UPDATED Monday, April 7, 7 a.m. EDT
Tapping into Henry Winkler’s status as a beloved Hollywood icon has majorly paid off for Apellis Pharmaceuticals, whose recent TV commercial for its geographic atrophy (GA) drug Syfovre starring the actor once known as Arthur Fonzarelli has been crowned the champion of this year’s Fierce Madness Drug Ad Tournament.
In the final round, which counted more than 3,100 total votes, the “Slow Down” ad clinched the win with 66% of the vote. It was up against AstraZeneca’s “Dino” commercial for asthma med Airsupra, which garnered plenty of fans throughout the competition for the bumbling prehistoric creature it stars, in a tongue-in-cheek takedown of traditional albuterol-only inhalers.
In the end, the dinosaur’s cuteness was no match for Fonzie’s sheer coolness.
“Henry Winkler is so charismatic, and the ad is entertaining and funny,” one voter wrote. Another added, “It’s a rare funny, creative drug ad that doesn’t make me roll my eyes, and it’s got Henry Winkler!”
Ultimately, as yet another voter put it, “The Fonz has it!!!”
Apellis initially recruited Winkler, whose father-in-law had GA, for an unbranded campaign to raise awareness of the eye condition in the spring of 2023, shortly after Syfovre earned FDA approval.
The company’s first branded ad for the drug went in a different direction, using high-contrast images of slow-moving animals like snails, sloths and turtles as its focal point, rather than a beloved celebrity.
But Winkler returned in Apellis’ next branded commercial. The “Slow Down” spot starts off with the actor in a classic over-the-top drug ad setup until he breaks the fourth wall, swaps his luxurious robe for a comfortable sweater and proceeds to lay out just the facts about GA and Syfovre, with no further gimmicks.
On the way to Fierce Madness victory, the Syfovre ad took down several memorable commercials, including ones for Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly’s Jardiance and Currax’s Contrave, both of which featured incredibly catchy musical elements: a full-blown musical theater scene for Jardiance and a spot-on spoof of the Lesley Gore classic “You Don’t Own Me” for Contrave.
Airsupra had a tough road, too, beating out the last winner of this tournament, Intra-Cellular’s Caplyta, in round one, followed by wins over Novo’s Ozempic, Astellas’ Izervay—with its unforgettable “Slow Rider” parody—and, in the Final Four, fellow AZ med Enhertu.
Thank you to all who voted over the past several weeks. Keep an eye out for our follow-up with this year’s Fierce Madness finalists in the coming days, and remember to join us again next March, when we watch the newest FDA-approved drug names face off in another bracket challenge.
UPDATED Tuesday, April 1, 4:00 p.m. ET
VOTING FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP IS NOW CLOSED.
A whopping 2,350 voters weighed in on the Final Four round of the 2025 Fierce Madness Drug Ad Tournament to send two beloved icons into the championship.
The final round will see a pair of tongue-in-cheek ads—for Apellis’ geographic atrophy (GA) drug Syfovre and AstraZeneca’s asthma med Airsupra—go head to head, pitting the Fonz against an adorably clumsy dinosaur.
Apellis’ spot takes place on the set of a glitzy, over-the-top pharma ad, where Henry Winkler—the “nicest paid spokesperson,” per the fine print—breaks the fourth wall to abandon the classic gimmicks of the medium in favor of “sticking to the facts” about GA and Syfovre.
AstraZeneca’s commercial, meanwhile, stars a sweetly clumsy dinosaur with an albuterol-only rescue inhaler chained around its neck to represent what the British pharma is pitching as the outdated way to treat asthma compared to its more “modern” combo medication.
Airsupra won out over another AZ drug in the Final Four to reach the championship: The lighthearted “Dino” ad took 56% of the vote in the matchup with a more serious spot for breast cancer med Enhertu.
As it has throughout the competition, the Airsupra dinosaur attracted countless compliments from voters for its combination of cutesy imagery and hard-hitting symbolism.
“Airsupra’s ‘Dino’ is so memorable, so recognizable, and so tangible. The multifaceted implications that the Dino conjures up emphasize and communicate advancements in medicine without saying a word or uttering a roar. Let’s evolve and not go extinct!” one voter wrote.
