1 May 2018 - Deborah Wilkes
Infirst Healthcare is backing the launch of Flarin – its "new generation ibuprofen" medicine – with national television advertising in the UK.
The television commercial, which makes its debut on 7 May 2018, features cartoon-style characters performing a range of everyday tasks. The key message is that Flarin is "as effective as prescription-strength ibuprofen" for reducing joint pain.
Infirst told OTCToolbox that a mixture of 20-second and 10-second executions would appear during peak and daytime television. The initial burst of advertising would run for approximately six weeks, said the company, adding there might be an additional burst at the end of this year.
The company declined to say how much it is spending on the advertising, which was developed by the agency Punktuate!.
In addition to the television advertising, Infirst is backing Flarin with print advertising, public relations activity and social media initiatives.
Extended retail availability
Manfred Scheske, Infirst's chief executive officer, said the above-the-line activity would support "extended retail availability" of Flarin following a "successful eight-week exclusive launch with Lloydspharmacy". Flarin is now available in the Superdrug chain and independent pharmacies as well as Lloydspharmacy.
Launching Flarin in January 2018, Infirst said the pharmacy-only medicine was the "first and only OTC lipid-formulated ibuprofen which helps relieve flaring joint pain and inflammation". The company added that Flarin's unique lipid formulation "helps shield the stomach from damage".
The company highlighted the findings of its FLARE study, which it said demonstrated that lipid-formulated ibuprofen at 1,200mg a day – Flarin – was as effective as the prescription dose of 2,400mg standard ibuprofen a day at relieving flaring joint pain.
FLARE is a double-blind, randomised study involving 462 patients across 27 primary care centres in the UK and the Netherlands. The findings were published recently in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.
Around 86% of people who took Flarin had an improvement in their flare ups after five days, said Infirst, adding that patients also reported a reduction in stiffness and swelling.
Packaging for Flarin points out that the 200mg ibuprofen soft capsules provide "Relief from joint pain and inflammation". Additional straplines highlight that the product "helps stop pain", "relieves swelling" and "eases stiffness".
A pack of 30 soft capsules has a recommended retail selling price of GBP9.95 (USD14.10), which is equivalent to GBP0.33 per capsule.
Scheske – who was previously president of GlaxoSmithKline's European and North American Consumer Healthcare businesses – says Infirst's philosophy can be summed up as "known drugs – made better". "This approach permits rapid product development, swift pathways to regulatory approval, and intellectual property protection," he adds.
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