Currax Pharmaceuticals is bolstering its direct-to-consumer push, including the expansion of one campaign and the launch of another that'll partner with patients to pitch its obesity treatment as a more affordable option than GLP-1 drugs.
The company is running the campaigns in support of Contrave, an extended-release combination of naltrexone and bupropion. Orexigen Therapeutics and Takeda won FDA approval for the product in 2014. Since picking up the med in a 2019 acquisition, Currax has put out campaigns focused on “emotional eating” and “food noise.”
Currax unveiled the next step in its promotion of Contrave on Tuesday. For one, the company has expanded its “Cravings Don't Own Me” connected TV ad campaign to now reach 70% of the U.S. population.
Currax first began running the commercial in certain regions earlier this year. The ad shows people being tempted to eat chips, chocolates and cookies in moments of stress. After looking longingly at the snacks, the people happily put them in storage as the voiceover explains that Contrave can help control cravings—all set to a parody version of the 1963 classic song “You Don’t Own Me.”
Meanwhile, kicking off the new “Real Patients, Real Results” campaign, Currax is taking to Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and the med's website to tell the stories of actual Contrave users.
The company has launched the ad campaign with three patient ambassadors: Brian, Jeanette and Jennifer, each of whom is featured in a separate video talking about their individual experiences with Contrave, including discussions of its affordability compared to uber-popular GLP-1 meds.
Brian, a retired police officer, says in his video that he found it easy to drop weight when he was younger, but things changed in his 50s. The weight gain put Brian on a path that led first to a GLP-1 drug and, ultimately, to Contrave.
“GLP-1s finally helped me lose weight after years of trying everything, but I couldn't afford to stay on them. I was terrified I'd lose all the progress I made,” he said in Tuesday's launch announcement. “Talking to my doctor opened the door to another option that I could actually stick with: Contrave.”
Brian, Jeanette and Jennifer’s videos all mention the monthly price of Contrave, which, at $99, is lower than what Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk charge for their GLP-1 drugs. Currax said it plans to add more patients to the campaign later this year.