On its way to the final, Syfovre faced off against J&J’s Tremfya, which featured in a powerful ad that similarly broke the fourth wall of a standard psoriasis commercial to highlight a diverse group of people with the skin condition. Syfovre’s ad ultimately clinched the win with 58% of the vote.
Supportive voters shouted out Winkler’s timeless star power, as well as the overall message of the commercial: “Really like the straightforward message of this ad. No gimmicks, just straight information. Refreshing,” one wrote.
Voting is now open for the final round of the tournament. Find the updated bracket and more information about the two remaining competitors below, and cast your vote here. Feel free to wax poetic about the finalists in the provided comment box, and keep it to one submission per person, please.
Championship voting will close Friday, April 4, at 12 p.m. ET, with the winner of the 2025 Fierce Madness Drug Ad Tournament revealed bright and early Monday morning.
Check out the two challengers in round five below, and vote for your favorite here.
Fierce Madness 2025—Championship challengers:
Airsupra vs. Syfovre
Airsupra
Ad: “Dino”
Company: AstraZeneca
This tongue-in-cheek spot anthropomorphizes albuterol-only rescue inhalers as an unwieldy dinosaur, offering up combination med Airsupra as a “modern” option to treat both asthma attacks and symptoms.
Check out the ad here.
Syfovre
Ad: “Slow Down”
Company: Apellis Pharmaceuticals
Apellis snagged beloved actor Henry Winkler to front this commercial, in which he eschews gimmicky advertising ploys in favor of “sticking to the facts” about how Syfovre can help slow the progression of geographic atrophy.
Check out the ad here.
UPDATED Friday, March 28, 4:15 p.m. ET
VOTING FOR THE FINAL FOUR IS NOW CLOSED.
This year’s Fierce Madness Drug Ad Tournament reached new heights in the Elite Eight, as nearly 2,100 voters chimed in on the TV pharma ads still in play in the bracket.
Fewer than 100 votes ultimately separated two of the four face-offs. AstraZeneca’s “Dino” ad for asthma med Airsupra—a favorite throughout the competition thanks to its cute but bumbling prehistoric star—ultimately edged out a promo for Astellas’ Izervay.
The latter is now gone, but certainly not forgotten: Throughout its three rounds in the competition, countless voters remarked on the absolute earworm that is the “Slow Rider” spot’s geographic atrophy-themed spoof on “Low Rider.”
Another GA drug is still hanging in there. In the other photo-finish race of round three, Apellis’ “Slow Down” commercial for Syfovre just barely beat out another catchy classic song parody: Currax’s take on “You Don’t Own Me” for its weight loss drug Contrave.
Once again, Syfovre’s supporters were won over by the ad’s star, Henry Winkler. As one voter wrote, “Come on, it’s the Fonz. That’s the definition of cool.”
Elsewhere in the bracket, the “Every Skin Tone” spot for J&J’s Tremfya emerged tremfyant—er, triumphant—in a 60-40 split over an emotional ad for Otsuka and Lundbeck’s Rexulti aimed at Alzheimer’s-associated agitation. Voters were impressed by how the J&J commercial breaks the fourth wall to highlight how psoriasis can present differently on different skin tones.
Several heralded the spot as a “totally new approach” that’s “breaking barriers,” while another wrote, “I notice this ad every time I see it. It embodies us all—every skin tone!”
Rounding out the Elite Eight battles was the matchup between the powerful first DTC ad for Daiichi and AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug Enhertu and a spot for Lilly’s Mounjaro that brought the star power, courtesy of Olympian Simone Biles.
Enhertu’s “Not Today” promo ultimately won out with 65% of the vote. Voters called it “a unique portrayal of the terrible reality of cancer, but with a positive twist to show the bravery and strength and fight to overcome” and an “empowering ad for those struggling with the disease. Gives them the courage to fight and be strong.”
With its bid to the Final Four secured, Enhertu will now go head to head with Airsupra—creating an AstraZeneca vs. AstraZeneca semifinal. Which of the British Big Pharma’s meds will make it to the Championship round? That’s up to you.
Voting is now open for the Final Four round of the tournament. Check out the updated bracket and find more information about the quartet of competitors below, and cast your votes here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts about each ad in the comment boxes, and stick to one submission per person, please.
Final Four voting will close Tuesday, April 1, at 3 p.m. ET, with the Championship competitors revealed soon after.
Check out the four challengers in round four below, and vote for your favorites here.
