{"id":7488,"date":"2008-01-23T12:17:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-23T12:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pharma-mkting.com\/new-vytorin-tv-ads-are-in-works-imho\/"},"modified":"2019-02-21T01:25:15","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T01:25:15","slug":"new-vytorin-tv-ads-are-in-works-imho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/new-vytorin-tv-ads-are-in-works-imho\/","title":{"rendered":"New Vytorin TV Ads Are in the Works – IMHO"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to an AP report<\/a>, Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. have suspended TV ads for Vytorin a week after a study revealed the cholesterol drug is “no more effective than a high dose of one of its components available generically at a third of the cost.”<\/p>\n

They made this decision, said Skip Irvine, a spokesman for Merck\/Schering-Plough, “in light of mischaracterization and misinterpretation of the enhanced (sic) trial results.”<\/p>\n

There’s just a few observations about this decision that I’d like to make before I discuss why I believe that NEW Vytorin TV ads are in the works.<\/p>\n

Observation # 1: It’s ENHANCE, Skip, not ENHANCED! Is that a misquote Skip, or are you trying to put some subliminal spin on it? If you can’t even get the name of the trial right, why should I swallow your “mischaracterization and misinterpretation” remarks, which is the real spin?<\/p>\n

Observation #2: It’s about time the ads were pulled! Let me offer a poem as introduction [apologies to e. e. cummings]:<\/p>\n

I told
Schering:it couldn’t
believe it […]
(it didn’t believe it, no
sir) it took
an over-hyped bit of
the old ENHANCE
clinical
trial:which hit its stock price: to tell
it<\/div>\n

Nearly a year ago, I suggested that the “Vytorin Ads Are Getting Old — and Disturbing!<\/a>” I didn’t suggest that Schering-Merck pull the ads altogether, but I had enough of the silly food-people comparisons, especially when it was becoming a bit racial (yes, I’m introducing race into the mix) as illustrated in this ad:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
New Vytorin Ads on the Way
I noted a week ago — as soon as the ENHANCE news broke — that the Vytorin ads were missing from TV and suggested there would be a revamping of the ads should they return:<\/p>\n

P.P.S. Since this blog is really all about pharmaceutical marketing, I should say something about how the ENHANCE trial failure may affect the advertising of Zetia and Vytorin.<\/p>\n

Obviously, these brands are probably maintaining a low profile these days. I don’t remember seeing the usual ads on TV last night. Perhaps the ads are being revamped in light of the ENHANCE trial news and will soon re-appear addressing the issues raised by the study’s failure. But why weren’t these damage-control ads rolled out IMMEDIATELY? Maybe it’s best to say nothing to the public — No way! Merck and Schering-Plough should have PSAs explaining their take on the situation and NOT just depend on issuing a press release!<\/p>\n

See “Should I Stop Taking Zetia?<\/a>“<\/p>\n

Personally, I don’t think there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that the people-food comparison ads will come back. They are as dead as dodos. SP-Merck will have to come up with new ads like Pfizer did for Celebrex after Vioxx (a similar NSAID) was pulled from the market (see “Celebrex Ad: Let’s Dive Deeper<\/a>“).<\/p>\n

The new Vytorin ads cannot look like the old ones because that branding is now too closely associated with the ENHANCE debacle. The new ads will have to “dive deeper” — and maybe run for more than 1 minute — to explain the nuances of the ENHANCE results and make a strong case why Vytorin is better than just simvastatin alone.<\/p>\n

But don’t expect to see these new ads soon. As someone once said: “Oh Lucy! – You Gotta Lotta ‘Splainin’ To Do” and that may take some time.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: My cardiologist still has NOT returned my call to answer my question about Zetia!!!! (See “Should I Stop Taking Zetia?<\/a>“)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to an AP report, Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. have suspended TV ads for Vytorin a week after a study revealed the cholesterol drug is “no more effective than a high dose of one of its components available generically at a third of the cost.” They made this decision, said Skip Irvine, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[86,1086,822,590],"topic":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNew Vytorin TV Ads Are in the Works - IMHO - Pharma Marketing Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/blog\/new-vytorin-tv-ads-are-in-works-imho\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Vytorin TV Ads Are in the Works - 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