TV ads push prescription drug sales

Marketing, not research, continues to drive pharmaceutical sales and create best-sellers, Kaiser Health News reports.

Anavir Pharmaceuticals sponsors an ad featuring Danny Glover talking about symptoms of pseudobulbar, or PBA, which is a condition of uncontrolled outbursts of laughing or crying that affects people with neurological conditions such as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The commercial doesn’t mention a drug by name. Instead, it directs people to a website and toll-free number for more information leading them to learn about the drug Nuedexta.

The strategy pays off. Sales of Nuedexta rose from $37 million in 2012, to $218 million in 2016. The awareness of PBA rose 72 percent among primary care physicians and 52 percent among patients. After the campaign’s success, Anavir launched an ad early this year urging potential consumers to ask about Nuedexta.

This type of ad fuels the controversy of direct-to-consumer advertising. The U.S. is one of just two countries that allow prescription drug advertising. Television advertising for prescription drugs has jumped 62 percent since 2012, reaching an estimated $6.4 billion in 2016.

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