Fierce Madness 2025—Final Four challengers:
Enhertu vs. Airsupra
Enhertu
Ad: “Not Today”
Company: Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca
Over a black-and-white montage of women with their loved ones, a voiceover proclaims that the HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate helps patients lie to, cheat and steal from their breast cancer to take back more time.
Check out the ad here.
Airsupra
Ad: “Dino”
Company: AstraZeneca
This tongue-in-cheek spot anthropomorphizes albuterol-only rescue inhalers as an unwieldy dinosaur, offering up combination med Airsupra as a “modern” option to treat both asthma attacks and symptoms.
Check out the ad here.
Tremfya vs. Syfovre
Tremfya
Ad: “Every Skin Tone”
Company: Johnson & Johnson
In another meta approach to pharma advertising, this commercial starts with what looks like a classic psoriasis drug ad before breaking the fourth wall to highlight a more diverse cast of people with the skin condition.
Check out the ad here.
Syfovre
Ad: “Slow Down”
Company: Apellis Pharmaceuticals
Apellis snagged beloved actor Henry Winkler to front this commercial, in which he eschews gimmicky advertising ploys in favor of “sticking to the facts” about how Syfovre can help slow the progression of geographic atrophy.
Check out the ad here.
UPDATED Tuesday, March 25, 4:30 p.m. ET
VOTING FOR THE ELITE EIGHT IS NOW CLOSED.
The Sweet 16 round of this year’s Fierce Madness Drug Ad Tournament wasn’t so sweet for Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 blockbusters. TV commercials for both Ozempic and Wegovy lost out in the second round of the tournament, which once again counted responses from more than 1,500 voters.
Ozempic’s boxing-themed spot fell—in the widest margin of the Sweet 16 round, with only 34% of the vote—to a fan-favorite ad for AstraZeneca’s Airsupra that personifies older asthma treatments as an ungainly dinosaur. Wegovy, meanwhile, was edged out by an emotional promo for Otsuka and Lundbeck’s Rexulti that focuses on the family caregiver experience with Alzheimer’s-associated agitation.
Multiple voters agreed that the Rexulti ad “tugged at [their] heartstrings,” while another wrote, “Beautiful, sad and relatable for anyone who has experienced this devastating disease in their family.”
One GLP-1 bigwig is still hanging in there. In the closest competition of the tournament so far, a commercial for Lilly’s Mounjaro starring Olympian Simone Biles and her mother edged out one for Roche’s Vabysmo by just eight votes.
Lilly’s Boehringer-partnered diabetes med Jardiance, however, wasn’t so lucky. In a close battle—ending in a 52-48 split—its musical theater-themed commercial fell to one for Apellis’ Syfovre that features Henry Winkler swapping traditional pharma marketing gimmicks for straight facts about geographic atrophy.
“The Fonz!” was a popular comment in favor of the Syfovre ad, as Winkler’s charming presence proved sufficiently more powerful than even a Jardiance jingle that’s so catchy one voter claimed to “hear this in my sleep.”
Elsewhere, in a bit of an upset, “Steve’s Stomach”—the commercial for Phathom’s Voquezna that won by the widest margin in round one of the tournament, thanks in large part to its clever “kick some acid” tagline—lost to a more serious ad for Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca’s Enhertu.
“Reflects reality of what metastatic breast cancer patients go through daily,” one voter wrote of the Enhertu spot, while another added, “Puts a new face on the idea of being a warrior in a more authentic way.”
Those winners and just a handful of others are now headed into the Elite Eight round. Voting is open now; you can check out the updated bracket and information about each head-to-head below, and cast your votes here. As always, feel free to share any strong opinions you may have about the competing ads, and be sure to keep it to one submission per person, please.
Elite Eight voting will close Friday, March 28, at 12 p.m. ET, with the Final Four competitors revealed soon after.
Check out the eight challengers in round three below, and vote for your favorites here.
Fierce Madness 2025—Elite Eight challengers:
Mounjaro vs. Enhertu
Mounjaro
Ad: “Olympics: Working Hard”
Company: Eli Lilly
Team USA sponsor Lilly recruited gymnastics champ Simone Biles and her mother Nellie, the latter of whom has Type 2 diabetes, to shine a gold-medal glow on the GLP-1 med.
Check out the ad here.
