In what one physician calls a "deplorable" move that may be "a sign of desperation," Johnson & Johnson's Cordis unit has begun a direct-to-consumer ad campaign to promote its Cypher coronary artery stents.
You can read more in the New York Times, or read some bloggers' reactions here.
So picture one of these scenarios:
• during a televised football game (where the first ad appeared), a guy sorts through all the ad messages about erectile dysfunction, restless leg syndrome, sleep problems, and now coronary artery stents and decides to ask his physician on the next visit if a stent is right for him.• on the cath lab table, after an arteriogram demonstrates his coronary artery blockage, a guy sits up and says, "OK, then. Go ahead with the stent. But be sure it's a Cypher!"
Or maybe, Devin Hester could fly out of the Cypher stent in the ad yelling, "Kick it to me! Kick it to me!"
Posted by: Dr. Wes at December 13, 2007 03:54 PMMaybe when Dr. Jarvik is done pushing Lipitor he can shill for Cypher? Sounds like a lucrative new market.
This could bring the concept of combination therapy to a new high.
Posted by: Bill Gleason at December 13, 2007 11:18 PMI would have to agree on that one.
Posted by: steve at December 20, 2007 05:27 PM