Jul/31/2007 10:25 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
The
FDA called an advisory board to review the safety
of Avandia and when it was all over patients lost
and big business won. By saying there isn't
enough data they essentially are telling patients
"you decide if you want to take the risk". Even a
leading physician, interviewed on NBC Nightly
News, didn't know what to recommend to his
diabetic patients. So new warnings will be
included on the label of Avandia and the drug
industry has lost another chance to gain consumer
trust. Read
More...
Tags: Avandia
Jul/30/2007 06:16 Filed in:
Current
DTC
Online
media is a measly 4% of ad spending in the
medicine-and-remedies category. While the
category is the fourth-largest in terms of
measured media, spending $9.2 billion in 2006, it
ranks ninth in online ad spending, according to
TNS Media Intelligence, at $380 million.
Surprised ? You shouldn't be. This is a clear
indication that DTC marketers both don't
understand the Web or how to measure its impact
on driving trial. No, it seems that they would
rather waste their dollars on TV or print but
when the budget cuts come it's often the Web that
is cut first while TV ads are left for their
ineffectiveness. Read
More...
Jul/29/2007 07:03 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Think
that the Internet has not played a role in the
decline in sales of Avandia? Think again. I had
the chance to talk to three physicians last week
about Avandia and they have switched all their
diabetes patients from Avandia to other
medications. As one physician told me "why take a
chance with my patients health?".
Read
More...
Tags: Avandia
Jul/26/2007 06:39 Filed in:
In The
News
Well
let's see Astra Zenca and BMS both report lower
sales and of course in order to make their
numbers they are going to lay off people. Rather
than think of ways to sell more it's always
easier for bean counters to lay people off
regardless of the effect on their life and
family. Of course the CEO would not think of
taking a pay cut and give up some of the millions
they earn..oh no that would be a bad
example. Read
More...
Jul/26/2007 06:02 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Bill
Maher is far to the left, no doubt about that,
but he is feeding on voter anguish about what is
going on in this administration. Included in his
attacks on the establishment were attacks on big
pharma (in governments pockets), Vioxx, Avandia
and Cialis. DTC marketers had better take note
that consumers are more mistrustful of big pharma
more now than ever and that ANY message that is
developed is going to be held up to scrutiny like
never before. Read
More...
Jul/24/2007 05:42 Filed in:
Current
DTC
I
couldn't believe my eyes last night when I saw
the new Viva Viagra campaign on the Nightly News.
Obviously taking a page from the Rozarem play
book of really bad DTC here we have some guys
singing about Viagra? At it's best DTC can
educate and inform but when DTC tries to
entertain it has taken a step towards the dark
side of irrelevant advertising and a waste of DTC
dollars. Read
More...
Jul/21/2007 08:24 Filed in:
Current
DTC
It's
always nice to take a step back at the mid-year
point to review the steps/strides taken by the
DTC advertising people. Unfortunately I feel that
the industry continues to move backward and that
there are very few DTC marketers who have
embraced new media to truly make a difference in
patients lives. Read
More...
Jul/18/2007 06:45 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
As pharma faces
more and more generic competition costs are going
have to be more tightly controlled. Generic
simvastatin, the old Zocor from Merck, is
hammering Lipitor, showing that doctors and
patients are far more comfortable substituting a
cheap statin for an expensive one than Pfizer
bargained for. “Lipitor, our most prescribed
product, did not meet our expectations for the
quarter,” Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler acknowledged in
a statement. In addition reports are starting to
surface that generic medications are just as good
at treating diabetes as the more expensive new
treatments like Avandia and Byetta.
Read
More...
Jul/16/2007 01:36 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
The U.S.
pharmaceutical industry is embracing online media
to build relationships with consumers and is
cutting back on traditional broadcast and print
media to promote drugs, according to Cegedim
Dendrite's latest DTC Industry Check-Up Survey.
"The U.S. pharmaceutical industry is using
technology to build a better and more proactive
dialogue with consumers," says Carl Cohen,
President of Marketing Solutions for Cegedim
Dendrite, which provides technology products and
services to the global pharmaceutical industry.
Uh...wrong ! Read
More...
