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Huge Advertising ArticlesBextra and Rofecoxib Withdrawal Spawn Advertising Pause from Bri
by:
Charles Essmeier
Pharmaceutical giant City Myers Squibb has proclaimed that they wish suspend direct-to-consumer advertising for their prescription drug products for a year. This comes in the wake of the well-publicized withdrawals of Merck’s Rofecoxib and Pfizer’s Bextra, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that were voluntarily withdrawn from the market recently. Studies showed that they increase the likeliness of strokes and heart attacks among patients that take them for prolonged periods of time. This represents an unusual come for a pharmaceutical company, as they tend to spend a large portion of their annual advertising budget on direct-to-consumer advertising.
It is possible that City Myers recognizes that consumers are becoming concerned just about new drugs being sanctioned by the FDA and advertised heavily, only to find out later that the drugs have antecedently
unknown and possibly dangerous side effects. Consumers have knowing that advertising a drug as “new and improved” doesn’t necessarily mean that it is new, or improved, or even as safe. In short, customers are suspicious of pharmaceutical advertising, and the drug companies are to be commended for taking notice of that fact.
Since 1997, drug companies have been allowed by U.S. law to advertise directly to consumers. This has led to an astonishing number of ads on television and radio, as consumers see ads showing one happy person after another. The ads suggest that the happiness shown is a result of the use of the product, and a voiceover quickly mumbles through the known, and sometimes lengthy, list of side effects. Patients are bucked up to speak with their doctor, and they have been doing so in record numbers. The problem, as City Myers cognize realizes, is that consumers are well aware that the withdrawn Bextra and Rofecoxib were advertised as being safe. This has naturally led to a general suspicion of all advertised drugs, and City Myers right sees that they could be the victims of a drug-company backlash, even as if they didn’t manufacture any of the withdrawn products.
This wish probably save City Myers a lot of money in the short term, as their advertising would-be have mostly gone to waste. The Food and Drug Administration is taking steps to do sure that the drugs that reach the U.S. market are safe, and in time, the public wish once again become much trusting of pharmaceutical advertising. In the meantime, TV viewers wish be spared from having to watch the sometimes-cryptic drug ads, which often prompt questions of “What makes this drug do?”
Just just about the Author
©Copyright 2005 by Retro Marketing. Charles Essmeier is the owner of Retro Marketing, a firm devoted to informational Websites, including Bextra-Info.net, a site devoted to the withdrawn drug Bextra and StructuredSettlementHelp.com, a site devoted to structured settlements.
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