July 16, 2005

The Associated Press, “Drug company spends millions to promote the patch”

          The popularity of the birth-control patch continues to grow, fueled by millions of dollars in advertising.
          "Just peel, stick and go," says one advertisement. "On your body. Off your mind," says another.
          The slogans are catchy, the television advertisements sexy and fun and the endorsers included the Norwegian Olympic beach volleyball players and supermodel Naomi Campbell. It was chosen as one of Time magazine's "Coolest Inventions" in 2002.
          In an award-winning marketing blitz, Ortho McNeil set out to sell its patch directly to consumers. Magazine advertisements for the patch included nonmedicated samples. Online, customers could download a $5 coupon for the patch. Swimsuit models wore placebo patches at New York fashion shows.
          The result: In less than three years, more than 5 million women in the U.S. tried the patch. American sales of Ortho Evra were estimated at $400 million in 2004, accounting for 15 percent of the U.S. market.
          This year, however, the marketing blitz made a significant change.
          In March, Johnson & Johnson - parent company of Ortho McNeil - unveiled new and unusually candid television and print advertisements featuring doctors, not models, who talk about risks associated with the patch, including blood clots and strokes.
          Chief executive William Weldon said he made the changes in recognition that drug advertisements in general "may inadvertently minimize the importance and power of medicines and their risks."
          "Our communication with consumers should be thought of as direct-to-consumer education," he said.
          This year Ortho McNeil also launched a new study, an epidemiological review of the deaths and serious side effects reported in association with the patch.
          Ortho McNeil's Dr. Katherine LaGuardia said neither the study nor the new ad campaign was prompted by reports last fall in the New York Post and on ABC News of deaths associated with the patch.
          The patch has been approved in Canada, Australia, Europe, and some countries in Asia, South America and Africa. LaGuardia said there are fewer patch users in all other countries combined than in the United States.
          A competing translucent patch and a gel are currently in the works.