June 30, 2006, Sydney Morning Herald

Australia: Bayer´s Levitra marketing criticized
Stand up and be counted - love drug that comes with a money-back guarantee

YOU might call it a hard bargain. Men who take the impotence pill Levitra but still fail to rise to the challenge will be given their money back.
But a leading specialist says this marketing thrust is unethical because it creates unrealistic expectations about the effectiveness of drugs.

In advertising to the medical profession, which uses pictures of bananas to represent the men's before and after state, the manufacturer, Bayer HealthCare, urges doctors to hand out the "Levitra guarantee" with prescriptions for the drug, which costs about $70 for a four pack and is one of two competitors to Viagra.

Meanwhile, a campaign using the same suggestive imagery is running in the consumer press, encouraging men to register online at www.when-now.com, where they can request a "performance pack" to be sent to their doctor, with whom they then make an appointment.

But nowhere in the consumer advertisements or on the website is Levitra mentioned by name - this sidesteps a ban on promoting prescription drugs to patients.

The deal, which runs until September and is limited to one prescription per patient, was an attempt to win market share from competitors Viagra and Cialis, said Bayer's medical director, Dr Jeff Hassall.

No corroborative evidence would be required of men's failure to achieve satisfaction, he said. "It's just on the word of the patient."

Studies suggested the drug, which is designed to increase blood flow to the penis, was effective for 80 per cent of men prescribed it, Dr Hassall said. But in similar schemes the company has run in Scandinavia, only about 2 per cent of patients applied for a refund.

Bayer was fined $100,000 last year by the industry self-regulator, Medicines Australia, for promoting Levitra directly to men in an earlier version of its website. However, Dr Hassall said the refund scheme met industry standards. "We consider this a totally appropriate and ethical initiative that helps both the doctor and the patient," he said. The objective was "to remove one of the barriers to patients obtaining treatment".

A professor of clinical pharmacology at the University of Newcastle, David Henry, said offering patients their money back set a dangerous precedent because it set up the expectation that medicines were "purely a commodity" like any other consumer purchase.

"It does cross the line because something that changes a doctor's decision about what's the best treatment for a patient has got to be undesirable," Professor Henry said. (Julie Robotham Medical Editor)

more information:
FDA Orders Levitra Ad Off the Air
Australia: Plug pulled on Bayer Levitra campaign
Brazil: Levitra given to football fans (spanish)

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