Enhertu
Ad: “Not Today”
Company: Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca
Over a black-and-white montage of women with their loved ones, a voiceover proclaims that the HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate helps patients lie to, cheat and steal from their breast cancer to take back more time.
Check out the ad here.
Rexulti vs. Tremfya
Rexulti
Ad: “How Much We Love Her”
Company: Otsuka and Lundbeck
This emotional ad takes on the POV of a family caregiver, who describes how her mother’s dementia brought on Alzheimer’s-associated agitation, but “never changed how much we love her.”
Check out the ad here.
Tremfya
Ad: “Every Skin Tone”
Company: Johnson & Johnson
In another meta approach to pharma advertising, this commercial starts with what looks like a classic psoriasis drug ad before breaking the fourth wall to highlight a more diverse cast of people with the skin condition.
Check out the ad here.
Airsupra vs. Izervay
Airsupra
Ad: “Dino”
Company: AstraZeneca
This tongue-in-cheek spot anthropomorphizes albuterol-only rescue inhalers as an unwieldy dinosaur, offering up combination med Airsupra as a “modern” option to treat both asthma attacks and symptoms.
Check out the ad here.
Izervay
Ad: “Slow Rider”
Company: Astellas Pharma
Playing into Izervay’s ability to slow the progression of geographic atrophy, this ad spoofs the ‘70s hit “Low Rider” as a woman is shown cruising slowly around town in a vibrant orange convertible.
Check out the ad here.
Contrave vs. Syfovre
Contrave
Ad: “You Don’t Own Me”
Company: Currax Pharmaceuticals
Bolstered by a tweaked version of the 1963 Lesley Gore hit song, this ad for weight loss drug Contrave sees multiple people telling junk food cravings, “you don’t own me.”
Check out the ad here.
Syfovre
Ad: “Slow Down”
Company: Apellis Pharmaceuticals
Apellis snagged beloved actor Henry Winkler to front this commercial, in which he eschews gimmicky advertising ploys in favor of “sticking to the facts” about how Syfovre can help slow the progression of geographic atrophy.
Check out the ad here.
UPDATED Friday, March 21, 3:30 p.m. ET
VOTING FOR THE SWEET 16 IS NOW CLOSED.
After an eventful first round, the pool of TV pharma commercials moving forward in this year’s Fierce Madness Drug Ad Tournament has been whittled down to 16.
More than 1,500 voters participated in the round of 32, and they sparked some major upsets. For one, AbbVie, the reigning leader in TV drug ad spending for the last three years running, was completely booted from the competition. The company's “Just Okay” spot for Rinvoq lost out to a commercial for Roche’s Vabysmo that voters appreciated for its “eye-catching,” “unique” and “intriguing” visuals.
AbbVie’s “Sailing” ad for Skyrizi, meanwhile, was trounced by Currax’s first commercial for weight loss drug Contrave, which features a spoof of the classic song “You Don’t Own Me” directed at junk food cravings. The Contrave ad received a record-high number of “catchy” comments from approving voters.
Also left behind in the first round was a recent spot for Intra-Cellular’s Caplyta, a revamp of the campaign that won this tournament in 2023. The competition was fierce, but AstraZeneca’s “Dino” ad for asthma medication Airsupra ultimately edged out “Let in the Lyte” with 51% of the vote, thanks to its prehistoric star.
Many commenters expressed “LOVE” for the “super cute” and “clever” dinosaur. One even noted, “It’s one I can watch again and again,” a rare comment for any commercial, particularly one for a pharma ad.
Another animated mascot that won voters over was the blue superhero-like figure who stars in Phathom’s ad for Voquezna. Many praised the avatar’s “hilarious” wordplay in describing how the GERD drug can “kick some acid”; the commercial won its matchup in the widest margin of the competition so far, with 66% of the vote compared to just 34% for Moderna’s quirky Spikevax spot.
The narrowest margin, meanwhile, was found between an ad for Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 heavyweight Ozempic and one for Eli Lilly’s cancer drug Verzenio. Ozempic ultimately edged out Verzenio by just six votes, seemingly helped along by that irresistibly catchy “oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” jingle.
Celebrity spokespeople also fared well in the first round: Ads featuring Simone Biles, Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Henry Winkler—for Lilly’s Mounjaro, Novartis’ Kesimpta and Apellis’ Syfovre, respectively—all progressed to round two, with only Lady Gaga’s testimonial for Pfizer’s Nurtec ODT left behind.
