These days, you can’t turn on a television without being inundated with prescription drug commercials. Pharmaceutical companies are dishing out massive sums of money to advertise their drugs, sometimes by way of a jingle — oh-oh-oh Ozempic — to more staid and straightforward drug commercials like Ocrevus.
Either way, drug ads are inescapable for anyone with a TV in front of them, and big sums of money being spent behind the scenes to get your eyes on them. In November, "Big Pharma" spent a total of $158 million in television advertising costs.
Here are the top five big-spending pharmaceutical brands for television commercials last month according to Fierce Pharma:
1. Humira
Total estimated spending: $37.6 million, down from $46.7 million in October
Humira tops the list for November, as it did in October. The immunosuppressive drug is used to treat arthritis, plaque psoriasis, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. The drug has a nearly ubiquitous presence on television.
In November, Humira spent nearly $38 million for six television spots: one for psoriasis, three for arthritis, two each for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's. Its most expensive ad of the bunch was the “Body of Proof: Drums” commercial, which cost the drug maker an estimated $12.8 million, according to Fierce Pharma.
The one-minute-long commercial shows people dancing, playing musical instruments and other assorted activities that they would be otherwise precluded from doing without Humira.
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Roche’s commercial spending sits at the absolute top of this list, having spent $20 million more in November than the number two spot.
2. Ocrevus
Total estimated spending: $17.6 million
New to the list this month is Ocrevus, which spent $17.6 million in November for one television commercial spot: “Dear MS," which features 10 real multiple sclerosis patients, Fierce Pharma reports.
The Roche-brand multiple sclerosis drug was initially introduced in 2017 at a cost to patients of $65,000 a year, NPR reported at the time.
“OCREVUS is a bi-yearly medical treatment that is intended to reduce relapses for those who have been diagnosed with relapsing or primary progressive forms of Multiple Sclerosis,” according to the drugmaker.
Roche has been ramping up advertising efforts for the drug recently, launching a campaign that targets millennials, which explains how it shot to the number two spot.
As for its “Dear MS” ad, the 1:15 minute spot shows a variety of young women giving the ‘peace sign’ to multiple sclerosis as if to bid it adieu.