Pharmaceutical advertising gallery from all over…

In a perfect world, we could take our time to meet challenges. Brand-name drugmakers, however, do not have that luxury. A new report, however, suggests some must believe otherwise. After surveying big pharma for its ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ?Ä??Combatting Generics?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢 study, Cutting Edge finds that 66 percent do not begin counter-generics planning until at least two years after a product has launched.

Although product teams often feel that they should not be planning for generics until well after a successful launch and period of brand maturation, veteran brand managers consistently report that teams start counterinsurgency planning far too late in a drug?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s life, according to the executive summary. (You can take a peek by starting here).

The research firm then goes on to say something recognizable: ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨The internal workings of pharmaceutical companies sometimes encourage the lack of planning.?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨?? Compounding the problem is a high turnover rate among brand managers. A newbie may arrive with just a couple of years of patent protection and no generic strategy, which means little chance to do anything other than react.

However, Cutting Edge did find that some companies do consider generics problems relatively early ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ?? 23 percent do conduct generics planning while drugs are still in clinical trials, and another 11 percent initiate a generic strategy during launch. Just the same, many wait until patent expiration is too close to explore their options.

A majority of drugmakers report they first consider generics within four years of patent expiration. Since R&D options can take at least that long to execute, Cutting Edge notes that drugmakers with a lifecycle management strategy that begins at least four to six years before patent expiration gives themselves the best chance to prolong brand life.

If It’s Only Project-Based Work, Can You See Other People?

There’s a dilemma that small agencies are facing as they take on more project-based accounts: How to handle client conflicts when they are doing work for more than one client in a competing industry?

Over the holidays, I was talking with a fellow agency CEO who was grappling with this scenario. Her agency does work for a large health-care concern down South. A second, and competing, health-care organization asked her agency to do some work as well. That’s where her conflict ensued.

Should she provide full transparency for her original client about the prospect of doing work for a competitor?

Does she even HAVE to ask permission, or is that a matter of respect?

Can a client that does not commit its full marketing account to one agency expect exclusivity from that agency?

Should an agency be able to handle as many clients in one category as it wants, when the work is all project-based?

Essentially, what defines an exclusive agency-client relationship?

These are tough questions in changing times. In my experience, agencies have to make judgment calls. I believe that an agency has to set its own criteria for exclusive relationships. For instance, Brownstein Group does a lot of business with Microsoft. It is a project-based client, and has been for nearly 10 years. It is a valued client of ours, and has earned our loyalty. On the other hand, a client that gives us one or two projects every now and then might not earn the same loyalty. To me, I evaluate the scope of the relationship; the volume of work; the quality of the assignments; profitability of the work; and the interpersonal dynamics of the people on both sides.

You may apply different criteria when forced to make a decision on handling two or more project-based clients that are competitors. And in the end, you need to make the best decisions for your agency. But I recommend that you come clean with your clients, if each of them really matters to you. Tell them that you have been approached by a competitor. See what they say. If you do a very limited amount of work for the existing client, they’ll be hard-pressed to ask you not to work for the competitor. In fact, bringing up the subject could help the client realize the value of the agency relationship they have with you, and open the door to more work or even an exclusive relationship.

But I am certain you will be faced with this decision soon, if you haven’t already. If you apply your criteria and handle the situation properly, it’ll be a lot easier than Sophie’s Choice.

DTC in Canada may be closer than you think. Currently, Canada allows only reminder and disease-awareness ads for prescription drugs. But while a court case continues to rage challenging the legality of the DTC ban, an industry group is quietly setting up the infrastructure that will help companies implement what may be a more patient-friendly DTC than what we see in the United States.

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Instead of trying to slim down this new year, why not make bigger breasts your new year?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s resolution? Trade in those questionable fad diets and pricey gym memberships for Yokoyama Corporations?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s F-Cup Pudding snacks.

The magic ingredient is pueraria mirifica, a southeast Asian plant containing phytoestrogens that is being marketed as a natural breast enhancer. The mango-flavored pudding snacks also contain soy protein and red clover, other products with phytoestrogens that, it should be noted, are used for treating menopause.

Popular girl glossy Vivi ranks F-Cup Pudding number five on their top twenty new products of 2007 round-up. While the results are questionable, you could do worse than eat mango pudding everyday. In fact, at only 1,890??ᬨ‚Ä¢ for a month?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s supply (available online), these pudding snacks are actually cheaper then the ones at the convenience store that only promise to make your stomach bigger.

