By Raleigh Perry
BUFORD, Ga. | No one would know except the upper management what the cost of Research and Development for medications are, but it is immense. Packaging those drugs in the manufacturing process adds to the price. Marketing is where costs really get out of hand.
Perry
You could have a medication that would cure all diseases and other problems that you would ever think of, but the drug has to get in front of the potential users. Heavy costs, part of the marketing of the drug, come in advertising.
In 1983, the first drug was advertised on television. From that point on, many drugs are now hawked on television. The eventual cost of some of these drugs to patients is phenomenally high.
As an example, look at Jardiance, a diabetes drug that is heavily advertised. Over the last couple of years, this drug has had three promotions.
Jardiance had one advertisement with a fat girl singing that ran around 30 seconds, but was abruptly pulled off. There were about 40 or more people in the scene with the girl standing on the edge of a statue. It was withdrawn because of “body shaming” on social media, Facebook and X.
A 30 second advertisement can cost about $250,000 dollars to run in prime time, but that is not all. Producing the ad itself cost a ton of money. There is an expense for the song she was singing and that could have cost thousands of dollars to produce. The actor had to be paid as did the 40 or more secondary actors, mostly dancers. The props had to cost a bundle. And a video had to be shot. You’re talking about expensive aspects even before it goes on television.This Jardiance advertisement ran on all evening national news shows, so just for ABC, CBS and NBC running it which probably cost the manufacturer $250,000 on each channel.
To quote Boehringer Ingleheim, the manufacturer of the drug, “The current list price for a month’s supply of Jardiance is $611.10. The price you actually pay will be dependent upon any additional costs added on by the pharmacy. There is charitable assistance for eligible patients in need.”
That advertisement, as I said, was pulled, though we don’t know why. They produced a second ad with another girl singing another jingle but in an office environment, which also ran about 30 seconds. It also had a plethora of dancers. In one rather interesting scene, a man was trying to use a copy machine, but it was unplugged. The singing girl plugged it in to make it work. I only saw that ad for a few times before it was pulled. They are now running a completely different ad. My question is why was the copy machine unplugged in the first place, and what has this to do with Jardiance?
MediaRadar (“Advertising intelligence for media buyers”) reports that Jardiance is part of C.H. Boehringer Sohn AG and Co KG. They spent over $100 million on advertising in digital, print, and national TV in the last year. They invest in premium ad units and advertised on over 100 different media properties in the last year across multiple media formats. Jardiance last advertised a new product in May, 2023.
Now can you see at least one reason why drug costs are so high?
If Jardiance is so wonderful, doesn’t it make more sense to promote it directly to doctors, not the average patients, most of whom are in no position to recommend a medicine for themselves?
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