USA: Pfizer en cabeza promoción DTC

US giant Pfizer spends far more on direct to-consumer advertising than any other pharma firm, according to new data from Kantar Media.

The company spent $1.4 billion on advertising in the US last year, an increase of $261 million from 2013. This was more than the next three biggest pharma ad spenders – AbbVie, Lilly and AstraZeneca – combined, and bucked the trend of most other major advertisers in the US, who cut back on advertising over the year.

“When you’re in a leadership position, what advertising does is it defends your brands,” Laura Ries, president of brand  strategy firm Ries&Ries, told Bloomberg. “Pfizer’s raising that bar so that  other players are less likely to be heard.”

Data from information firm Nielsen also shows that seven of the top 10 most advertised drugs are produced by Pfizer, in a list dominated by treatments for chronic conditions. This includes the company’s blockbusters Viagra (sildenafil citrate) for erectile dysfunction (ED), anticoagulant Eliquis (apixaban), and Xeljanz (tofacitinib) for arthritis – which together brought in $10.5 billion in sales for the firm last year.

Its best-selling product, pain-relief medicine Lyrica (pregabalin), is the second most-advertised drug overall, with an ad spend of approximately $200 million.

It is just beaten by Lilly’s own ED treatment Cialis (tadalafil), which had an ad spend of $210 million in 2014.

The only other companies in the top 10 are Japanese firm Dainippon Sumitomo with its antipsychotic Latuda (lurasidone HCl), and AbbVie with its blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira (adalimumab). These products had advertising  budgets of approximately $150 million and $120 million respectively.

The total advertising  spend by pharma companies in America grew by 21% in 2014 to reach $4.54 billion. Direct-to-consumer advertising of pharmaceutical products  is only allowed in the US and New Zealand, and is banned across Europe, Australia and other areas. (Ver)