The Wall Street Journal on Friday examined "unbranded product advert" for brand drugs, which allow drugmakers to drive television viewers to Web sites promoting drugs without the prerequisite of listing the products' side personal effects in the TV advert. FDA rules state that if an advertisement does not name a drug directly, it does not need to include a listing of possible side effects. According to the Journal, the strategy is "gaining popularity" among drugmakers because listing the side effects "cud[s] up expensive television system time." For example, a 60-second ad for Eli Lilly's osteoporosis drug Evista spends 25 seconds list side effects.
The Journal profiled two unbranded ads by Pfizer and Sanofi Aventis. The Pfizer ad is a 60-second spot in which a female character discusses her smoking habit and viewers are directed to the Web site www.mytimetoquit.com. Upon visiting the Web internet site, consumers feel a contact to another Web land site for the smoking surcease drug Chantix, which includes a good listing of side effects. Chantix had sales of $883 trillion in 2007 but had been "losing ground" because of late reports linking the medication to felo-de-se, suicidal behaviour and drowsiness. The ad first was run in 2006 -- a few months afterwards the release of Chantix -- just a young ad for the dose appeared later the drug gained in popularity. After a field of study linked the drugs to several accidents related to drowsiness and federal aviation regulations prohibited pilots from using it, the My Time to Quit ad reappeared, the Journal reports.
The Lilly ad is a 15-second spot in which viewers are directed to the Web site wWW.silenceyourrooster.com. The Web site, which promotes the sleeping aid Ambien, standard more than 400,000 hits in the ad's first seven days on the atmosphere this month.
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Bob Erlich of DTC Perspectives said, "There's a jeopardy [drugmakers] could rouse congressional ire over cute commercials that don't emphasize medicine." Duke University's Ruth Day, a frequent critic of direct-to-consumer ads for drugs, said the Pfizer ad and Web site provided useful selective information and made side effects clear.
Pfizer representative Sally Beatty said, "The goal of the My Time to Quit military campaign is to encourage people to stop smoking," not to publicize the company's product or get around FDA rules. She added, "My Time to Quit is designed to encourage people wHO are