Another successful starry ad was Tarsus’ cheeky spot for Xdemvy, in which actor-comedian Betsy Sodaro plays a mischievous Demodex mite—making for a “funny yet compelling” ad, per one commenter. But it’ll be up for a tough battle in the next round, as it faces off against Astellas’ “Slow Rider” spot for Izervay, which handily knocked out Amgen’s Otezla thanks to its unforgettable backing track.
“Earworm of the year hands down,” one voter wrote of the Izervay ad. “I’ll be humming Low Rider for the next two decades thanks to these guys!”
That’s just a sampling of the matchups that led to the Sweet 16 round, where voting is now open. Check out the updated bracket and information about each head-to-head below, and cast your votes here. Remember to share your thoughts about the ads—good or bad!—in the accompanying comment boxes, and only one submission per person, please.
Sweet 16 voting will close Tuesday, March 25, at 3 p.m. ET, with the Elite 8 competitors revealed soon after.
Check out the 16 round two challengers below, and vote for your favorites here.
Fierce Madness 2025—Sweet 16 challengers:
Mounjaro vs. Vabysmo
Mounjaro
Ad: “Olympics: Working Hard”
Company: Eli Lilly
Team USA sponsor Lilly recruited gymnastics champ Simone Biles and her mother Nellie, the latter of whom has Type 2 diabetes, to shine a gold-medal glow on the GLP-1 med.
Check out the ad here.
Vabysmo
Ad: “Open Up Your World”
Company: Roche
The eye drug is shown quite literally widening the world of a woman with wet age-related macular degeneration, as she opens up a portal from her eye doctor’s office to a sunny beach, a garden and a hiking trail.
Check out the ad here.
Voquezna vs. Enhertu
Voquezna
Ad: “Steve’s Stomach”
Company: Phathom Pharmaceuticals
In a TV spot reminiscent of the early-aughts classic “Osmosis Jones,” Phathom takes viewers inside the stomach of a man with erosive esophagitis, where Voquezna—in the form of a muscular blue mascot—can “kick some acid.”
Check out the ad here.
Enhertu
Ad: “Not Today”
Company: Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca
Over a black-and-white montage of women with their loved ones, a voiceover proclaims that the HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate helps patients lie to, cheat and steal from their breast cancer to take back more time.
Check out the ad here.
Wegovy vs. Rexulti
Wegovy
Ad: “Discover the Power”
Company: Novo Nordisk
Atop a tweaked version of the triumphant song “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” several people share their experiences with the GLP-1 obesity med and join a procession that results in the formation of a giant “we.”
Check out the ad here.
Rexulti
Ad: “How Much We Love Her”
Company: Otsuka and Lundbeck
This emotional ad takes on the POV of a family caregiver, who describes how her mother’s dementia brought on Alzheimer’s-associated agitation, but “never changed how much we love her.”
Check out the ad here.
Tremfya vs. Kesimpta
Tremfya
Ad: “Every Skin Tone”
Company: Johnson & Johnson
In another meta approach to pharma advertising, this commercial starts with what looks like a classic psoriasis drug ad before breaking the fourth wall to highlight a more diverse cast of people with the skin condition.
Check out the ad here.
Kesimpta
Ad: “My Time”
Company: Novartis
Actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has relapsing multiple sclerosis, stars in this ad for Novartis’ once-monthly MS drug, which she says has helped her reclaim her time from the disease.
Check out the ad here.
Ozempic vs. Airsupra
Ozempic
Ad: “Discover the Ozempic Tri-Zone: Boxing”
Company: Novo Nordisk
Novo’s biggest-ticket ad of 2024 for the GLP-1 diabetes med highlights a trio of purported benefits—reducing A1C, cardiovascular risk and body weight—while the now-ubiquitous “oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” sounds in the background.
Check out the ad here.
Airsupra
Ad: “Dino”
Company: AstraZeneca
This tongue-in-cheek spot anthropomorphizes albuterol-only rescue inhalers as an unwieldy dinosaur, offering up combination med Airsupra as a “modern” option to treat both asthma attacks and symptoms.
Check out the ad here.
Xdemvy vs. Izervay
Xdemvy
Ad: “Itching”
Company: Tarsus Pharmaceuticals
This playful commercial casts comedian and actor Betsy Sodaro as a boisterous Demodex mite partying it up among a woman’s eyelashes—until Xdemvy arrives to end the “mitey problem” of Demodex blepharitis.
