Jeramiah Shaffer
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Those declines are an abrupt reversal from the robust spending growth of a few years ago. Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America's sleep medicine Rozerem sleep aid, which used offbeat ad characters such as Cordy Hadley and a beaver, prescription medicines cut spending from $91million in the first half of 2007 to $15million sleep medicine in the first half this year. The reports follow a well-publicized Harvard Medical School study that found consumer ads had little effect on prescription pharmacist drug sales. "Throughout much of the early decade, it was growing at strong double-digit rates as pharmaceutical marketers become more comfortable and clobetasol topical experienced with DTC advertising," online pharmacy says Jon Swallen, TNS senior vice president of research. A service of YellowBrix, Inc.. Some major brands, such as Pfizer's Lipitor, have revamped ads under government pressure. Second-quarter spending in magazines fell 29% to $358million, according to TNS, sleep meds while radio plummeted 62% to $4million. Magazines and radio stations have seen the most drug ad decline. Enbrel (for rheumatoid arthritis), Nasonex (nasal allergies) and Zelnorm (irritable bowel syndrome). Sepracor's Lunesta, an insomnia drug pharmacist known for its glowing moth icon, spent $75million on ads in the first quarter of 2008 vs. Two recent reports say drugmakers cut Rx ad spending in the first six months of this year. Results sho that direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads "probably aren't as effective as widely perceived," drugstore says Mylo Law, lead That bodes ill for the magazines, newspapers and radio and TV outlets for which the ads have been a prescription for profits. Researchers focused on ads for three drugs. That if the government gets involved, they'll be worse off." Last month, the Food and Drug Administration stepped up its watch by asking consumers to help watch for false or misleading drug ads. "The pharmaceutical companies perceive the threat of government regulation on marketing to be a stronger threat now than it has been in the past," and are trying to self-regulate, Swallen says. Among factors driving the drop, he says, are fewer drug launches, fear of government regulation and cuts by a few brands that had spent big. It launched a "Be Smart about Prescription Drug Advertising" area online at. The site encourages consumers to keep an eye out for false or misleading ads and provides a orson to report violators. Rival ad tracker Nielsen Monitor-Plus calculates the decline at 4.8% to $2.7 billion. (c) 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. By Lara Petrecca NEW YORK -- This could make media owners sick. $175million in that quarter in 2007. TNS Media Intelligence puts the drop at 3.9% to $2.4 billion. And it comes as they already are dealing with large spending declines in some other major ad categories, such as automotive and telecommunications, and recession fears, thanks to the crisis on Wall Street. Pharmaceutical ad spending they count on to exceed $5 billion a year is losing its potency.
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