i'll take two of... whatever it is

[rone]

Between 101 and the South San Francisco CalTrain stop, you can see a billboard that reads,

---

SANCTURA

trospium chloride tablets

Coming Soon!           

---

So... what the fuck? Is this the future of drug ads? Tantalize consumers with the promise of a pill that will become available eventually that will treat an unspecified malady? "Say, doc, i saw this billboard, and you'll let me know when it comes out, right? `Cause i gotta have it!"

Comments

Purple Pill! (drive by comment)

[ex-doohickey67.livejournal.com]

They did this awhile ago in SF (and maybe other cities, I don't know) with some pill called "the Purple Pill". They had billboards for t his mysterious purple pill for 3 months all over the subway. What? Does it make you larger and then the next version makes you small?

I wanted to call the 800 number and ask for Alice or something. I believe it was Claritin, but unsure. I think ad campaigns like that are ridiculous.

[mdyesowitch.livejournal.com]

It was Nexium. I forget what it's used for, but it's the replacement for their previous drug (Prilosec, I think) that was going out of patent and they wanted to switch everyone to the new one so they could still command premiums instead of people flocking to the generic.
I think maybe ulcers? Or some type of stomach thing?
I remember hoppie complaining that as he didn't have a purple computer, clearly he wasn't deserving of the purple pill.
-m
"I think mauve has the most RAM"

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

There are very strict laws governing the marketing of prescription drugs. If they make a claim that it does something, they have to list all the possible side effects, disclaim that they're recommending it for you in particular, and warn you to ask your doctor. This is why you're seeing the other sort of ad - Madison Avenue knows that all you have to do is get the name to stick in the head of the ad-viewer, which clearly they accomplished in your case. The litigious malpractice culture does the rest of the work - we doctors are terrifed to refuse a patient's reasonable request or otherwise do anything that could alienate or otherwise make them unhappy. I'd gladly prescribe ten gallons of SANCTURA if I thought it'd help avoid one lawsuit.

Sanctura appears to be a medication for overactive bladder, incidentally.

I think prescription drug marketing is foolish and should be prohibited.

[merde.livejournal.com]

i'm 100% in agreement about prescription drug marketing. i think it does more harm than good, and it's all about the greed of pharmaceutical companies.

[ikkyu2.livejournal.com]

Are we allowed to communicate now?

[merde.livejournal.com]

i would prefer not to. nevertheless, i felt it reasonable to acknowledge that we agree on something.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Sanctura appears to be a medication for overactive bladder, incidentally.

That must be why i'm feelin' pissy about it. HAW HAW HAW!!@#

[rwx.livejournal.com]

Sanctura sounds like a bad nu metal band.

[rimrunner.livejournal.com]

You're thinking of Sepultura, a reasonably good Olde Metal band. (If you like that kind of thing. Ask Josh.)

[littleamerica.livejournal.com]

Equal parts Cult tribute band and Sepulveda. Or maybe Pantera.

[eejitalmuppet.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a chemist, trospium sounds like some faux element from a bad science fiction novel:

"They're coming! Get to the shelters!"

"We're doomed anyway; they're using trospium bombs."

[urbeatle.livejournal.com]

obviously, "trospium chloride tablets" is the album name. and, contrary to the suggestion that they're a Sepultura tribute band, this would be a goth-ambient band.

I bet they wear a lot of nun and priest outfits.

one each, I mean.

[wisn.livejournal.com]

I see your Sanctura and raise you a Captiva (http://www.livejournal.com/users/wisn/132954.html).

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

You made a typo in the first instance of Captiva.

[wisn.livejournal.com]

Fixed. Thanks, you twiddlebot.