Abbott Shifts Meridia Marketing Focus From Consumer To Physicians

Abbott plans to move away from direct-to-consumer advertising for the anti-obesity agent Meridia (sibutramine) in favor of marketing aimed more directly at healthcare providers.

"Abbott will reconfigure its marketing efforts to focus on medical needs and on physicians, not the patients," VP-Metabolic Discovery Terry Opgenorth, PhD, told analysts at a June 21 R&D day in New York. "We think the time is right for that approach to pay off in a big way."

Abbott took over marketing of Meridia as part of the Knoll acquisition, completed earlier this year. The serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor has been marketed in the U.S. since 1997, with sales in 2000 of approximately $95 mil.

The anti-obesity market is proving difficult for pharmaceutical companies to break into. Roche recently revised its approach to marketing Xenical (orlistat) after sales in 2000 fell well short of expectations (¹ (Also see "Roche Xenical Patient Retention Program Is Key To Sales Growth" - Pink Sheet, 5 Mar, 2001.)).

While Roche is continuing DTC advertising for Xenical, the firm is emphasizing the long-term health benefits of weight loss, particularly for diabetics.

Abbott Exec VP-Global Pharmaceuticals Jeff Leiden, MD/PhD, noted the contrast between Abbott's plans for Meridia and Knoll's launch campaign.

Previous marketing relied on a consumer-oriented, "DTC approach, a lot of television, targeted for patients who want themselves to lose weight." Leiden added that Knoll had "already paid, actually, for the DTC for this year," but Abbott will soon target endocrinologists and general practitioners.

"We've come to the clear conclusion that we think the drug will do much better with a medical focus - that is, showing that obesity is a medical problem," Leiden said. "Overweight and obese people have increased risk for diabetes, hypertension, cancer, arthritis and other diseases," Opgenorth noted.

"Having obesity contributes to long term health consequences," he continued. "In particular, you have seven- to eight-fold risk of acquiring type 2 diabetes, significant risk of developing coronary heart disease, hypertension [and] lipid disorders."

Abbott cited the STORM study, published in The Lancet Dec. 23/30, 2000, as "powerful evidence that Meridia can contribute to significant weight loss and maintain that weight loss over time." STORM also provided evidence that Meridia reduces the risk of diabetes, Leiden said.

Abbott hopes to demonstrate Meridia's risk reduction benefits in a long-term cardiovascular/diabetes outcomes study it plans to start this year in Europe. "This will be a five-year study with almost 10,000 patients, where we're looking at the effects of Meridia long-term on cardiovascular risk and...events," Leiden told investors.

The study will be designed to provide interim data on blood glucose, diabetes and cardiovascular risk, which Abbott will be able to use to market Meridia to physicians before the study is completed.

Analysts questioned Abbott's intention to market Meridia to general practitioners; Roche's similar strategy for Xenical was unsuccessful.

Abbott feels that Meridia's "very, very clean" side effect profile will provide an advantage. "It's easier to get patients to take a drug that has a clean side effect profile....The biggest difference between Meridia and Xenical is that [Meridia's] side effect profile is the mildest and gets patients to take it longer to see the effects," he stated.

"Xenical has an awful GI side effect profile," Leiden maintained. "Patients get bad diarrhea and cramps, and so of course they don't eat and lose weight." Meridia labeling has warnings about blood pressure increases and use in people with cardiovascular disease.

Abbott is also considering how its other businesses can support Meridia. The company is considering a dietary products tie-in via the Ross nutritionals division that could provide earlier weight loss.

"One of the things that our market research tells us is that the weight loss with Meridia tends to occur between 30 and 90 days after a patient started," Leiden explained. "If we can get them earlier weight loss in the first 30 days to motivate the patient, it's a way to keep patients on the drug more long-term."