Harvard Health Ad Watch: New drug, old song, clever tagline – Harvard – Harvard Health
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Girls’s Well being
It isn’t typically {that a} new drug comes alongside that might assist almost 1 / 4 of the grownup inhabitants. However when it does, you’ll be able to guess you will see adverts for it on TV and the Web.
That is the case with Veozah (fezolinetant), a medication for decent flashes and night time sweats as a result of menopause that was authorized by the FDA in Might 2023. One advert has this inventive tagline: “You possibly can have fewer sizzling flashes and extra not flashes.”
So, what’s a not flash and what does the advert inform us about this new drug?
The advert begins with an upbeat tune, “Good Feeling,” successful by Flo Rida launched in 2011. A lady in a crowded elevator is clearly distressed and soaked in sweat because the voiceover declares, “This is a sizzling flash.” A second girl seems, awakening in her bed room coated in sweat. Once more, the narrator declares “This is a sizzling flash.” Reduce to 2 smiling girls on a dock taking selfies as boats sway behind them: “However it is a not flash.”
The voiceover tells us that Veozah is a prescription therapy for girls with reasonable to extreme sizzling flashes and night time sweats — or vasomotor signs, as medical specialists say. (Sizzling flashes could or could not immediate sweating, whereas night time sweats are precisely as billed.)
When the voiceover tells us the drug is “hormone free,” the phrases “100% hormone-free” seem on the display screen. Acquired it? Apparently, this drug comprises no hormones.
However is it efficient? The advert voiceover says, “Veozah has been confirmed to scale back the quantity and severity of sizzling flashes day and night time. For some girls, it might probably begin working in as early as one week.”
The main points are straightforward to overlook. They seem in high quality print briefly on the backside of the display screen: “At 12 weeks, girls taking Veozah skilled 63% fewer sizzling flashes vs. 42% on placebo.” Sounds good, proper? Extra on what this truly means under.
The FDA requires drug producers to evaluation the most typical or critical dangers of taking the drug. So whereas the catchy tune continues, photographs seem of ladies peacefully sleeping, educating a classroom full of scholars, or working in a busy workplace. The voiceover warns that some individuals should not take Veozah: anybody with cirrhosis (a type of liver illness) or extreme kidney issues, and anybody who takes a medication often known as a CYP1A2 inhibitor.
Subsequent comes the litany of attainable uncomfortable side effects, together with:
This advert highlights vital struggling brought on by hot flashes and night sweats, which have an effect on about 80% of ladies throughout menopause. At present, therapy choices (and, fact be informed, precise research on those dealing with these problems) are fairly restricted. Hormone substitute with estrogen and associated medicines was typically prescribed in previous years. However considerations about risks associated with estrogen use led many physicians to cease prescribing hormone substitute, and many ladies decline it when it is provided.
However Veozah works with out hormones: it blocks a protein within the mind that helps regulate physique temperature. That is why the “hormone free” message is emphasised within the advert.
Sadly, digging extra intently into the info exhibits the distinction between Veozah and placebo in lowering sizzling flashes and night time sweats is comparatively small. And a few vital info is lacking or incomplete within the advert. I stuffed in gaps by taking a look at two pivotal trials of Veozah (known as SKYLIGHT 1 and SKYLIGHT 2).
For this research, girls needed to have at the least seven reasonable to extreme sizzling flashes per day, though the typical was 10 to 12. A reasonable sizzling flash was outlined as a sensation of warmth with sweating that didn’t intervene with actions. A extreme sizzling flash was a sensation of warmth with sweating that did intervene with actions. So, the variety of reasonable or extreme sizzling flashes tallied by the researchers on this research included sweats, no matter what time of day they occurred.
The advert gives knowledge on effectiveness as a p.c discount: 63% fewer sizzling flashes. Importantly, that does not let you know the precise variety of sizzling flashes prevented. Throughout 12 weeks of therapy, girls given the medication went from experiencing a median of about 11 sizzling flashes a day firstly to about 4 a day. By comparability, the group taking a placebo (an inactive tablet) dropped from 11 sizzling flashes a day to six.5 a day. So, that is about 2.5 fewer sizzling flashes a day in whole for girls taking the drug.
The advert covers the most typical uncomfortable side effects reported throughout trials of this drug. But advising individuals to keep away from Veozah in the event that they take a CYP1A2 inhibitor is prone to perplex most viewers. This warning pertains to an enzyme that helps the physique metabolize many medicines, together with Veozah.
When you’re already taking a medication that inhibits the motion of this enzyme and also you begin taking Veozah, the blood ranges of Veozah could rise larger than supposed and enhance the danger of uncomfortable side effects. Many common medicines may cause this interplay (together with ciprofloxacin, some oral contraceptives, and cimetidine). Ask your physician about this earlier than beginning Veozah.
Lastly, the advert gives no details about price. In accordance with the drug maker’s web site, the checklist worth is $550 a month. That is the quantity you would be charged when you have no medical insurance.
However the common worth for individuals with industrial medical insurance is $41 a month. It is about $77 a month for individuals coated by Medicare Half D, and $12 a month for individuals with Medicaid. The drugmaker’s Affected person Help Program could present the drug for gratis for some people who find themselves eligible — although eligibility standards aren’t straightforward to search out and are not included within the advert.
A newly authorized, nonhormonal drug for decent flashes and night time sweats throughout menopause is huge information. But it surely stays to be seen whether or not it is a small step ahead or a serious advance. Both approach, the advert principally does its job: it introduces us to a brand new medicine for a standard and burdensome situation that at present has restricted therapy choices.
After all, this one-minute advert for Veozah is not supposed to cowl every little thing a viewer would possibly need to find out about it; it is supposed to get individuals with vital sizzling flashes and night time sweats to ask their physician in regards to the marketed drug. Hold that in thoughts while you see adverts for this drug — or any drug advert, for that matter.
Whereas I am unsure whether or not Veozah will show to be a surprise drug, one factor’s for positive: that tune positive holds up nicely.
Robert H. Shmerling, MD, Senior School Editor, Harvard Well being Publishing; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Well being Publishing
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How do bushes and inexperienced areas improve our well being?
A muscle-building obsession in boys: What to know and do
Harvard Well being Advert Watch: New drug, outdated tune, intelligent tagline
Concussion in youngsters: What to know and do
What colour is your tongue? What’s wholesome, what’s not?
Your superb parathyroid glands
When — and the way — do you have to be screened for colon most cancers?
Co-regulation: Serving to youngsters and teenagers navigate huge feelings
Canine bites: Tips on how to forestall or deal with them
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