Reclast: Will women opt for a once a year IV treatment for osteoporosis ?
Mar/16/2008 07:54 Filed in: Current DTC
Reclast is positioning itself as the "once a year" treatment for osteoporosis and why not? Once a year? Women can do that, and on the Reclast website it is positioned as the treatment for "women on the go". The issue therefore becomes are women willing to trade off weekly or monthly treatments for an annual treatment that requires both a needles and at least 15 minutes at the doctors office? I am sure Novartis has a lot of research that says they will but I can tell you from first hand experience that a lot of people are afraid of needles and IV's.
Novartis has made it easy for women to find health care providers who can administer Reclast. Just enter your zip code and preference, hospital vs. physicians office, and a list of health professionals pops up. Women are more proactive when it comes to taking care of their health and it will be interesting to see where Reclast winds up in share compared to Fosamax, Boniva and Actonel.
The other issue is side effects; since Reclast is a once yearly treatment does that mean that potential side effects can last a year? This maybe an issue as the side effects listed are possible problems with the jaw. Imagine having that for 12 months? Still a once yearly treatment should do well and Novartis is spending a lot on TV to raise awareness on the product. The Reclast website is also nicely done although I don't understand why pharma has to have people come on the website and talk to you like you can't read the information. It is annoying and does not make for a good user experience.
Having a person invade your surfing
does not make for a good user experience.
Amgen is working on
an Osteoporosis treatment as well but theirs may be 2
years away and by then it may be too late to catch up
with the market leader.
|