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No doubt that many of you already know that DTC advertising is an effective way for pharmaceutical companies to “push” their drugs. However, when I saw the amount of money that was spent on DTC in 2007 I was shocked! In 2007 alone, drug companies spent $5,375,117,382 on advertising. Yes, that's $5.375 billion dollars (think of how many research grants could have been funded or how much money could have been spent on universal healthcare!).  The aggregate ROI for 25 pharma companies examined was impressive–totaling about $32 billion or roughly 7-fold!

A table published by Consumer Reports AdWatch highlights 25 of the biggest spenders along with their sales, giving an indication of how much their ad spending has paid off —or not! The drugs that received the biggest bang for the buck are bolded. Despite the conflict of interest and false advertising DTC flap over Lipitor, it still managed to have the third best return among the 25 products analyzed.

¹Consumer Reports Consumer Drug Reference, 2008.
²Data compiled by Nielsen Media research, March 2008.
³Data provided by Drug Topics and Verispan, March 2008.


No wonder why everybody wants to work for a pharmaceutical company–despite the downsizing there is still substantial money to be made!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!

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I want to thank my esteemed colleague, Ed Silverman at Pharmalot, for the heads up on this post.  As part of Wyeth’s asset realignment program dubbed “Project Impact”, the company announced today that it would cut another 1,200 jobs at “all facilities in all capacities.”  Meanwhile, late last Friday 141 people at Wyeth’s Pearl River, NY, facility were laid off. Most of the jobs that were cut were in manufacturing and R&D. Of interest, last Friday was also Bob Essner’s last day as Wyeth’s CEO (he will continue as Chairman through December 31, 2008). For those of you who may be interested, Bob’s total compensation package in 2007 was about $20 million (his base salary was a paltry $1.73 million).

The most recent layoffs were made as part of the drug maker’s previously announced plan to cut up to 10 percent of its global workforce of 50,000 by 2011. Wyeth executives contend that Project Impact is warranted because of increased generic drug competition and a weak product pipeline. As you may recall, Wyeth previously laid off 1,240 sales reps late last month due to sagging sales of several of its consumer and pharmaceutical brands.

These new layoffs couldn’t come at a worst time for Wyeth employees. For those of you who still have jobs at the company, I highly recommend that you begin to explore alternative career opportunities. It is going to be a long and difficult ride!

Until next time… 

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (if there are any left) !!!!!!!

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According to a post on the Wall Street Journal Health blog, Wyeth announced today that it is laying off about 1,200 marketing and sales representatives who helped support Protonix, its blockbuster heartburn and acid reflux medication. The job cuts are part of a previously announced “asset reallocation plan” that is designed to reduce the size of the company’s workforce by about 5% this year, and by 10% over the next three years.

The company employees about 50,000 people worldwide with roughly half of them in the U.S.  Like some of its competitors, Wyeth is facing stiff generic competition for several products that are slated to lose patent protection over the next couple of years and recently has had trouble getting many of its new drugs approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!!!!

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According to a press release by IMS, a company that tracks pharmaceutical sales, growth of the US pharmaceutical market shrank from 8% in 2006 to a meager 3.8% in 2007–the slowest growth rate since 1961. Total U.S. prescription sales in 2007 only reached $286.5 billion. The 2007 slowdown in sales was attributed to:

• Loss of patent exclusivity for branded products
• Fewer new drug approvals
• Effect of Medicare Part D on annual growth
• Renewed focus on safety issues by US Food and Drug Administration

Industry officials place the blame for the slow down on FDA because fewer newer drugs were approved in 2007 as compared with years past. However, I believe that the slow down has more to do with:

• Higher prices of branded medications as compared with generic drugs
• Lack of public confidence in the pharmaceutical industry
• Increased scrutiny by regulators on direct to consumer advertising and continuing medical education (CME)
• Fewer and less innovative drugs in company pipelines

Bashing FDA is easy. The willingness of the pharmaceutical industry to assume ownership of some of its own shortcomings and missteps is substantially more difficult to do!

Until next time….

Good Luck and Good Job Hunting!!!!!!!!

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