases and various preclinical discovery programs including in obesity and neurodegeneration."
