Pharmaceutical Industry

Sleep Aid Ruled DTC Spending in 2006

Drug companies may have spent as much as 8% more on Direct-to-Consumer advertising in 2006 compared to the previous year, according to data from two advertising intelligence firms. Through October, drug companies had spent $3.82 billion on DTC advertising compared to $3.5 billion at the same time a year earlier, according to figures from Nielsen Monitor-Plus. The increase was the most dramatic among the top ten prescription brands, showing a 36% hike from $1.02 billion to $1.39 billion.

Another research firm, TNS Media Intelligence, shows an increase of 10% in spending among the top ten brands for the first nine months. Neither company was able to provide complete data for the fourth quarter.

Thus far, it appears Lunesta has replaced Nexium as the most aggressively promoted prescription drug of the year, with an increase of 70%, or $120 million than a year ago, per Neilsen. Sepracor has invested more than $291 million to promote the sleep aid drug.

Nexium, on the other hand, saw AstraZeneca cut its promotional funds by 8% to $165 million for the first ten months compared to the same period in 2005. Some of these funds may have been budgeted for the 10% increase in spending for Crestor which needed to maintain its profile in light of recent safety issues.

Other notable spending:

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