Physicians Rank Schering-Plough's Marketing Messages for Asmanex as the Most Appealing in the Asthma D...( Patients Respond Most Favorably t...),Health

Patients Respond Most Favorably to the Marketing Messages for Advair and Xolair, According to a New Report from Decision Resources

WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Decision Resources one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that physicians and patients respond to different marketing messages when considering which asthma medicine to use. Physicians indicate that brands conveying messages of improvements in patient-centered outcomes such as number of symptom-free days, reduction in acute exacerbations and quality of life receive more positive feedback than messages directed at particular drug attributes such as method of delivery, device characteristics and dosing frequency. Schering-Plough's marketing message for Asmanex was ranked as the most appealing to physicians as compared with the other brand messages. Asmanex's marketing speaks to physicians' interest in prescribing treatments that effectively address patients' symptoms throughout the entire day.

The new report entitled Brands & Strategies Asthma also finds that patients, on the other hand, respond most favorably to the marketing messages for Advair and Xolair which focus on symptom improvement and asthma control.

Advair's message of "Fewer Asthma Symptoms, Better Breathing," appeals to a higher percentage of pulmonologists than of primary care physicians (PCPs). Surprisingly, PCPs find Xolair's message of "Allergic asthma: Do you have as much control as you should?" more appealing than pulmonologists, even though pulmonologists prescribe this drug more than PCPs do.

"PCPs treat numerous patients that have both asthma and allergic conditions such as allergic rhinitis and chronic sinusitis," said Regina Jammen, M.S., analyst at Decision Resources. "Xolair's message of control regarding allergic asthma resonates with these physicians likely as a result of the frequency with which the physicians encoun
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