Ad War Over Sleep Aids Predicted

Campaigns Could Rival Recent Flood Of Erectile Dysfunction Spots

(AP) 
Sepracor Inc., the Marlborough, Mass.-based manufacturer of Lunesta, has nearly tripled the size of its sales staff to 1,250 and is spending $60 million this year on ads for the drug.

Lunesta averaged about 60,000 new prescriptions per week after its launch, and Sepracor reported on Tuesday that the drug posted $83.5 million in second-quarter sales. Because of the quick sales pickup, the company increased its forecast of Lunesta sales for the full year from $160 million to $220 million. Several analysts forecast Lunesta sales will eventually reach $1 billion a year.

The new drugs are gunning to topple Sanofi-Aventis's Ambien, which accounts for about $1.9 billion of a $2.1 billion U.S. prescription sleep aid market. Sepracor Chief Financial Officer David Southwell said he expects the market to eventually grow to $5.5 billion because of the new drugs and large number of insomniacs who go untreated.

Sanofi-Aventis's patent for the current version of Ambien is set to expire in October 2006, and the company is rolling out a new version called Ambien CR. That formulation is expected to win approval soon, leading to ads touting its ability to keep patients asleep longer than the original formulation.

The predicted marketing wars are raising alarms among critics who say ads touting medications for common problems — from heartburn to shyness — too often unnecessarily steer patients to prescription drugs.

"We've already started to see an enormous marketing push for these drugs, with insomnia now labeled the latest 'epidemic' threatening the health of America," said Dr. Jerry Avorn, a Harvard Medical School professor and author of the book "Powerful Medicines."

Avorn says many insomnia patients could find restful sleep by simply avoiding stimulants like caffeine and nicotine or getting enough exercise.

"There's no money to be made advertising those simple lifestyle solutions, but there are billions to be made getting patients onto lifelong use of expensive medications," Avorn said.