BY MICHAEL JOHNSEN
Bayer Consumer Care recently launched Bayer With Heart
Advantage, one of the first products that couples a low-dose aspirin with a cholesterol-low-ering supplement to improve heart health.
It’s a product launch that may open the door for similarly integrated OTC medicine and supplement nutraceutical combinations, especially if the approved indications of those combinations dovetail with one another as nicely as aspirin and phytosterols: The former bears a Food and Drug Ad-ministration-approved claim on the prevention of heart attacks or strokes, and the latter has a qualified health claim on the reduction of the risk of
heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol.
But there is already some controversy brew-
ing over the Bayer combo product launch.
The American Herbal Products
Association last month challenged
the launch of Bayer With
Heart Advantage in a let-
ter to the FDA that requested the agency clarify its policy on over-the-counter drug/
dietary supplement combination products.
The association referenced a May 30, 2000, letter in which the FDA stated it “strongly recommends” companies refrain from marketing similar types of products because of “a number of significant health and policy issues.”
But another trade association, the
Council for Responsible Nutrition, doesn’t see a problem with Bayer’s combo product.
“We really read those FDA letters from seven years ago as being very narrowly focused on the ingredients that they were looking at,” said Steve Mister, president of CRN. “The two combination products that were being promot-
ed at the time both had acetaminophen in them,” he said. Acetaminophen, as an OTC analgesic, is indicated only for short-term use, not for supplementation. And one of those products was coupled with glucosamine, a supplement that requires weeks of use before the benefits are realized.
BRAND
PERCENT SALES*
CHANGE
CATEGORY TOTAL
ADVIL
TYLENOL
ALEVE
TYLENOL PM
BAYER**
MOTRIN IB
EXCEDRIN
TYLENOL ARTHRITIS
ADVIL PM
EXCEDRIN MIGRAINE
$31.1
298.2
293.0
177.7
108. 5
99. 7
80. 6
62. 5
55. 7
46.0
45. 4
1.0%
-0.6
3. 3
4. 9
4. 5
- 4.0
10. 3
2.0
0.8
35. 1
-0.3
*in millions
**Bayer With Heart Advantage is not yet captured in sales data. Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended May 18, 2008, for food, drug and mass, excluding Wal-Mart
BY ANTOINETTE ALEXANDER
The teeth whitening market continues to BRAND evolve, prompting manufacturers to now create products that have added benefits and fea- $240.7 tures. One such example is Procter & Gamble’s
64. 4
new Crest Whitestrips Daily Whitening Plus Tartar Protection. CREST WHITESTRIPS PREMIUM 36. 6 - 18. 7
Crest Whitestrips go beyond whitening teeth 30. 3 - 11. 9 with the new product by helping to protect teeth from daily tartar buildup. The strips pro- 29. 2 N/A vide three benefits: protection against daily AQUAFRESH WHITE TRAYS 27. 9 129. 1 tartar buildup, whitening and protection from stain buildup and a routine for teeth sensitive PRIVATE LABEL 20. 9 - 2. 8 to whitening. REMBRANDT 10. 6 - 6. 8
According to the company, one kit provides noticeably whiter teeth and protects against PLUS WHITE 6. 3 2. 7 tartar after use for five minutes a day. 4. 8 - 35. 9
Crest Whitestrips Daily Whitening Plus Tartar 2. 9 - 22. 9
Protection contains thin, flexible strips coated
with a gel formula and are designed for daily use. *in millions
The added ingredient, pyrophosphate, binds Note: Crest Whitestrips Daily Whitening Plus Tartar Protection not yet
captured in sales data
to the surface of teeth to prevent calcium and Source: Information Resources Inc. for the 52 weeks ended May 18, phosphate ions from forming together to build 2008, for food, drug and mass, excluding Wal-Mart a crystal that develops and forms tartar, according to the company. The dual action ingredients on the strip interact with teeth to provide a two-part benefit in each five-minute teeth-whitening strip.
CATEGORY TOTAL
CREST WHITESTRIPS
9.0%
14. 1
CREST WHITESTRIPS PREMIUM PLUS
LISTERINE WHITENING
ORAL B REMBRANDT
KLEAR ACTION WHITENING LIGHT
SALES* PERCENT
CHANGE
Since their introduction in 2001, Crest Whitestrips have helped bring whiter smiles to more than 30 million people, according to Procter & Gamble.
References:
Archives