Posted by Rebecca Milner

Jan. 8 (Bloomberg) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved 19 new drugs in 2007, the fewest in 24 years, after drugmakers focused on developing uses for existing products.

The number of new medicines, including those made with novel chemical ingredients and using biotechnology, was three less than in 2006. Last year’s approvals were tallied by analyst Ira Loss, and the FDA declined to confirm the numbers.

Drugmakers such as GlaxoSmithKline Plc say the FDA raised its standards for approvals, an assertion the agency denies. Companies shifted emphasis to altering drugs and seeking more diseases to treat with them, at the expense of developing new products, said Kenneth I. Kaitin, director of the Tufts University Center for the Study of Drug Development in Boston.

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John Dingell (D-MI), chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is taking aim at Robert Jarvik for his role as Lipitor spokesman.

Evidently, the issue is that since Jarvik only graduated medical school, but has not actually practiced medicine, so he is unqualified to dispense medical advice. Dingell only seems to be going after Jarvik and has not challenged other celebrities (i.e., Tom Cruise) on their legitimacy to dispense medical advice.

The Wall Street Journal Health Blog notes that Robert Bazell, the NBC science correspondent, first pointed out the perceived inadequacies of Jarvik?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s academic pedigree. Bazell has reportedly noted that Jarvik is not a physician (neither is Bazell). Bazell has also reportedly noted that Jarvik went to study in Italy (Bazell went to study in England). The good news is that for between $10,001 and $20,000, you can get Robert Bazell to lend his name to your company’s initiative (surely Pfizer is paying a lot more for Jarvik). Pfizer could save a truckload of money if they switched from Jarvik to Bazell (NBC might even give discounted air time since Bazell is an NBC personality).

It is unclear how John Dingell, who never graduated from medical school, possesses the strong clinical background to evaluate the subtleties of treating hyperlipidemia. Dingell should stick to what he knows best ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?Ñ?? big, gas-guzzling automobiles. The Big 3 Detroit Auto Makers give him (and his wife) millions in campaign contributions and other compensation to ensure that real, substantive environmental legislation doesn?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢t get passed in Congress (although Dingell does a magnificent job throwing table scraps at the environmental lobby to pacify them).

Personally, I find the Jarvik Lipitor ads to be a little annoying. But I?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢d take medical advice from Jarvik before I?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢d accept advice from John Dingell (or Tom Cruise).

When you think of a sleep-inducing bed, you don’t imagine features such as an iPod dock, an HD projector, internet capability or multiple subwoofers. But what the hell, if you ever do decide to fall asleep, the bed is claimed to feature “military technology” designed to put an end to your spouse’s snoring.

Utilizing vibration-detection technology originally developed for military purposes, the anti-snoring system is designed to help alleviate mild to moderate snoring by automatically moving the mattress by seven degrees and then returning the bed to its original position when the snoring stops. Fortunately the separate mattress layout means that you wont have to suffer for the sins of your partner.The mattress can be set to “pre-heat” or “pre-cool” on both sides of the bed (ranging from 68 degrees to 117 degrees Fahrenheit) and the body monitoring system aims to improve sleep over longer periods by measuring your movements during the night and comparing them to a 30-day baseline. Using this data and information gathered on breathing patterns (which indicate relaxation) the system then provides hints on how to improve your sleep quality.

Product Page…

If you’re more concerned with universal access to your medical records than with your own privacy, then the IdenentityPal was made for you.

The IdentityPal is a USB data storage device used to aid in the retrieval of detailed medical records, pet owner details, and general safety contact information in the event of an emergency.The unit comes pre-installed with easy-to-use identification templates. The templates are to be filled out with any amount of identification information that suits your specific needs.

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The annual RX Club Awards is considered to be the Oscars of pharmaceutical product advertising and promotion. It honors work in print, electronic media, and video in the service of healthcare. The RX club ?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ??¨provides an independent forum for the worldwide healthcare advertising community to exchange ideas, showcase their best creative projects, and bring forth innovative ideas in the expanding healthcare market place, keeping the industry on the cutting edge.?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ¬¨??

Judging is based solely on creativity, not how much a brand sold or how much media it received. This makes it among one of the most prestigious awards an agency can receive. Take a look through the entire 2007 winner?¬¢‚Äö?ᬮ‚Äö?묢s gallery.