Oct/30/2007 12:25 Filed in:
In The News
Lies
and propaganda. Democratic presidential candidate
John Edwards lied his ass off at a stump speech in
Laconia, New Hampshire on Sunday: That is, that
drugmakers spend more on sales and advertising than
on scientific research. Actually U.S. drugmakers
shelled out more than $55 billion on medical research
in 2006, according to market research firm IMS
Health. That compares to just $12 billion companies
spent on sales, promotion to doctors, and ads
targeting patients. Shame on you Mr Edwards.
Read
More...
Oct/30/2007 06:09 Filed in:
In The News
It's
not easy working for the FDA these days. Every time
there is a new reported issue with a drug or medical
device some congressman gets on his soap box and
wants to know what the FDA knew and why they approved
the product. The latest example is the lead in heart
defibrillators produced by Medtronic. Although
medical devices don't go through the same scrutiny as
drugs congress wants to know who, what, when and
where. If the FDA is indeed charged with the
oversight of all medical products, including drugs
and medical devices then Congress had better increase
the agencies budget so that they can hire a LOT of
people. Read
More...
Oct/27/2007 11:12 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Pharmaceutical
companies have been concentrating efforts on
replacing blockbusters with new and improved versions
or trying to get a slice of lucrative markets such as
the cholesterol market. Still, one has to wonder
where the new "class" of drugs are to treat an aging
population? For example we are now a nation that is
so overweight that it may strain our health system
like never before. Read
More...
Oct/25/2007 06:55 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
It
ain’t good,” reads a headline in a note from Deutsche
Bank’s Barbara Ryan. “With very limited information …
this development can only be construed negatively,”
she writes. She also suggests that Lilly’s plan to
apply for FDA approval by the end of the year “will
be delayed beyond the next few months, and
potentially considerably longer.” This is just one
analysts view of the latest setback for Lilly on
their blood thinning drug that was in clinical
trials. Lilly rolled the dice and decided to try and
speed this drug to market but in douing so they have
set it back potentially many years, that's right
years ! Read
More...
Oct/25/2007 06:28 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Here
we go again. According to published reports people
from GSK and Novartis are going to be looking for
work as they "downsize" due to setbacks on some of
their products and the tough environment in the
United States. Why is big pharma so addicted to
blockbusters at a time when it's getting harder and
harder to maintain blockbuster sales and it is
becoming harder to develop new blockbusters? Surely
this business model is in need of changing but first
pharma has to acknowledge that "the good old days are
gone. Read
More...
Oct/23/2007 04:20 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Well
it looks like a little battle is brewing in the world
of Oncology. Two groups of cancer docs cast the
latest stone yesterday in the fight over how to treat
anemia in patients getting chemotherapy. The American
Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society
of Hematology published revised guidelines (online
here) advocating more liberal use of anti-anemia
drugs than stricter Medicare rules allow. Is this
what is really best for patients or are oncologists
looking out for number one ? Read
More...
Oct/21/2007 10:20 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Pfizer's
Chief Executive, Jeffery Kindler, is a guy who came
in from the fast-food business selling chicken, where
decisions are made in seconds, and now he's in the
pharmaceutical industry with a complex diabetes
product that affects patients over decades. But
rather than continue to beat a dead horse with
Exubera Mr Kindler made the gutsy decision to dump
the product and focus on other issues that need his
attention
Read More...
Oct/19/2007 11:27 Filed in:
Life inside
pharma
Pick
any newspaper and it's easy to find a story on
pharma. Amgen, Pfizer, Abbott all laying off people.
Sales down, new problems with current drugs and
serious missteps with others in a hostile environment
indicate that the storm is far from over. One of the
side effects from the turbulence within the industry
maybe a serious talent drain. Great marketers may go
elsewhere as marketing budgets continue to get
slashed to meed Wall Street's expectations and people
fresh out of school would have to be crazy to even
consider working in big pharma Read
More...
Oct/19/2007 06:41 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Pfizer
will take a charge of $2.8 billion for costs
associated with Exubera, making it one of the most
expensive failures in the history of the
pharmaceutical industry. This is not a good time for
the pharmaceutical industry overall but with the new
challenges comes opportunity to for strong leadership
and to "get it right". Is the pharma industry up for
the challenge? Read
More...
Oct/18/2007 06:00 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Well
that didn't take long did it? A quick search on
Google for Byetta and Pancreatitis showed that
already a smart attorney is purchasing the key words
and advertising. In fact there is a LOT of websites
with buzz on the latest FDA warning for Byetta.
Unless Lilly acts quickly this could turn ugly real
fast and put the brake on sales of a new treatment
for diabetes. Read
More...
Oct/18/2007 05:41 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Pfizer
today decided to stop marketing the inhaled insulin
drug Exubera 'We made an important decision regarding
Exubera, a product for which we initially had high
expectations,'' said Jeff Kindler, chairman and chief
executive, in a statement. ''Despite our best
efforts, Exubera has failed to gain the acceptance of
patients and physicians.'' Hmmmm, maybe Pfizer should
have looked at all the social media online around
Exubera, for if they had they would have found a lot
of consumers talking about the negative effects of
the drug.
Read More...
Oct/17/2007 06:02 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Just
when Byetta starts to crank up its new DTC campaign
comes work of "added precautions" from the FDA. It
has to do a suspected a link between usage of Byetta
and acute pancreatitis. When I talked to one of my
thought leaders this morning he simply stated "I am
not writing any Rx's for this product until I have a
better idea of what the hell is going on".
Read
More...
Oct/15/2007 06:18 Filed in:
HCP
Marketing
Pfizer
will announce a partnership today with Sermo Inc., a
social-networking site for licensed physicians.
