Wampole Canada is getting a new lease on life under new ownership.

After more than 100 years in business, the well-known vitamin and analgesic company is poised to become one of Canada’s major over-the-counter pharmaceutical and health products brands.

Generic prescription drug manufacturer Novopharm bought Wampole from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer this past June.

Under Novopharm, not only will Wampole get a complete makeover for 1996, but more than 100 new products are expected to launch under the brand name next year.

Aubrey Wan, Wampole president and former director of sales at its new parent company, says he is looking for a strategic thinking advertising agency to help Wampole in this major undertaking.

‘We want to really challenge our ad agency to help Wampole be the No. 1 otc [over-the-counter] company in Canada,’ Dan says.

‘We’re looking for someone with a proven track record, mid-sized, who can help catapult us to the forefront,’ he says.

‘You can have all the products in the world, but if you don’t do it right, they won’t move.’

Dan wants an agency in place by the end of the year.

He expects to begin with an ad budget of more than $1 million, but plans to increase spending proportionate to sales.

Wampole will be growing through co-operative efforts with the Novopharm family.

It is not only positioned to be the otc brand company for Novopharm, but also for Stanley Pharmaceuticals, the private label otc manufacturer that Novopharm bought in 1971 from Shoppers Drug Mart.

Wampole will begin launching its first new products in January and February.

These will include herbal and vitamin therapy products already made under private label by Stanley.

Dan says the target audience for the products is women aged 25 to 50 who do 80% to 90% of the shopping in the drugstores.

A big part of the communications strategy for the launch will be education, not only for consumers, but also for pharmacists.

‘We have to help pharmacists deal with these new categories, especially more than the pharmacist does.

In addition to having access to Novopharm’s large research and development department, Wampole will be the channel used by Novopharm to take prescription products otc as they get favor from Health Canada’s Health Protection Branch.

The marketplace is anxiously awaiting endorsement of two high profile categories: naproxen sodium pain relievers and antacid/ anti-ulcer medications.

Naproxen sodium has captured a major share of the u.s. market since its launch as Aleve by Procter & Gamble in June 1994.

Antacid/anti-ulcer drugs have also already moved otc in the u.s. under the names Pepcid AC (Johnson & Johnson/Merck Consumer Pharmaceuticals) and Tagamet HB (SmithKline Beecham.)

Dan expects these antacid medications could get the okay for Canadian otc use as soon as eight months from now.