What significant changes occurred in the marketing for anti-cholesterol drugs from 1975 to 2001?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Statins were first discovered in 1971 by a Japanese drug company. Roy Vagelos of Merck was intrigued by this work and made several trips to Japan and duplicated the Japanese experiments. By 1978 Merck scientists had identified another cholesterol-lowering compound called Lovastatin. Lovastatin finally hit the market in 1987 under the brand name Mevacor. The doctors had little experience of Mevacor so they were reluctant to prescribe it owing to questions over its safety and effectiveness. Merck began to conduct research to prove that statins did indeed help patients and their public awareness campaign began to work, and sales of their drug took off. The public on their part began to differentiate between good cholesterol and bad cholesterol- HDL and LDL, and this helped increase sales of the drug. Merck sponsored more studies into statins and through their Four-S study found that after five years of Simvastatin use patients saw a 35% reduction in their cholesterol and reduction heart attack rate by 42%. They marketed the drug, and it quickly rose to number one in the market with over $1 billion in sales. But it was this very phenomenon that raised sales for the entire class of statins and it paved the way for Lipitor.
In early trials, Lipitor proved to be more effective than rival drugs even at its lowest FDA approved dosage. This meant that Lipitor had a more effective starting dose and also reduced cholesterol by proportions that the other drugs could not. Pfizer marketers came up with a graphic that showed color-coded curved lines comparing Lipitor the each of the major cholesterol drugs- Zocor, Mevacor, Lescol, and Pravachol- comparing effectiveness of lowering cholesterol over time- and this chart formed the backbone of Pfizer's marketing blitz. They included the curves data in each prescription bottle of the drug and handed out the literature to salespeople and physicians. Lipitor gained 18% of the market by June 1998, and continued to gain market share over the next few years.