Check out the ad here.
Izervay
Ad: “Slow Rider”
Company: Astellas Pharma
Playing into Izervay’s ability to slow the progression of geographic atrophy, this ad spoofs the ‘70s hit “Low Rider” as a woman is shown cruising slowly around town in a vibrant orange convertible.
Check out the ad here.
Contrave vs. Dupixent
Contrave
Ad: “You Don’t Own Me”
Company: Currax Pharmaceuticals
Bolstered by a tweaked version of the 1963 Lesley Gore hit song, this ad for weight loss drug Contrave sees multiple people telling junk food cravings, “you don’t own me.”
Check out the ad here.
Dupixent
Ad: “This Is Better”
Company: Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
This lighthearted spot highlights a series of situations made better with the help of Dupixent as an asthma treatment: from belting it out in the shower to sobbing at sad movies to sighing at the impossibility of folding a fitted sheet.
Check out the ad here.
Jardiance vs. Syfovre
Jardiance
Ad: “Musical”
Company: Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly
In the first of several versions of this upbeat musical about the Type 2 diabetes drug, a cast of colorfully clad characters puts a theatrical spin on the typical pharma ad testimonial.
Check out the ad here.
Syfovre
Ad: “Slow Down”
Company: Apellis Pharmaceuticals
Apellis snagged beloved actor Henry Winkler to front this commercial, in which he eschews gimmicky advertising ploys in favor of “sticking to the facts” about how Syfovre can help slow the progression of geographic atrophy.
Check out the ad here.
LAUNCHED Wednesday, March 19, 7 a.m. ET
VOTING FOR THE ROUND OF 32 IS NOW CLOSED.
As the college basketball March Madness tournament tips off this week, so too does Fierce Pharma Marketing’s annual #FierceMadness competition.
Every year, we get in on the springtime bracket mania with a contest to select the best of the best in some element of drug marketing. Last year, we focused on drug names—with AstraZeneca and Ionis’ rare disease drug Wainua ultimately taking the crown—and this year, we’re back to watching branded TV drug ads duke it out.
The competition begins now, with 32 pharma commercials going head to head in the first round. All of the featured ads debuted on linear TV in the two years since our last drug ad bracket competition in March 2023. You can see the full starting bracket and learn more about them below; we’ve even included a revamped version of the previous winner, a take on Intra-Cellular Therapies’ long-running “Let in the Lyte” campaign, to see how it fares against the latest batch of on-screen pharma spots.
Vote for your favorite ads—whether that’s the most impactful, the funniest, the most creative, the one with the catchiest song or however you define “favorite”—in the first round here until Friday, March 21, at 12 p.m. ET. You can share any thoughts about each matchup in their respective comment boxes—we may include (anonymous) snippets of your opinions in our coverage as the tournament progresses.
Check back here after voting has closed to see the first round winners and cast your votes in the Sweet 16.
We’ll continue updating the bracket every few days until the champion is announced April 7. Please play fair: Only one submission per person per round.
Let the Madness begin!
Check out the 32 starting challengers below, and cast your votes here.
Fierce Madness 2025—Round of 32 challengers:
Mounjaro vs. Veozah
Mounjaro
Ad: “Olympics: Working Hard”
Company: Eli Lilly
Team USA sponsor Lilly recruited gymnastics champ Simone Biles and her mother Nellie, the latter of whom has Type 2 diabetes, to shine a gold-medal glow on the GLP-1 med.
Check out the ad here.
Veozah
Ad: “This Is a Not Flash”
Company: Astellas Pharma
With Flo Rida’s “Good Feeling” playing in the background, Astellas shows how its nonhormonal NK3 receptor antagonist can turn menopausal hot flashes into “not flashes.”
Check out the ad here.
Rinvoq vs. Vabysmo
Rinvoq
Ad: “Just Okay: Hiker and Event Planner”
Company: AbbVie
This spot, the biggest-ticket Rinvoq ad of 2024, encourages arthritis patients to seek out a medication—namely, Rinvoq—that’ll help them feel better than “just OK.”
Check out the ad here.