Facing financial pressures as some of its
best-selling products lose patent protection, Pfizer
is looking for more-efficient ways to reach the
doctors who prescribe its medicines. Under the
arrangement, Pfizer-affiliated doctors will be able
to talk candidly with the site's 31,000 members,
potentially giving the company insights into
prescribing patterns and a way to show doctors data
on its drugs. How novel and how bold ! This is a
great first step in social media and the people at
Pfizer are to be commended for taking this
risk. Read
More...
Oct/14/2007 08:19 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
When
was the last time you saw someone, who isn't in the
pharma business, walking around with a Lipitor shirt
or a Viagra tote bag? Chances are you haven't see
this because within the pharma industry there is no
such thing as "traditional branding". People do NOT
form emotional attachments to Cialis, Exubera, or
Cymbalta. To them it is a product that helps them
stay healthy and may make them feel good. Is there
brand loyalty within this category?
Read
More...
Oct/13/2007 07:29 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
The
writer at
Pharmalot
has stumbled onto an open sore for Lilly's Cialis. It
seems that although Lilly boasts of 22 clinical
trials with Cialis it has only posted a few of the
clinical trial results on its website. While Lilly
claims that some of the trials will be posted as they
continue to transition the business from Icos there
are also some which will NOT be posted, This can only
lead one to believe that Lilly is in fact hiding
something and has not learned anything from their
missteps with Zyprexa. Read
More...
Oct/11/2007 05:55 Filed in:
DTC
Environment
Let's
face it, the state of DTC advertising today is not
good. We have miserable campaigns (Rozerem) and same
ol same ol (Cialis) with messages that DTC marketers
believe will suddenly increase share. The Web is
often ignored while TV continues to be the crown
jewels of any campaign. Why is this happening? There
are many reasons but it starts with the lack of
visionary people in jobs where politics are more
important than helping patients make the right
choice. Read
More...
Oct/10/2007 11:49 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Imagine
this for a second, you have had a sore throat for a
couple of days and can feel the onset of the flu. You
call your doctor but the soonest he, or she, can get
you in is next week sometime and you don't want that
long because you know from DTC ads that you need to
take Tamiflu at the first symptoms of the flu. You
head down to your local Walgreen's and inside you see
a small clinic staffed by a nurse. You fill out some
short forms go into to see her and after a few
questions you walk out with an Rx for Tamiflu. Think
this can't happen? Think again because it is going to
happen the questions is...how soon.
Read
More...
Oct/05/2007 06:34 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
It
seems that big pharma will do anything to hold onto
the sales of successful products. Usually they
develop a new product to replace the old one but are
these new producs that much more effective? Is
Cymbalta really better than much better than
fluoxetine? Is Nexium a lot more effective than OTC
Prilosec? GM's union notes that they spent $110
million on prescriptions for Nexium last year. Using
the generic brand could have saved over $70 million
in a $1.3 billion health plan. Pharma had better take
notice because drug costs are going to come under
more and more scrutiny. Read
More...
Oct/05/2007 05:45 Filed in:
DUH !
Pharma
awards sometimes can be handed out like Halloween
candy with marketers using the awards to get ahead in
their organizations. I have seen this first hand
while at Lilly as some DTC people used the influence
over their agency to submit them for awards and get
them on panels as "experts". There is a way however
to bring credibility back to these awards but of
course it will be met with resistance from the people
in the industry because for the first time they may
be graded on performance and creativity rather than
"who knows who". Read
More...
Oct/04/2007 05:58 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
Ooooops
! It seems that Lilly has received a letter from the
FDA about the a certain leather like tray that they
sent to physicians. The FDA said that Lilly did not
include enough warnings about the use of Cymbalta
with the promotional tray. One has to ask why in the
hell Lilly would send a leatherette tray to
physicians in the first place? In an industry that
thrives on ROI I would love to see the model for this
promotional chotchkey. Read
More...
Oct/04/2007 07:24 Filed in:
Pharma
Business
In
many countries outside the US you can walk into a
pharmacy and ask for a lot of drugs that usually
require a prescription. The only caveat is that you
have to be willing to ask the pharmacist for the drug
and potentially answer some questions. With time the
new currency and a host of "me too" drugs on the
market I can potentially see a lot of prescription
medications going OTC. Is pharma ready to support
this move? Yes if they can find a strong marketing
partner to take the products OTC no if they think
they can do it themselves. Read
More...
Oct/02/2007 06:00 Filed in:
Internet
& DTC Marketing
Ask.com
released the findings from a 2007 Consumer Medical
and Health Information poll, commissioned by Ask.com
and conducted by Harris Interactive. The study
demonstrates that adults now rely on the Internet as
a primary source of health-related information nearly
as much as they rely on their primary doctors.
Seventy percent of adults are now turning to the
Internet as one of their primary resources for
medical and health information, surpassed only
slightly by their personal physician (72 percent).
Results also cited the Internet as a far more popular
resource for health information than traditional
media outlets such as newspapers/magazines (30
percent), television (26 percent) and books (25
percent) -- even surpassing friends and family (40
percent) as a source to find the medical information
people seek Read
More...
Oct/01/2007 06:16 Filed in:
DUH !
When
the same ad runs too often, consumers grow bored,
annoyed or hostile (see Cialis theme music) . But
some marketing executives are finding new ways around
the problem, by varying their messages and media. Now
it's probably hard enough to launch one DTC campaign
but a good campaign should consist of a lot of spots
to reach your target market not just a few with a
similar look, feel and theme song.
Read
More...
