Verispan's Vector One Reports: Wellbutrin XL and Lexapro Gain over 27,500 'Switched' Patients Apiece, While Wellbutrin XL Has the Largest Net Switching Gain for All Antidepressants

Business Wire, March 22, 2004

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

YARDLEY, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 22, 2004

Big Marketing Push Yields Impressive Gains for a New Form of a Veteran Antidepressant; Lexapro a Strong Second to Zoloft in "New Patient" Starts

For the week ending March 12, Verispan's Vector One(TM) reports that GlaxoSmithKline's Wellbutrin XL gained 27,894 "switched" patients and lost only 7,204 patients through switching to other products, resulting in the largest net switching gain (20,690), by a greater than 3-to-1 margin, for all antidepressants.

Wellbutrin XL's cannibalization of Wellbutrin SR accounted for 25% of those gains; however, over 21,000 patient gains came from other brands. It is estimated that these patients represent a market value of approximately $33.5 million.

Recent Vector One(TM) data suggest the top 25% of prescribers (6,650 of 26,550 physicians) drove close to 75% of the switches to Wellbutrin XL.

While Forest's Lexapro was a very strong number two in the market with 27,648 "switched" patients gained, the brand's losses erased all but 3,841 of these gains. Lexapro gained the most patients (4,531) from Pfizer's Zoloft and from Forest's older brand, Celexa (3,138 patients); however, Lexapro also lost more patients to Celexa (862) than to any other product on the market.

In findings from a study conducted last week, Verispan's primary market research division revealed that of the top three brands physicians switched patients to most often last week (Effexor XR rounds out the top three), the most frequently mentioned reasons for switching included weight gain, sexual dysfunction, patient responsiveness to current therapy, and patient requested change.

Viewing yet another leading indicator, Lexapro trailed Zoloft by only 0.4% in the battle for true new patient starts (46,792 vs. 48,133). Combining prescription and longitudinal patient data ensures an accurate read on true new patient status, unlike the traditional new prescription (NRx) metric, which can be misleading as new prescriptions do not always mean new patients.

Conversely, Zoloft led Lexapro in "continuing patient" share, 15.3% to 10.1%. In the antidepressant market, continuing patients account for approximately 85% of all patients. This kind of information, along with key profiling data, is crucial for pharmaceutical marketers in deciding on acquisition vs. retention strategies.

How has Wellbutrin XL achieved its prescription gains? Top-line results from Verispan's promotional audits in the fourth quarter of 2003 reveal that expenditures to market Wellbutrin XL have caught up to, and in some instances surpassed, the spending levels for Zoloft and Lexapro. Whereas Forest's strategy for Lexapro has focused on marketing to physicians, Verispan's Direct-to-Consumer Audit indicates that GlaxoSmithKline's strategy has been more focused on direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, with 55% of promotional expenditures for Wellbutrin XL in October alone devoted to DTC programs. While Zoloft's DTC campaign was split 55-45 (TV to print ad), Wellbutrin XL had an overwhelming emphasis on mass market TV exposure in the fourth quarter of 2003.

About Vector One(TM)

Verispan's Vector One(TM) delivers the True Measure of Healthcare, projecting both traditional prescription metrics and True Patient Measures(TM) at every level, from prescriber to nation. These precise measures are delivered in record time for sales representatives and managers, brand managers and market research departments to act and make a difference. Reports are available each week for data through the previous Friday, and monthly reports are available 10 to 14 days post-period, a clear improvement over competitors' delivery timelines.

Vector One's True Patient Measures utilize de-identified patient records to track patients across time, across pharmacies, across payers and across providers, and to uniquely pinpoint projected new patient starts, product switches, continuing patients, indication-specific utilization, co-morbid conditions, concomitant use, titration, persistency and a host of other powerful metrics at the individual prescriber level.

Since it includes data from 99% of the nation's pharmacies, the Vector One projection methodology accounts for activity that is invisible to competing services, which only cover 60%-70% of stores. Vector One projects third-party, Medicaid and cash activity with unparalleled precision, resulting in greater accuracy at the prescriber level.

For more information about the Vector One suite of data solutions or Verispan's longitudinal patient-centric database, please contact Jody Fisher at (800) 982-5613.

Verispan: The True Measure of Healthcare

Verispan, a healthcare informatics joint venture of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and McKesson Corp., provides a broad array of information products and services to the healthcare industry, including sales targeting and compensation products; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; primary market research; opinion leader mapping; data integration, warehousing and mining; data analysis and consulting; direct mail; list services; disease management studies; clinical trial investigator targeting and protocol recruitment evaluation; healthcare outcomes; and cost/benefit analyses, among many others. Verispan is also the nation's leading provider of patient-centric longitudinal data, with dozens of products used by clients spanning the industry.