GlaxoSmithKline’s (NYSE:GSK) top U.S. executive Deirdre Connelly says the company is changing its approach to advertising in a manner that will be more respectful of the consuming public. Speaking in an address at the annual Pharmaceutical Industry Compliance Congress in Washington, D.C., she cited as an example the erectile dysfunction drug Levitra, which she now says is not appropriate for a general audience watching a Thanksgiving day football game.
Three Levitra commercials are included in this post. The straight video of the commercials doesn’t get explicit at all and you could make the argument that watching the video alone won’t tell you what the drug is for (in one of them, a man tosses around a football). But Connelly does make a point in that airing these ads before a general audience could prompt a child to ask if grandpa needs Levitra, and if so, what for?
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A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
