Sanofi-Aventis is poised to launch a new Xyzal campaign for allergy season, having recently acquired full commercialization responsibilities on the drug after UCB’s exit from US primary care in February.

The “Clean Sweep” campaign launch aims to help nasal allergy sufferers “improve their allergy management routine,” according to Amy Ba, a Sanofi spokesperson. Consumers will be encouraged to visit a new website, CleanSweepContest.com, as one element of the upcoming campaign.

“CleanSweepContest.com is a dedicated website to provide educational information to the 60 million Americans who are affected by nasal allergies,” said Ba. Further details about the campaign, including offline media, if any, will be released next week.

TV spots are not in the media plan for this particular effort, said Ba.

PR firm Biosector 2 is working on the campaign, the same agency that developed a quarterly magazine (Crohn’sAdvocate) for UCB’s Cimzia injectable last September. Heartbeat Digital built Xyzal’s brand.com site, and is doing some “design and technical work” on the Clean Sweep campaign, according to Heartbeat VP of marketing solutions Janelle Starr. Prior to March 1, 2010, Xyzal was co-marketed by UCB and Sanofi-Aventis.

Consumer marketing materials for Xyzal, an oral antihistamine, were confined to the internet last year, according to SDI figures, with online spend nearing $1.2 million for a year ending in November 2009.

Xyzal was the sixth best selling allergy drug for 2009, with sales at $187 million, according to SDI. Nasonex ($893 million), Allegra-D 12 Hour ($252 million) and Nasacort AQ ($239 million) were the only branded drugs ahead of Xyzal in the category, with generic Allegra ($719 million) and generic Flonase ($398 million) coming in second and third behind top-seller Nasonex.  

Xyzal received FDA approval in May 2007, and picked up an indication for children six months and older last August. At Xyzal.com, parents can download and print a Xyzal coloring book for kids.

From the April 01, 2010 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media