Lilly’s ‘Cialis Promise’ increases pressure on Viagra
pharmafile | July 15, 2004 | News story | |Â Â Â
The battle for erectile dysfunction market dominance is intensifying in the US with Lilly using consumer-style promotional offers to help Cialis close the gap on market leader Viagra.
In what Lilly claim to be a pharma industry first, the 'Cialis Promise' campaign offers to pay for a competitor's treatment if first-time users are not satisfied with Cialis.
Pfizer's Viagra is easily the biggest ED product in the US, with about 77% market share but lost a massive 25% of its sales in the first quarter of 2004 because of competition from Cialis and its other challenger, GSK and Bayer's Levitra.
The 'for a limited time only' special offer, backed up by a new Looks Like Someone Discovered The Cialis Promise ad campaign, involves men with ED downloading a free trial voucher and Cialis Promise Card from the website: www.cialis.com.
If they're satisfied with the product they will get a second free trial, but if they don't like the results, Lilly will pay for a trial of a competing ED product, as prescribed by their doctor.
"We are so confident that men with ED will appreciate the benefits of Cialis that we're willing to go as far as offering to pay for our competitors' products if they are not satisfied," said Paul Clark, chairman and chief executive officer of ICOS, which develops Cialis in partnership with Lilly.
Pfizer used similar consumer-style tactics to reinvigorate (US sales plummeted 25% to $220 million in the first quarter of 2004) market leader Viagra, offering men a 'buy-six-get-one-free' deal, leading president Karen Katen to admit the company might have to "slog it out in the market".
Despite only being approved last November in the US, Cialis has made strong inroads in the world's biggest market with first quarter sales in 2004 of $32.8 million, which have already helped it overtake second to market Levitra on $20.24 million.
Cialis has made a big impact in markets around the world, commanding 40% of prescriptions written in Australia; over 37% in France; and 17% in the UK, where it was launched in January 2003.
Pfizer and Lilly are not the only pharma companies using sales promotion techniques borrowed from the aisles of Wal-Mart or car showrooms: in an effort to close the gap on hypertension market rival Istin, Novartis offered patients a money back guarantee on its Diovan treatment.
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