Just as the birth control pill was the impetus for the sexual revolution, so many believe the Internet will spur the information revolution. Now, one Canadian pharmaceutical manufacturer is bringing these two catalysts together to change the way drug companies implement compliance programs for their prescription products.

In an effort to raise awareness and ensure proper use of its injectable contraceptive, Depo-Provera, Pharmacia & Upjohn has launched a birth control Web site (www.birthcontrol.pnu.ca) where current Depo-Provera users can register to receive quarterly reminders telling them when their next birth control injection is due.

In addition to providing information about DP, the site also gives patients information about everything from natural family planning to the classic pill.

This ability to establish a relationship with their consumers will be one of the most powerful tools drug companies can use to build their brands and expand their relationships with consumers, says Dr. W. John Reeves, president of Infinet Communications and designer of the P&U birth control Web site.

‘In the past, there was no relationship between the drug company and the patient,’ says Reeves. ‘A pill was a pill was a pill. But now people are demanding much more information from their doctors and a much greater role in their treatment.’

The P&U site represents just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to using the Internet to raise brand awareness and get patients more involved in their own health care, he says. In future, the data gathered from the sites like the one operated by P&U could be used to maintain an e-mail relationship with patients and direct them to other health-related Web sites, he says.

Canadians are already using the Web to search for health information. Indeed, surfing for such information ranked second only to looking for news, according to an Angus Reid/Sympatico Internet survey released in January.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing has become one of the most potent marketing tools for pharmaceutical companies. According to a study by ACNielsen, U.S. drug companies spent more than $1.3 billion in 1997 on DTC campaigns for medications treating everything from allergies to ulcers.

The site is P&U’s first use of the Internet as part of the burgeoning trend in direct-to-consumer marketing. The site, which went online in August, receives about 1,000 visitors per week with most spending an average of seven or eight minutes, says Dr. David Cook, P&U’s vice-president of medical affairs and health economics.

In addition to raising awareness of Depo-Provera among Canadian women, the site’s interactive feature encourages compliance, thereby maximizing the effectiveness of the drug, Cook says.

Traffic to the site and to a related call centre has been driven by a series of print ads appearing in Chatelaine, Elle Québec, Modern Woman and TV Guide.

While DTC regulations are currently under review by the federal government, the legislation as it exists severely restricts how Canadian pharmaceutical companies market prescription drugs. Unlike in the U.S., where drug companies can advertise their products by name and tout their effectiveness, Canadian prescription pharmaceutical manufacturers are prohibited from direct-to-consumer advertising that conveys any information other than name, price and quantity of prescription products.

The restrictions have forced drug manufacturers to resort to back-door methods of advertising to consumers. Many run ads that talk about specific medical conditions and encourage consumers to seek more information.

A recent Canadian DTC campaign for Hoffmann-La Roche acne treatment Accutane, for example, used TV, print and transit ads to depict a teenage boy with severe acne. To comply with federal legislation, there was no mention of the drug in the ads. Instead, interested consumers were invited to call a toll-free number for information on a variety of acne treatments, including Accutane.

Canadian pharmaceutical marketers typically rely on ‘pull’ campaigns to build interest in new treatments in the hope that their product will be one of those prescribed by doctors. It’s up to each company’s salesforce to ensure that doctors are onside.

South of the border, relaxed DTC restrictions allowed P&U to launch a multi-million-dollar mass media DTC campaign for Depo-Provera. Television and print ads ran throughout 1993, before the drug was even approved as a contraceptive in Canada. The campaign helped boost sales of the drug by more than 11%, said Joan Sinopoli, senior vice-president of HMC Advertising and Marketing at a DTC marketing workshop held in Toronto last year.

By providing information on the entire range of birth control options, P&U is able to talk to consumers about the Depo-Provera option in a market that is still dominated by the classic birth control pill, says Tim Turnbull, a P&U spokesman.

In addition to producing the P&U site, Infinet has also designed a Web site for Eli Lilly Canada and is currently readying a Web site for Pfizer Canada to distribute information about Viagra, a treatment for impotence, which received government approval just this month.