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ICOS gets the Cialis word out
January 16, 2004
Doctor's offices are the first stops in the
Bothell biotech's strategy of advertising its
erectile dysfunction
drug to American men.
BOTHELL -- The battle between ICOS Corp.'s
Cialis and rival erectile dysfunction drugs
may not have hit the TV airwaves yet, but it
has arrived at the doctor's office.
Richard Berger, a professor of urology at the
University of Washington who also practices
at the school's medical center, got a visit
Wednesday from Cialis representatives.
The sales reps, who have been deployed across
the nation by Bothell-based ICOS and its partner,
Eli Lilly & Co., are touting the drug's
advantages over the more-established and better-
known Viagra, Berger said.
Patients also are beginning to ask for the
new drug, he added.
"There are people asking about it, and
I've written some prescriptions," Berger
said.
While U.S. sales of Cialis
have begun, investors are still wondering when
they'll see the first Cialis commercials on
TV, especially as ads for its competitors are
hard to avoid.
ICOS' only recent comments on its ad strategy
came earlier this week from Paul Clark, the
company's chief executive officer. Speaking
at an investors conference in San Francisco,
Clark said he expects the first television commercials
will run in the next two months.
He said ICOS and Lilly are waiting for the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve
ads that include detailed information about
Cialis' benefits and side effects, Clark said.
That would differentiate them from frequent
ads running for Levitra, a rival that lasts
about four hours like Pfizer Inc.'s Viagra.
Levitra's makers, GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer,
are running ads that give little information.
But some investors would like to see similar
ads on the air for Cialis, arguing that promoting
the brand name, even without much other information,
can't hurt. The makers of Viagra
and Levitra each spent more than $31 million
on advertising in the month before Cialis got
approval, according to the Verispan market research
firm.
Paul Latta, an analyst with McAdams Wright
Ragen Inc. in Seattle, said he tends to sympathize
with that argument.
"I generally come down on the side of
now rather than later," Latta said. "In
branding, it is of value to get the name out
there."
However, Latta said he sees merits in waiting
for approval of more informative ads. After
all, Cialis' differences from Viagra and Levitra
are considered its biggest selling point. The
drug can remain effective up to 36
hours after a man takes it and has fewer
side effects than its competitors.
While TV commercials are the most visible way
to promote a drug to a mass audience, Cialis
is not unknown among the doctors and potential
patients, Latta added.
"It may not be on TV on the NFL playoffs,
but it's all over the place," he said.
The company has been busy with lower-profile
marketing directly to doctors. Clark said sales
representatives for ICOS and Lilly began visiting
doctors the day after the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration gave final approval to Cialis.
Berger and other urologists have received numerous
informational mailings about the drug.
There also has been ample media attention on
the new competitors to Viagra, including this
week's Time magazine, which focuses on the sex
lives of older adults. Type "Cialis"
into the Google search engine, and it comes
up with more than 1.8 million hits, including
plenty of online sites selling fake versions
of the drug.
Clark said he's happy with the "solid
start" ICOS and Lilly have with Cialis,
as the first shipments went to pharmacies just
two days after FDA approval came Nov. 21.
A single dose of Cialis costs about $14 at
a Bothell Walgreen's drugstore, comparable to
the price for Viagra.
Just how many patients are asking for prescriptions
of the new drug, however, is still hard to gauge.
According to Verispan, Cialis had captured
just a sliver of the market as of Jan. 2. However,
of patients who switched between erectile dysfunction
drugs, more than 23 percent went to Cialis.
Nearly 8 percent of patients taking erectile
dysfunction drug for the first time went with
Cialis, Verispan reported. ICOS and Latta warn
that because those figures were gathered around
the holidays, they don't represent a typical
period of time.
In Europe, where Cialis has been on the market
since last February, the drug has made further
inroads against Viagra.
According to ICOS' latest market data, 35 percent
of erectile dysfunction prescriptions written
in France as of November were for Cialis. In
Germany and Australia, the drug also had at
least 30 percent of the market share.
Because advertising for prescription drugs
is banned in the European Union, ICOS and Lilly
are using different tactics to reach potential
patients. For example, the companies are organizing
a series of events to "emotionally connect
men with their partners." The first event,
a private concert in Monaco featuring the band
Blondie and opera tenor Jose Carreras, takes
place Feb. 7.
In Britain, Cialis' makers have sponsored radio
talk shows focusing on men's health and erectile
dysfunction.
source:-http://www.heraldnet.com
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