Vabysmo
Ad: “Open Up Your World”
Company: Roche
The eye drug is shown quite literally widening the world of a woman with wet age-related macular degeneration, as she opens up a portal from her eye doctor’s office to a sunny beach, a garden and a hiking trail.
Check out the ad here.
Spikevax vs. Voquezna
Spikevax
Ad: “COVID-19: You”
Company: Moderna
In this late 2023 ad for its COVID vaccine, Moderna plays into the quirky habits of people focused on their health and wellness, urging them to add one more step to their regimens: “Spikevax that body.”
Check out the ad here.
Voquezna
Ad: “Steve’s Stomach”
Company: Phathom Pharmaceuticals
In a TV spot reminiscent of the early-aughts classic “Osmosis Jones,” Phathom takes viewers inside the stomach of a man with erosive esophagitis, where Voquezna—in the form of a muscular blue mascot—can “kick some acid.”
Check out the ad here.
Enhertu vs. Opzelura
Enhertu
Ad: “Not Today”
Company: Daiichi Sankyo and AstraZeneca
Over a black-and-white montage of women with their loved ones, a voice-over proclaims that the HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate helps patients lie to, cheat and steal from their breast cancer to take back more time.
Check out the ad here.
Opzelura
Ad: “Big Media Moments: Celebrate”
Company: Incyte
This spot starts off on a meta note, with a woman excitedly summoning her family when their favorite pharma ad begins playing on TV; the beloved commercial in question touts Opzelura as a mild to moderate eczema treatment.
Check out the ad here.
Wegovy vs. Xiaflex
Wegovy
Ad: “Discover the Power”
Company: Novo Nordisk
Atop a tweaked version of the triumphant song “This Is Me” from “The Greatest Showman,” several people share their experiences with the GLP-1 obesity med and join a procession that results in the formation of a giant “we.”
Check out the ad here.
Xiaflex
Ad: “Gisele and Steve”
Company: Endo
This minute-long spot stars a real Dupuytren’s contracture patient, who describes how Xiaflex helped restore everyday actions and movements—including, most importantly, holding his wife’s hand.
Check out the ad here.
Fasenra vs. Rexulti
Fasenra
Ad: “Step Back Out There”
Company: AstraZeneca
Fasenra is shown helping people with asthma return to their favorite hobbies, which they do by literally stepping out of glum, solo posts on a social media feed and into more high-energy ones nearby.
Check out the ad here.
Rexulti
Ad: “How Much We Love Her”
Company: Otsuka and Lundbeck
This emotional ad takes on the point of view of a family caregiver, who describes how her mother’s dementia brought on Alzheimer’s-associated agitation but “never changed how much we love her.”
Check out the ad here.
Tremfya vs. Eylea HD
Tremfya
Ad: “Every Skin Tone”
Company: Johnson & Johnson
In another meta approach to pharma advertising, this commercial starts with what looks like a classic psoriasis drug ad before breaking the fourth wall to highlight a more diverse cast of people with the skin condition.
Check out the ad here.
Eylea HD
Ad: “The Things You Love”
Company: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
With the classic tune “Dancing in the Moonlight” playing in the background, an older couple is shown watching their memories play out in constellations in the night sky, in a nod to the eye drug’s vision-improving benefits.
Check out the ad here.
Rezdiffra vs. Kesimpta
Rezdiffra
Ad: “I Have NASH”
Company: Madrigal Pharmaceuticals
This ad, one of a pair released in tandem, touts how Rezdiffra, the first FDA-approved treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, can pave “a way forward” for people with MASH.
Check out the ad here.
Kesimpta
Ad: “My Time”
Company: Novartis
Actor Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who has relapsing multiple sclerosis, stars in this ad for Novartis’ once-monthly MS drug, which she says has helped her reclaim her time from the disease.
Check out the ad here.
Ozempic vs. Verzenio
Ozempic
Ad: “Discover the Ozempic Tri-Zone: Boxing”
Company: Novo Nordisk
Novo’s biggest-ticket ad of 2024 for the GLP-1 diabetes med highlights a trio of benefits—reducing A1C, cardiovascular risk and body weight—while the now-ubiquitous “oh, oh, oh, Ozempic” sounds in the background.
Check out the ad here.
Verzenio
Ad: “Future Photos: Best Friends”
Company: Eli Lilly
With the help of Verzenio, a woman with metastatic breast cancer is shown looking through a photo album of “future memories” that come to life and depict her spending more time with loved ones.
