2004

Abilify Sales Aid & Direct Mailer

While I was with Corbett Accel Healthcare, my partner and I were part of a larger creative team who helped launch Bristol-Myers Squibb’s novel Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) Abilify. It was initially approved for Schizophrenia in 2002; an approval for Bipolar I Disorder followed in 2004, and an orally disintegrating tab was introduced in 2006. (To prevent pysch patients from “cheeking” their meds and spitting them out later.)

As with all pharma advertising, FDA regulations present quite a challenge creatively. The “A” archway concept promised a different path forward for patients, without actually making a claim to that effect. Abilify was the first drug in its class; and it did not cause somnolence like many older agents. Therefore, its USP was that it allowed the “person” within the patient to shine through.