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I just received the latest edition of the NMSS's magazine Momentum. I was surprised to see an ad for Avonex take up an entire 7 pages. This got me wondering about the extent of ads in the rest of the magazine. I should state that I'm not making a value judgement here saying that this is good or bad. It just seemed that a 7 page ad for Avonex may have been a little overboard.


Pharmaceutical Ads
(# of pages: ad type)

• 1: Copaxone
  3: Tysabri
  2: Ampyra
  4: Gilenya
  7: Avonex

Total: 17/68 pages devoted to pharma (a specific drug)

Other Ads
(# of pages: ad type)

• 1: Genzyme
  2: Various (chairs, accessible vans, etc.)
  0.5: Walkaide
  1: Bioness
  1: Allergan (spasticity answers)
  0.5: cambridge.org (information systems)
  0.5: Kantor & Kantor (lawyers, disability claims, etc.)
  0.25: Hilton Hotels
  0.5: Redman Power Chair
  1: MS Active Source

Total: 8.25/68 pages

Summary
Total ads: 25.25/68 pages or 37.1%
Pharma ads/Total ads: 67.3%

NHE,

Great observation...I personally appreciate the breakdown by percentages!

I have contacted them a few times over the last 20+ years; the only thing they offered were books and tapes. I'm sure they do more, (aside from grants, etc.) but I have found them pretty much useless.

Just my opinion.

M

PS I would love to hear of any concrete service or assistance that has been given to anyone here.

I just received the new Momentum in the mail. Once again, it's full of ads as usual, most of which are for pharma.

Pharmaceutical Ads
(# of pages: ad type)

• 1: Copaxone
  2: Ampyra
  7: Avonex
  4: Gilenya
  3: Betaseron
  1: Avanir
  3: Tysabri

Total: 21/68 pages, 30.9%, devoted to pharma (a specific drug)

Other Ads
(# of pages: ad type)

• 1: Bioness
  0.5: WalkAide
  0.5: Redman Power Chair
  2: Various (chairs, accessible vans, etc.)
  1: MS Active Source

Total: 5/68 pages, 7.4%

Summary
Total ads: 26/68 pages or 38.2%
Pharma ads/Total ads: 80.8%

Just a thought to put out there-
Avonex and Tysabri are owned by the same company-Biogen Idec. So as a company they bought a total of 10 pages of ads. Just an observation.....

Those ads always good for a laugh. Some glossy photos of patient X with MS since such and such a date doing something really boring like putting luggage in the car to go on a road trip. What a joke.

What I take away from those ads too is that there are now options. Options that perhaps were not there even 5 years ago. The more options there are hopefully the price will start to come down as drug companies compete for patients.