Allergan’s broadcast ad for Kybella, Ancestors, tells viewers that having a double chin can be caused by genetics as well as a person’s weight and age. Photo credit: iSpot.tv.
Allergan plans to increase its investment in DTC for its chin-fat reducing injection, Kybella, to “an even higher level,” after the drug’s sales slowed at the end of 2016.
In the last three months of 2016 Allergan reported that Kybella saw sales of $12 million, compared to $14 million in the three-month period before that. The drugmaker acquired Kybella in its deal to buy Kythera Biopharmaceuticals in 2015. The drug was also approved in 2015.
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Bill Meury, Allergan’s chief commercial officer, on Wednesday told investors that the company plans to focus on training clinicians on how to use the product, identifying patients, and managing patients’ expectations. “We’re building a market,” he explained. “Our goal in 2017 is to drive utilization.”
Allergan’s consumer-oriented promotional efforts for Kybella included a live event in March with celebrity Khloé Kardashian. The company also launched two DTC ad spots in August: one called Ancestors, in which a man laments the double chin he inherited from his otherwise distinguished ancestors, and Adra’s Portrait in Action, which tells a near-identical story, but with a woman narrating.
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Brent Saunders, the company’s CEO, affirmed the company’s confidence in direct-to-consumer advertising during the same investor call. “We spend the second most on DTC,” he said. “And we really do invest in our products and [their] promotion.”
