I can only imagine the creative sessions for the ad I saw last night. The one for Zephrex-D. I saw the spot twice, and the first time I really didn’t pay attention. Then the second time I stopped – whoa!
And in a touch of irony, the spot featured a teacher, in a science class no less.
How original.
You can check out the spot here.
Meth-resistant was the selling feature. Safety in your community too - oh, that's a by-product of meth-resistance. I can’t remember exactly what they said, but yes, that was the crux of it. Wow, and I didn’t know this was something that was high on the list of pharma development - like vaccines or antibiotics.
What the heck is meth-resistant?
Intrigued by this notion, I had to Google it. So I found this article on MarketWired. (they write about Nexafed which is the same thing (in my super-educated opinion) - Zephrex-D is from a different pharmaceutical company and has a snappy name.
So the drug does what Sudafed® does (keeps our sinuses clear), but the bad guys can’t turn it into meth.
Evidently, in order to make meth, the stuff in Sudafed crystalizes (which is good) but Zephrex-D turns into a goo (which is bad).
From MarketWired:
“The study measured the ability of NEXAFED's IMPEDE technology to disrupt the extraction and conversion of PSE by meth cooks using common clandestine meth lab processes. When simulating large scale manufacturing to extract and convert pure PSE into meth, researchers found that NEXAFED's IMPEDE technology yielded no measurable PSE extraction, representing a significant impediment compared to the control Sudafed(R) tablets (Sudafed(R) is a registered trademark and product of Johnson & Johnson). When tested under the "one-pot" conversion method, the study indicated that current IMPEDE technology tablets had an approximate 38 percent yield, nearly half the average meth recovered compared to the control. Currently, Acura Pharmaceuticals is improving its present formulation and developing new IMPEDE 2.0 technology, which yielded no measurable amount of meth with the one-pot conversion method in initial testing of a prototype formulation by an outside laboratory.”
This all makes perfect sense to me. So now I guess we should look forward to IMPEDE 2.0 technology. I already feel safer. No more one-pot meth on the streets. Well to be accurate, Zephrex-D® uses Tarex® technology. I'm sure they're all the same thing that keeps us safe.
I wonder how the ad guys will translate that?
I don’t know, it seems like a whole lot of work to buy enough Sudafed to make meth. I guess I don’t have enough initiative to do drugs. Or buy drugs.
Well, I’m not exactly their target market.
So I have to ask: WWHD?