PHARMA NEWS, MULTICHANNEL & CROSSCHANNEL MAKETING

Biogen CEO George Scangos told investors the company's direct-to-consumer advertising campaign for its multiple-sclerosis drug Tecfidera was designed to address “low awareness” for the drug.

“We were surprised, actually, at the beginning by the low awareness among patients of Tecfidera,” Scangos said during Biogen's first-quarter earnings call Thursday, “and we had data suggesting that when patients did learn about Tecfidera and went to their physician to discuss it, they often had it prescribed.”

He added that the ad “did succeed” in raising awareness about Tecfidera even though the drug's sales missed analysts' estimates for the quarter. Tecfidera brought in sales of $744 million for the first quarter of 2016, missing analysts estimates of $750 million, however sales are still up 12% from the $648 million the drug brought in during the first quarter of 2015. However, compared to last quarter, Tecfidera sales are down 5%.

Scangos would not say whether that heightened awareness from the DTC campaign translated into more sales. He said the drugmaker plans to give investors an update on the campaign during its next quarterly earnings call.

Low awareness of Tecfidera is surprising given the warm reception it received from neurologists even before the drug had become available, according to a poll conducted by WorldOne Interactive.

[It's also surprising given the hype about how social media mentions predicted great sales. For more on that, read "Using Social Media as an Early Predictor of a New Drug's Market Share"; http://bit.ly/Mantelconvo]

"Advertisers use many techniques to increase consumer interest in their ads, including the use of animated spokes-characters [aka "mascots"]," notes the FDA in its Federal Register announcement. "It is important to examine whether animation in drug ads inflates efficacy perceptions, minimizes risk, or otherwise hinders comprehension of drug risks and benefits," added the FDA.

Brand name drug mascots not only appear in TV and print ads, they also are plastered all over patient education brochures and other marketing pieces that pharma sales reps hand out to physicians in their offices, as well as in booths at medical conventions, websites, and wherever else there are eyeballs!

This article features our all-time favorite drug ad mascots.

Featured Mascots (partial list):

• Annoying Myrbetriq bladder character!
• Detrol bathroom lady
• Vesicare's pipe people
• Xifaxan's Gutsy "bubble guy"
• Mr. Mucus
• Lamisil's Digger the dermatophyte
• "Sal" & "Marty" fish
• Many more!

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