Study shows DTC ads spur refill rates and new users

* Refill rates among DTC ad-aware buyers in three drug categories showed an increase over a four-year period, according to the results of a new study by PharmTrends, a division of Ipsos-NPD.

The three highly-advertised categories studied were allergy drugs, cholesterol-- reducing statins, and

In the statin category, ad-aware buyers filled four scripts a year compared to 3.1 for patients not seeing ads. In 1998 the refill rate was three per year for those seeing ads. Among the users of COX-2 painkillers, 3.3 refills were obtained annually among adaware individuals, compared to 3.0 among others, up from 1.6 in 1999, the drugs' first year on the market.

The results were presented by Karen Tibbals, resident consultant to PharmTrends, at the 12th DTC Rx Marketing & Advertising Summit in Cherry Hill, N.J., held by Strategic Research Institute on April 24. The study uses a monthly omnibus diary of purchases across several categories including Rx and OTC purchasing. Mailed to 16,000 households by Ipsos-NPD, it garners a 75 percent response rate.

In the COX-2 category in 2001, 30 percent of buyers were new and 54 percent were repeat. Nine percent of buyers shifted from a prescription drug and seven percent from an OTC product. "One could say that DTC picks up where detailing leaves off, by generating new and shifting users, and increasing persistence," Tibbals said.

Ad awareness among allergy category buyers increased from 58 percent in 1997 to 76 percent in 2001, with increased expenditures for DTC advertising.

In the statin category, awareness increased from 43 to 76 percent in the four-year period. COX-2 ad awareness jumped from 35 percent in 1999 to 78 percent last year.

The PharmTrends awareness data closely matches results from a new FDA survey released in April. It showed that 81 percent of respondents saw or heard an ad for a prescription drug during the lass three months.