Jul/15/2007 03:45 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Recently, when I
was on the waiting for my flight at the airport,
a person sitting next to me an observed that I
was reading Med Ad News. We quickly struck up a
conversation about DTC advertising as he is in
the advertising business as a creative director
for an agency in San Francisco. One of the
questions that he asked me was "why is DTC
advertising so bad?" Good question from an
industry person and what follows are some of the
reasons that I gave him for the sorry state of
DTC advertising. Read
More...
Well the rich
get richer and the common shareholders get
screwed. According to an article in this
morning's Ventura County Star,
several
executive at Amgen sold company stock as the
study on two of it's drug was completed and
months before investors received the
information. This sends out a great message to
the public and Amgen employees who are waiting
to hear if any layoffs are going to effect
their livelihood. Read
More...
Tags: Amgen
Jul/13/2007 06:00 Filed in:
Media
(Internet)
A hidden agenda?
Like when a trade magazine gives out the top 25
DTC marketers to an industry that follows rather
than leads and has multiple conflicts of interest
preventing the publisher from being critical of
an industry that has made more bad judgments than
a crooked judge? Now if that's not the kettle
calling the pot black I don't know what is. The
truth is that I personally love the DTC industry
and DTC marketing and I am passionate about my
patients..it's that most of my colleagues are not
as passionate about patients and doing the right
thing as they are in playing the political game
to get ahead. Read
More...
Jul/11/2007 03:43 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Newer diabetes
medicines from makers including Merck & Co.
and Eli Lilly & Co. work no better than
older, cheaper drugs, researchers said. Here we
go again! The merry-go-round continues as the
data wars spread to a wider battlefield.
Read
More...
Tags: Byetta
Jul/09/2007 04:56 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
One of the
biggest trends in the media space right now is
that consumers are in control of information. And
it’s more than just click-the remote or mouse
capabilities. Consumers want to be in control of
the storytelling and hear from other consumers in
language that they can relate to and trust.
Technology allows marketers to give consumers a
voice. And that’s a dramatic and powerful change,
as long as marketers pay attention to what
customers are saying. In the 1900s, we did
monologue marketing. We did most — if not all —
of the talking. And we expected the consumer to
listen. Now, in the 21st century, we’ve moved to
a dialogue. Consumers want to be heard. In fact,
they will not tolerate not being heard. Yet DTC
marketers continue with these outdated 20th
century marketing methods. Read
More...
Jul/08/2007 03:42 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Number five on
the New York Times Nonfiction list is Outrage by
Dick Morris. Mr Morris is tapping into the
growing unrest of a skeptical public and one of
his targets in the book is drug companies who he
accuses of "buying doctors" to give up
prescription medications we don't need. Mr Morris
evidently has a very low opinion of physicians if
he thinks that they are giving patients
prescriptions that they don't want or
need.
Read More...
Jul/04/2007 01:29 Filed in:
Current
DTC
Chances are, if
your taking an antidepressant medication, that
you want it kept in confidence. You probably
don't want to divulge personal information to get
help and resources yet Wyeth is doing exactly
that with their newest campaign for Effexor. The
website has some great tools but in order to use
it you have to register and rather than pulling
information Wyeth will send you information in
the mail. What is wrong with this campaign is the
assumption that families who share computers in a
household can guard their health history from
others who use the same computer.
Read
More...
Tags: Effexor
Jul/04/2007 08:48 Filed in:
Current
DTC
Trade
publications can be a source of valuable
information for both those in pharma DTC and for
current or potential vendors. But what is needed,
at least what I feel is needed, is a publication
that can be critical of the industry when they
make mistakes (Rozarem campaign) and supportive
when a great campaign actually works. Awards
should not be based upon relationships but on
what the DTC marketer actually accomplished
against measurable goals. Read
More...
Tags: Media/Trade
Jul/03/2007 06:52 Filed in:
Current
DTC
This BLOG author
received a number of scathing eMails from Robert
Ehrlich, the publisher of DTC Perspectives an
industry magazine that sucks up to big pharma
like a Hoover on overdrive. According to Mr
Ehrlich he has 7,000 subscribers and thus his
publication is quite successful. I only know that
while I was at Lilly nobody read the magazine
because it's stories were shallow, dated and one
sided. If the pharma industry, especially DTC is
to thrive than what is needed are marketers who
understand that consumers have more power than
they do and that the challenge of this era is to
deliver personally relevant information via new
channels. Read
More...
