BrandweekNRX

Wall Street Journal Runs Year-Old Prilosec Story on Front Page

The Wall Street Journal has a curious story about Procter & Gamble’s marketing of Prilosec OTC—curious because the story is such old news. P&G is sponsoring bunco tournaments in people’s homes, in which middle-aged women roll dice, drink, and possibly talk about heartburn and its cures. Winners go through to a televised bunco championship in Las Vegas, which at one point was endorsed by CSI hottie Marg Helgenberger (pictured). This is the sort of imaginative, non-traditional marketing effort that will be closely watched by brand managers looking to get off the TV-print-internet treadmill. The story is curious because of its timing—the Prilosec Bunco tournament has been rolling since at least February 2006. I know this because P&G Prilosec brand manager Karen Klei and pr rep Crystal Harrell briefed me on the promotion in May 2006. I decided not to write about it because the tournament had already been on television (you guys don’t pay $3.99 per issue of Brandweek to read about something you coulda seen on cable three months ago). I’m not saying the story ain’t news—it was interesting and in hindsight I wish I'd paid more attention—but it’s worth remembering that just because something is on the front page of the paper doesn’t mean it's fresh.

The Mysterious 'Pharmablogger' Has Resurfaced

Pharmablogger, the anonymous “employee in the Clinical Development area of a large pharmaceutical company” is apparently alive and well, albeit posting infrequently. His most recent post was in November 2006, in which he claimed: “A law firm in Massachusetts has sent us 7000 complaints [about] an unspecified illness, so these cases don't get reported anywhere, unless the patient has died.” He goes on to say, “I have absolutely no idea how we are planning to defend these.” Pharmablogger’s detailed and plausible sounding posts make me think he is the real deal. I have written before that I thought he had been indentified and censored by his employer, but apparently not. If anyone has any information about Pharmablogger’s company, and which drug is the subject of all these legal complaints, drop me a line at jedwards@brandweek.com. I’d love to report this on our news side

Sepracor Goes Silent

What’s going on in Marlborough, Mass.? I got a call from Sepracor’s PR firm, Mosaic Health, telling me Sepracor were no longer allowing their marketing execs to do press interviews. This is a shame. They just got a new chief marketer, Rob Ciappenelli, and I’d like to find out a little bit more about the man who controls the largest drug brand advertising budget on the planet (currently $300 million a year being spent behind Lunesta). We know he comes from the professional side of the business, not the consumer side. One is tempted to suggest that Sepracor’s new silence is ominous: Lunesta has had trouble breaking 13% in new prescription share (NRX, geddit?!); the company has also been embroiled in the stock options backdating scandal; and Sepracor recently lost chief marketer Tim Healey right after he was named Brandweek’s Marketer of the Year. Perhaps the appointment of Ciappenelli, rather than Lunesta’s consumer marketing chief, Jay Popli (another Brandweek Marketer of the Year), indicates that Sepracor feels it needs to increase its credibility with doctors rather than patients.

Welcome to BrandweekNRX

Thanks for stopping by! BrandweekNRX will devote itself to discussing issues and news about the marketing of pharmaceuticals. My name is Jim Edwards, I am the pharmaceuticals reporter at Brandweek magazine. I want to emphasize that this blog is completely separate from my news coverage for the magazine. In other words, my news stories will continue to be published to the usual standards of traditional journalism, using sources and separating fact from opinion. In this blog, however, I'm going to loosen up a bit. You'll read my opinions, arguments and perhaps some jokes about stuff that didn't make it into the magazine or Brandweek's  regular newsfeed. You can email me at jedwards@brandweek.com.