Cancer Drugs Retain Top Spot For Print Ads In H1’13

For the third year in a row, cancer drugs remained the most advertised pharmaceutical products in professional health journals during the first half of the year. In the first six months of 2013, advertisers bought 45,829 pages to promote cancer therapy products, which translates into a year-on-year increase of 13%. This category topped the list both in terms of pages and amounts spent, as revealed by the latest figures from Kantar Media Healthcare Research.

The second place was occupied by oral anticoagulants with an 18% rise, which resulted in 2,115 pages. Oral diabetes drugs achieved impressive progress compared to last year as the number of pages bought by advertisers surged by 163% to reach 842. Biological response modifiers recorded an increase of 6%, meaning that advertisers purchased 751 pages. Despite the 47% drop, the immunologic agents category was among the top five, with 726 pages.

When it comes to the biggest ad spenders in professional health journals, Johnson & Johnson continues to hold on to the top spot. In the first half of 2013, the US pharma giant allocated a $20 million ad spend, which amounts to an impressive year-on-year increase of 67% and makes the company responsible for around 7% of overall spending. Forest Laboratories, whose contribution to total spend came in at about 3%, slashed its investment by 63% but still finished at number two with $9 million. Pfizer raised its print ad budget by 4%, investing $8 million. Novartis climbed one rung higher although its spending slipped by 7% to $6 million. It changed places with the Ironwood Pharmaceutical and Forest Pharmaceuticals partnership, which invested $5 million.