Onslaught of Ads Expected for New Blood Thinners

Last month when the FDA approved a new drug for people taking stroke-preventing blood-thinners (the first to challenge the current standard treatment--warfarin or Coumadin--in two decades) they also guaranteed a new onslaught of annoying TV ads. Even before the agency blessed the new drug, an article in Forbes point out, TV ads were advising viewers to ask their doctors about atrial fibrillation, the heart rhythm malady for which the first new drug, Pradaxa, is approved. Now, Bayer and Johnson & Johnson are trumpeting study results showing their clot-preventer, Xarelto, worked better than warfarin in atrial fibrillation patients. Bayer has said $2.73 billion is a conservative sales estimate for the new drug. With so much at stake, Forbes predicts pharmaceutical companies will hit the airwaves hard.

Good news for consumers is the new clot-preventers promise to be easier to take than warfarin, which requires frequent blood tests and dose adjustments. Bad news is we'll have to listen to more tedious lists of side-effects when we watch our favorite shows.