Check out the ad here.
Airsupra vs. Caplyta
Airsupra
Ad: “Dino”
Company: AstraZeneca
This tongue-in-cheek spot anthropomorphizes albuterol-only rescue inhalers as an unwieldy dinosaur, offering up combination med Airsupra as a “modern” option to treat both asthma attacks and symptoms.
Check out the ad here.
Caplyta
Ad: “The Darkness of Bipolar Depression: Let in the Lyte”
Company: Intra-Cellular Therapies
In a revamp of the last #FierceMadness-winning campaign, this ad starts with a woman stuck in bed due to bipolar depression until Caplyta helps her get up, open the curtains and leave home for a family walk.
Check out the ad here.
Xdemvy vs. Camzyos
Xdemvy
Ad: “Itching”
Company: Tarsus Pharmaceuticals
This playful commercial casts comedian and actor Betsy Sodaro as a boisterous Demodex mite partying it up among a woman’s eyelashes—until Xdemvy arrives to end the “mitey problem” of Demodex blepharitis.
Check out the ad here.
Camzyos
Ad: “Mike”
Company: Bristol Myers Squibb
A real patient living with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy tells the story of how Camzyos helped ease his symptoms enough to allow him to get active again and return to his favorite hiking trail.
Check out the ad here.
Izervay vs. Otezla
Izervay
Ad: “Slow Rider”
Company: Astellas Pharma
Playing into Izervay’s ability to slow the progression of geographic atrophy, this ad spoofs the ‘70s hit “Low Rider” as a woman is shown cruising slowly around town in a vibrant orange convertible.
Check out the ad here.
Otezla
Ad: “Spotlight”
Company: Amgen
In a nod to the self-consciousness felt by many people with plaque psoriasis, a woman is thrust beneath a spotlight, with an announcer calling attention to her skin—before Otezla clears away the nightmarish situation.
Check out the ad here.
Skyrizi vs. Contrave
Skyrizi
Ad: “Sailing”
Company: AbbVie
The biggest-ticket Skyrizi ad of 2024 focuses on a woman with Crohn’s disease who cheerfully embarks on a sunny sailing excursion, as the immunotherapy med’s familiar “control is everything” jingle plays in the background.
Check out the ad here.
Contrave
Ad: “You Don’t Own Me”
Company: Currax Pharmaceuticals
Bolstered by a tweaked version of the 1963 Lesley Gore hit song, this ad for weight loss drug Contrave sees multiple people telling junk food cravings, “you don’t own me.”
Check out the ad here.
Dupixent vs. Nurtec ODT
Dupixent
Ad: “This Is Better”
Company: Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
This lighthearted spot highlights a series of situations made better with the help of Dupixent as an asthma treatment: from belting it out in the shower to sobbing at sad movies to sighing at the impossibility of folding a fitted sheet.
Check out the ad here.
Nurtec ODT
Ad: “Lady Gaga’s Journey”
Company: Pfizer
Pfizer once again reached for the stars with its latest Nurtec ODT campaign, in which Lady Gaga shares her experiences with the migraine med over scenes of one of her signature high-energy performances.
Check out the ad here.
Jardiance vs. Vyvgart Hytrulo
Jardiance
Ad: “Musical”
Company: Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly
In the first of several versions of this upbeat musical about the Type 2 diabetes drug, a cast of colorfully clad characters puts a theatrical spin on the typical pharma ad testimonial.
Check out the ad here.
Vyvgart Hytrulo
Ad: “No Walk in the Park”
Company: Argenx
Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy is “no walk in the park,” according to the two stars of this ad, but Vyvgart Hytrulo is shown bringing color—and, in particular, a vibrant purple hue—back into their lives.
Check out the ad here.
Zeposia vs. Syfovre
Zeposia
Ad: “Old Me”
Company: Bristol Myers Squibb
A woman with ulcerative colitis goes back and forth with a version of herself from before starting treatment with Zeposia and is shocked to learn about everything her future self is now able to do.
Check out the ad here.
Syfovre
Ad: “Slow Down”
Company: Apellis Pharmaceuticals
Apellis snagged beloved actor Henry Winkler to front this commercial, in which he eschews gimmicky advertising ploys in favor of “sticking to the facts” about how Syfovre can help slow the progression of geographic atrophy.
Check out the ad here.