• Ad Age, Wednesday, January 23, 2008 10:45 AM

Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. have pulled the "two sources" TV ad campaign for cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin after catching heat for holding back on a study questioning the combo's effectiveness. "We have voluntarily and temporarily suspended broadcast advertising for Vytorin and Zetia," says Schering-Plough spokesman Lee Davies said this afternoon. "Vytorin and Zetia print advertising campaigns will continue in consumer print publications and in professional trade journalism."

He declines to say how long the TV effort, from Omnicom Group's DDB Worldwide, will be on hiatus. The companies have been under fire since last week, when a study revealed that Vytorin, a combination of Zetia and Zocor, did not reduce buildup of fatty plaque in arteries as they claimed. That study was completed in 2006, but the drug companies did not release it for 21 months.

They spent $102 million to market Vytorin through the first nine months of last year, according TNS Media Intelligence, and TV ads for Vytorin are consistently among the most-recalled by viewers, according to IAG Research.

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