Eli Lilly's Prasugrel Approved in EU, Needs Aggressive Promotional Campaign to Compete With Plavix, Suggests New Study by Cutting Edge Information


RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - March 5, 2009) - Since Eli Lilly's Prasugrel has received EU approval, Plavix will need to brace itself for strong competition for market share. Generating $5.6 billion, Plavix, co-marketed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, is the second-highest selling drug, but it faces a significant challenge in Prasugrel. If Prasugrel's safety and efficacy profiles do not change during its first year on the market, an aggressive marketing campaign could help this drug reach blockbuster status within a few years. Forecasts for Prasugrel, which will be marketed as Efient in the EU and as Effient if approved in the US, show projected sales between $966 million and $1.25 billion by 2013.

According to industry experts at Cutting Edge Information (www.cuttingedgeinfo.com), brands in Prasugrel's position, as a wide-audience drug facing an established competitor in the marketplace, depend heavily on promotion to maximize their sales. Time lost due to second-guessing marketing budgets in the launch window can reduce the momentum caused by a new product launch, and the brand may never regain this lost sales growth. A new study by Cutting Edge Information, "Driving Successful Pharma Brands: Case Studies of Real Product Launches," (http://www.USPharmaLaunch.com) finds that companies promoting blockbuster products routinely spend more than $100 million on commercialization from Phase 3 through the first year that the product is publicly available.

"On average, nearly two thirds of this money is going to advertising and promotion," says David Richardson, senior analyst at Cutting Edge Information and lead author of the report. "And while DTC advertising is obviously not as big a factor in the EU as it is in the US, detail aids, journal ads and samples are also important parts of the promotional campaign."

"Driving Successful Pharma Brands" breaks this analysis down further into 15 different subcategories and provides spending benchmarks for each of these. Besides advertising and promotion, other promotional spending trends are detailed in the report, including:

--  Medical Affairs (thought leader development, thought leader programs,
    medical education, medical information)
--  Decision Support (market research, competitive intelligence)
--  Market Access (pricing strategy and analysis, pharmacoeconomics,
    reimbursement)
    

For a complimentary brochure of this report, visit: http://www.cuttingedgeinfo.com/uspharmalaunch/PH123_Download.asp#body

Contact Information: CONTACT: David Richardson 1-919-433-0216