Posted on: Sunday, September 14, 2003
Flu-vaccine ads emphasize life disruption over suffering
By Michael Barbaro
Washington Post
"Getting a little spray in your nose is a snap compared to a needle."
— Robert McDowell, Pediatrician administering FluMist
Forget high fevers, achy joints and scratchy coughs. As MedImmune Inc. prepares to launch the first needle-free flu vaccine this fall, it will try to convince healthy adults that influenza's real peril is missing business presentations, high-school classes and family dinners.
In an unusually aggressive consumer campaign set to begin this month, the biotechnology company in Gaithersburg, Md., will try to recast the flu, viewed by most as a bothersome but tolerable seasonal illness, as a major disruption of life.
The nine-week print and TV advertising campaign for FluMist, spanning the September-to-November vaccination period, will cost an estimated $25 million, making it the most intense direct-to-consumer marketing campaign ever waged for a vaccine, analysts said. MedImmune and its FluMist partner, Wyeth, hired the New York advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi to help design the campaign, which uses the slogan "Who would replace you if you got the flu?"
A lot is riding on the message. MedImmune bought FluMist's creator, California biotechnology firm Aviron, nearly two years ago for $1.5 billion. But the vaccine, available by prescription only, is approved only for healthy people between ages 5 and 49. That excludes the strongest potential market: the very young and very old. The government recommends that people in those groups get a flu vaccine every year. Unlike the standard shot, which contains a dead virus, FluMist contains a live but diluted one that regulators worry could endanger people with weakened immune systems. At $46 a dose, FluMist is also far more expensive than the standard shot, and consumers will have to pay much of the cost.
FluMist's potential market is still huge. There are 160 million healthy Americans ages 5 to 49, all of them vulnerable to the flu and a considerable number of them averse to needles, medical experts say. The possibility of pain-free immunity to the flu led some Wall Street analysts to say that FluMist could become one of biotechnology's biggest drugs and reach $1 billion in sales. MedImmune predicted that it will sell all 5 million doses of FluMist that it can manufacture this year, bringing in revenue of $120 million to $140 million.
The vaccine, which must be squirted into both nostrils by a medical professional, is arriving at doctors' offices and pharmacies. MedImmune said Wal-Mart, the nation's biggest retailer, will carry FluMist, a strong endorsement of the product in its first year.
But FluMist faces significant barriers to widespread adoption. After adding delivery costs, the vaccine could cost as much as $70 a dose, quadruple the price of a flu shot. Patients typically do not mind paying a steep price for a drug that makes them feel better. But, as a vaccine, FluMist offers no such instant gratification, which could blunt its appeal.
What's more, people think they can dodge the flu. In 2002, only 13 percent of healthy Americans between 5 and 49, about 17 million people, got flu shots, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
MedImmune counters those attitudes with this message: Flu inconveniences more people than the infected person, and immunity is priceless. In one 60-second television spot, a woman is shown in bed with the flu while her husband futilely attempts the morning routine of clothing and feeding two children. In another commercial, a team of executives whose leader is sidelined with the flu mangles an important presentation.
By emphasizing personal hardship and inconvenience over pain and suffering in its FluMist advertisements, MedImmune is trying a new approach in vaccine marketing. In the past, public health officials and flu-shot manufacturers have appealed largely to a fear of flu-related hospitalizations and, in extreme cases, death. Each year, the flu leads to 114,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths, according to the CDC.
"We are trying to change the view of the flu," said Armando Anido, MedImmune's senior vice president of sales and marketing. "This is not designed for the older person who was the traditional target of the shot. This is appealing to healthy adults who will not rely on healthcare plans to cover the costs."
The advertising campaign also targets parents of children who fear annual shots.
"From the kids' point of view, the advantage is it's not a shot," said Robert McDowell, a Washington pediatrician who has begun administering FluMist. "Getting a little spray in your nose is a snap compared to a needle."
Public health officials welcome the advertising campaign. Wider vaccination of healthy adults and children could help interrupt the annual cycle of flu transmission, which often begins at work or school, is carried home and afflicts entire families one weeklong infection at a time.
Regulators in the late 1990s lifted many restrictions on how prescription drugs could be advertised to consumers. Some critics say that while getting more information to the public can be helpful, the marketing can also lead to people making important health decisions based on 30-second TV commercials.
"The downside is that they may induce demand for products that may have limited benefit above and beyond lower cost alternatives," said Alwyn Cassil, spokeswoman for the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Washington think tank.
