SUBJECT: September Posted By: CaptainKlutz
Post Time: 11/2/03 14:11
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Script growth slowed in September: Only about 8,000 were dispensed, approx. 1,500 of them were refills. Perhaps the cash situation caused DMX to cut back on promotional activities. There weren't many Pennsaid ads in the Aug./Sept. journals.
Here's what is interesting:
For Q3, among rheumatologists, Pennsaid accounted for over 10% of the new scripts written for NSAIDS. That's up from about 1.5 % in Q2. Among orthopedic surgeons it accounted for around 9% of new scripts.
Those percentages don't translate into large sales. Not yet. There are less than 300 rheumatologists in Canada and only about 1,000 orthopedic surgeons. But the numbers should begin to have an impact on the approximately 30,000 GP's. Most patients will have been referred to a specialist by a GP who would, presumably, continue whatever course of therapy was recommended by the specialist. It would also be unusual if GP prescribing behaviour wasn't ultimately influenced by the experts.
So it appears that DMX has, in fact, targeted the specialists. Some of you will recall that Dr. Tugwell's equivalency study was presented at a conference of rheumatologists in June. Others might know that under Canadian rules, a company cannot include claims from a study in promotional material until after the study has been published. In which case some might conclude that DMX did a study so they could, among other things, have the reps talk to the Docs about how good Pennsaid is relative to oral NSAIDS (still the preferred choice 50% of the time). A good marketing effort though I expect it matters little to the boiler room boys.
captainklutz. |
