Pfizer To Roll Out Chantix Ads Today
Looking to counter the very bad publicity its very tricky stop smoking drug, Chantix, has received the last two weeks, Pfizer will roll out special ads in five big newspapers today, including the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. In the ads, according to Bloomberg, the company will emphasize the dangers of smoking and the benefits of Chantix. That sounds like a desperate strategy. But then the drug over the last two weeks has received a public health warning from the FDA, its use by pilots, air traffic controllers, truckers and bus drivers has been banned, so maybe this is to be expected. After all, sales in the first quarter were down by 30 percent for the drug. It'll be interesting to see its second quarter results.
And, it'll be interesting to see if Pfizer's ad has any effect at all.
Posted by Philip Dawdy at May 29, 2008 12:01 AM
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Any readers of The Onion here? Yesterday's American Voices was a response to the FDA's banning of Chantix for pilots. My favorite:
"Look, before people get upset with the FDA, they should know Pfizer meticulously test-marketed this drug for years, and turns out there's a large segment of the public who will risk insanity and death to stop smoking."
