ChronicleMONDAY
From the publishers of THE CHRONICLE OF CANCER THERAPY, THE CHRONICLE OF CARDIOVASCULAR & INTERNAL MEDICINE, THE CHRONICLE OF NEUROLOGY & PSYCHIATY, THE CHRONICLE OF SKIN & ALLERGY, THE CHRONICLE OF UROLOGY & SEXUAL MEDICINE, PHYSICIANS’ CHRONICLE, THE CHRONICLE OF HEALTHCARE MARKETING, LINACRE’S BOOKS, and chronicl*e group
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS
ATTENTION, PHARMA MARKETING TEAMS. Why are you sitting around on your duffs drinking lattés this morning, when you could be outdoors doing something useful to promote your product: say, stapling posters to hydro-poles? No joke. That’s what it’s come to at Johnson & Johnson’s stateside McNeil consumer division, where they’re busy engaging in so-called guerrilla marketing tactics to peddle antihistamine cetirizine (Zyrtec.) Unusual Zyrtec ads currently appearing in US consumer magazines are designed to look like the lost-cat posters desperate pet-owners affix to Laundromat bulletin boards, and the ad copy is equally out-of-the-box: “MISSING 2 HOURS. Last seen while waiting for Claritin to start working. If found please call 1-800-4-ZYRTEC.” Pushing the envelope even further, McNeil’s agents last week began placing similar posters on lampposts and construction site hoardings around major US metropolitan areas. (Dial the phone number and you get a cheery recorded message dissing loratadine [Claritin, Schering-Plough] and promising more shenanigans on the Zyrtec web site.) This type of semi-delightful stunt seems like a homage to Paul Lavoie, the Montreal ad mastermind who once glued pennies to the floor of a Toronto discount bookstore in an effort to demonstrate something or other to a slack-jawed public. However, not every-one is thrilled by the Zyrtec hi-jinx. Opines John Mack, a close observer of drugbiz promotion: “Wasted guerrilla marketing. Who has time to walk around noticing flyers posted to telephone poles!” Yes, who? Hey, look, here’s an offer to clean all our household ducts for only $75.
HERE’S YOUR REFERENCE: NO REFERENCE
A STUDY JUST PUBLISHED in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease poses serious questions about the veracity of ads for psychotropic Txs placed in leading US medical journals, including JAMA and NEJM. Researchers analyzing 69 ads found no reference for half the claims made, while in some cases the citations provided were inaccurate or contracted the claim. Moreover, according to lead author Glen Spielmans: “Attempts to obtain cited data on file from sponsoring drug companies were rarely successful.” Only three of nine drugmakers he contacted bothered to respond, during his attempt to receive substantiation for the ad claims. Says he: “It’s possible that the claims are true, but because data wasn’t reported and isn’t easily obtained or verified, we don’t really know.” In a commentary accompanying the article, an editor writes: “The FDA needs to step up to the plate but the journals themselves should develop standards and criteria for some of the advertising and reject ads that are clearly misleading. The doctor-patient relationship should not be a market-driven phenomenon.” Elsewhere, JAMA took another hit from critics last week following the revelation that several articles published in the peer-reviewed journal were written by employees of Merck or suppliers contracted by the company, with author’s credits given to academic physicians. Merck was also accused of misrepresented study results in an article examining the efficacy of rofecoxib (Vioxx) in Alzheimer’s patients. The company denies the latter charge, which R&D prexy Peter Kim calls “just plain wrong.” JAMA editors Catherine DeAngelis and Phil Fontanarosa say “public trust in research is jeopardized” as a result of interventions by commercial interests in the publishing of scientific knowledge.
PAYING FOR SIGNPAINTERS’ PORSCHES
MILLENNIUM PHARMACEUTICALS, the 15-year-old oncology and GI outfit, will be acquired by Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical for $8.8 billion. Some observers think Takeda overpaid for Massachusetts-based Mil, which brought in revenues of $500 million last year. However, the Japanese company last month ended its stateside joint venture with Abbott (see ChroMo passim) and gave up US rights to leuprolide (Lupron,) suggesting a need to fill its Ca portfolio. Analysts say the weak Yankee dollar makes US-based drugmakers attractive takeover tar-gets for overseas firms. Hoffmann-La Roche last week paid $160 million for Piramed, a five-year-old privately-owned UK outfit noodling out Ca and anti-inflammatory Txs. Said Pira CEO Michael Moore: “With Roche’s undisputed excellence in oncology and inflammatory disease, Piramed has found a secure long term home for some world class science.” Wait a minute. Was that guy’s name actually Michael Moore? While Novartis plans to acquire ophthalmic drugmaker Alcon from chocolatier Nestlé (see ChroMo passim,) another Nestlé-controlled pharma unit last week made an acquisition of its own. Galderma Laboratories, the skincare outfit, bought publicly traded CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals of Pennsylvannia for around $420 million. Colla is developing Tx candidates for erythema and psoriasis. Says Gal kingpin Humberto Antunes: “The two companies’ development pipelines have innovative compounds that have the potential to improve therapy and meet unmet needs.”
LONELY HEARTS CLUB
ASTRAZENECA R&D boss John Patterson says AZ’s current joint development deal with Bristol-Myers Squibb for diabetes Txs is going so well that he’s willing to explore partnerships with other drugmakers. He explains to CBS Marketwatch that it’s only smart business to divide risky development projects.
IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR…
MARIJUANA GROWERS. Health Canada says it will seek competitive bids from commercial suppliers of cannabis, as the agency plans revisions to its regulations on the use of medical marijuana. Ottawa currently exclusively contracts Flin Flon, Man.-bas-ed Prairie Plant Systems to provide the substance.
IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR…
HEALTH CANADA, which is struggling to collect $554,255 in unpaid bills from 462 users of (wait for it) medical marijuana. Two out of three of the nation’s 739 licensed users of medicinal cannabis simply ignore their invoices from the regulator, according to Canadian Press. The Tx arrives at patients’ homes in a 30-gram package at a cost of $150, which some consumers complain is a 1,500 per cent mark-up over what the agency pays its supplier, Prairie Plant Systems. Ottawa’s usual price-gouging aside, how totally unexpected is it for a pothead to also be a deadbeat? To quote George Carlin, “Why do you think they call it dope?”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“HORMONES MAY ALSO BE IMPORTANT for determining how well an individual trader performs in the highly stressful and competitive world of the market. We are now exploring this in much more detail.” —Professor Joe Herbert of Cambridge University, commenting on a study relating high morning testosterone levels of London stock-market traders to higher average profits for the trading day.
(c) 2008 Chronicle Information Resources Ltd. Not for redistribution.
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