Alkermes spent big in May for its schizophrenia and bipolar drug Lybalvi’s new TV spot as it looked to dovetail its messaging with Mental Health Awareness Month and switch up its initial soft launch into a hard commercial run.
And it’s spent big to get there. For Lybalvi, which nabbed an FDA approval in 2021 for the oral med, Alkermes spent $12.4 million on its new TV spot in May, known as “Help To Push Back.”
This made the ad the 10th highest spend of all TV pharma drug ads last month, according to data from iSpot.TV, and appears to have been deliberately timed to air during Mental Health Awareness Month in May.
In the 60-second spot, we see people from all walks of life facing the camera and taking a hold of its sides, saying directly they want to “push back” against their manic episodes with bipolar disorder with Lybalvi, and then push the camera away.
We see the cast then get on with their lives, with the final scene showing a woman pushing back against a set of large falling dominoes.
It’s an upbeat tone; some ads for these disorders can show the darkness of a mental health disorder and then flip it over to a lighter touch. For example, Intra-Cellular took that approach with its Madness Tournament-winning “Let in the Lyte” ad for Caplyta. In contrast, the Lybalvi ad shows strength and resolve from the start to “push back” and the positive consequences of doing so.
It’s been a winding and sometimes bumpy road for Alkermes’ marketing team for Lybalvi, given that it launched in the summer of 2021 amid COVID-19 restrictions, which impacted its launch.
For that reason, it initially engineered a relatively soft launch in October 2021, later running a fully branded Lybalvi website and then fielding some digital advertising.
The company didn't run a full-blown advertising campaign last year, but, as we have now formally exited the pandemic stage of COVID-19 in the U.S., Alkermes now appears to be full steam ahead on Lybalvi’s DTC plans.
The drug made $96 million last year, compared to $8.2 million the year before and its first full year since its commercial launch. Alkermes hopes to make that launch trajectory much steeper this year, and its new DTC should go some way to help.