AstraZeneca Posts an Arimidex DTC Ad on Its Corporate Blog - Will It Go Viral?

AstraZeneca is breaking new ground in social media drug promotion... again. It has posted a branded promotion for its breast cancer drug Arimidex on AZ Health Connections, which is "A blog for AstraZeneca's US business."The post -- titled "AstraZeneca’s ARIMIDEX® (anastrozole) tablets Direct program provides valuable resources to program enrollees"-- promotes ARIMIDEX Direct, which is AstraZeneca’s "first-ever direct-to-patient program. It enables eligible patients to easily enroll and receive brand-name ARIMIDEX delivered directly to their home for $40 per month, including shipping."There is no doubt that in the eyes of the FDA, this post is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad. It mentions a product by brand name (ARIMIDEX), its indication (adjuvant treatment of postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive early breast cancer), and includes the necessary important safety information (ISI) plus link to the full prescribing info. See the ad at left (click on image for enlarged view).This is not the first time that a DTC ad has appeared on the AZ corporate blog. Back in May, 2012, an AZ Health Connections Blog post titled "New CDC data shows drop in number of adults with high cholesterol" included information about Crestor, including the product brand name (CRESTOR), its indication (lower cholesterol), and important safety information. In other words, that post also included a direct-to-consumer (DTC) ad.Regarding the Crestor blog post, I said:"While the post does co...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Arimidex AstraZeneca AZ Health Connections breast cancer DTC Advertising Pharma Blogosphere Source Type: blogs