Industry Insider: Pfizer resumes its Viagra ads with a more low-key tagline
April 13, 2006

It isn't as fun as the blue horns sprouting from a middle-age man's head into the letter "V," but Pfizer is launching another advertising campaign to boost sales of Viagra, the impotency treatment.

The campaign promotes "disease awareness," a form of direct-to-consumer drug advertising that relates to conditions such as bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sexual dysfunction.

Pfizer's ads encourage men to overcome embarrassment about erectile dysfunction and discuss the condition with their doctors, who may recommend Viagra.

The campaign's tagline, "Just Ask Today," is light years away from the infamous, "Remember that guy who used to be called Wild Thing? He's baaack!" The racy campaign eventually prompted Pfizer to pull Viagra advertising from broadcast and cable television for a year.

Karen Katen, Pfizer's vice chairman and president of human health, told analysts and reporters earlier this year Pfizer would ratchet up its promotion of Viagra after sales fell 2 percent last year, to $1.65 billion.

What is more, Pfizer found its chief competitors -- Eli Lilly's Cialis and Levitra, sold by GlaxoSmithKline and Schering-Plough -- didn't "expand" the market by attracting legions of additional consumers.

Instead, Katen said, the competition simply cut into Viagra's sales.

FDA: Generic drug OK
Israeli drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries yesterday said the Food and Drug Administration granted approval for the company's generic treatment for prostate cancer.

The company said it will begin sales immediately.

The drug, an injectable called Mitoxantrone Hydrochloride, is used in combination with corticosteroids as an initial treatment for advanced prostate cancer. It also can be used to treat multiple sclerosis and as an initial treatment of adult nonlymphocytic leukemia.

Teva's drug is equivalent to Serono's Novantrone, which has global sales of approximately $85 million.Free clinics, free passThe FDA gave a rare pass, of sorts, to free medical clinics.

The agency announced last week it won't enforce existing record-keeping rules covering the distribution of prescription drugs. The law says doctors and pharmacists are required to inspect all free drug samples and keep receipts and other records for three years.

Free clinics, shoestring operations that provide medical services to the poor and indigent, complained the cost of the record-keeping would force them out of business.

Source: http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-0/114490584643940.xml&coll=1