All-Purpose Pain Relievers Aim for Head, Hands
Two of the nation’s best-known general pain-relief products are now being marketed directly to consumers suffering from arthritis and migraine headaches--even though ingredients in the pills and tablets haven’t changed a bit.
In August, McNeil Consumer Products Co. changed the name of its over-the-counter Tylenol Extended Relief product to Tylenol Arthritis. In January, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. put its Excedrin Extra Strength in a new package and began marketing it as Excedrin Migraine.
The drug companies say the labels make sense because many consumers and physicians already view the two medications as potentially effective against pain generated by arthritis and migraines. And, they say, the Food and Drug Administration has cleared both products for the narrower uses.
But observers also describe the new marketing thrusts as part of a strategy that could defend the well-known over-the-counter pain relievers against existing competitors and new drugs in the pipeline.
Excedrin Migraine, the first over-the-counter product marketed specifically for migraine pain, faces stiff competition from a new generation of prescription pain relievers. And Tylenol competitors have high hopes for a group of arthritis prescription pain relievers known as Cox-2 inhibitors.
Drug companies also are responding to growing consumer demand for remedies specific to their aches and pains.
“If you look at the overall painkiller market, you’ll see that over time, products have gone from more general painkilling to specific uses,” said Margaret Campbell, a UCLA marketing professor. “Consumers see themselves as increasingly sophisticated--they’ll take X for headaches, Y for cramps and Z for a neck ache.”
Tylenol Extended Relief has already disappeared from shelves, while Excedrin Extra Strength will continue to be sold alongside the new migraine product.
“What we’ve done, basically, is change the name to reflect how the product is being used,” said McNeil spokesman Ron Schmid. “Relief from the pain of osteoarthritis is one of the greatest uses consumers have had for Tylenol Extended Relief.”
Differentiation is important in the $16.6-billion over-the-counter drug market, observers say. While the FDA has cleared about 1,000 specific compounds for OTC sale, there are more than 100,000 products angling for shelf space.
A large number of OTC drugs contain the same ingredients. For many, the only difference is the form they come in--pill, tablet or elixir--or the strength of the active ingredients.
McNeil and Bristol-Myers Squibb view Tylenol Arthritis and Excedrin Migraine as new weapons in the fight for share of the $2.5-billion analgesic tablet market.
Tylenol, with $572.3 million in annual sales, fell to second place in the analgesic pill market during 1997, trailing private-label brands that now generate $628.3 million in sales. According to Information Resources Inc., private-label sales rose 7.2% during the last year, while Tylenol fell 1.7%. Excedrin rose by 3.6% to $140.8 million.
Extension of Brands Breeds Confusion, Risk
Heavily advertised brands do help harried shoppers make choices--just ask any parent who’s stumbled into a drugstore late at night to buy a children’s pain reliever. McNeil’s Tylenol brand, for example, includes nearly two dozen products, ranging from Children’s Tylenol Chewable Tablets to Tylenol Allergy Sinus NightTime Caplets.
But even as drug companies spend freely to develop strong ties with consumers, some industry observers caution against blind loyalty to brands.
“It might be healthy if people believe that Bayer makes good products,” said Jeff M. Jellin, who edits two Stockton-based newsletters that help pharmacists and doctors track drug developments. “But just relying upon brand names alone is a prescription for disaster.”
As manufacturers extend products beyond their original niches, Jellin cautions, consumers who react adversely to some compounds run the risk of becoming confused and endangering their health.
Jellin’s research indicates that most consumers associate Bayer, Anacin and Excedrin with aspirin-based products. But each brand has marketed pain relievers with acetaminophen, which has different side effects. And, Jellin said, other products that many consumers assume to be aspirin-free actually contain the compound.
Physicians and pharmacists, Jellin said, also are confused by look-alike packaging that “is, at times, not explicit enough to emphasize the different indications and active ingredients of products with the same name brand.”
Joel Hay, associate professor of pharmaceutical economics and policy at USC’s School of Pharmacy, argues that consumers benefit when the number of OTC drugs expands. “There’s clearly an economic value to consumers who won’t need to go to a doctor to get a prescription,” he said.
But the proliferation of over-the-counter drugs is a double-edged sword for consumers.
“The downside is obviously that OTC medicines aren’t as well-managed by physicians,” Hay said. “Consumers have to read and follow the labels. OTC medications are not candy. These are powerful chemicals that have systemic impacts on the entire body.”
New products such as Excedrin Migraine and Tylenol Arthritis are the result of intense market research that determines how consumers are using existing formulations, said Candace Corlett, a partner with WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based marketing firm.
“ ‘Extended relief’ was a subtle way of attracting people whose pain is there all the time, as it is with arthritis,” Corlett said. “But if I were marketing this product, I’d certainly rather be able to say ‘arthritis’ on the label. And if I were the product manager on Excedrin Migraine, I’d be clapping my hands.”
But even as McNeil and Bristol-Myers Squibb elbow aside OTC competitors for shelf space, they face stiff competition from powerful drugs now in the pipeline.
Merck & Co. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. are readying prescription pills for migraine pain, and several companies are using so-called Cox-2 inhibitors to create new pain relievers for osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease that typically strikes the elderly.
Doctors determine whether patients need prescription or OTC drugs, but UCLA’s Campbell is betting that well-heeled baby boomers will lobby hard for more expensive prescription pills.
“My gut tells me they’re going to want the prescription stuff,” Campbell said. “They’re not going to dink around with the ersatz medicine.”
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
Over-the-Counter Market
Of the $2.58 billion worth of analgesic tablets sold in the 12 months ended Aug. 16, private-label brands surpassed longtime leader Tylenol in market share for the first time.
*
Private label: 24.3%
Tylenol: 22.2%
Advil: 13.8%
Excedrin: 5.5%
Aleve: 5.4%
Bayer: 4.4%
Other*: 24.4%
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*Includes Tylenol PM, Motrin IB, Excedrin PM, Ecotrin and smaller brands.
Source: Information Resources
