RESTON, Va., Oct 09, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- comScore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released a study of the top pharmaceutical brand Web sites in Q2 2008. The study revealed that purplepill.com, AstraZeneca's Web site for its heartburn treatment Nexium, generated the most site traffic in Q2 2008 with more than 1 million unique visitors, up 55 percent from year ago. Also showing substantial growth versus last year was diabetes drug Actos, ranking second with 855,000 unique visitors. Insomnia medication Ambien CR, ranked third with 756,000 unique visitors.

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"AstraZeneca has aggressively marketed Nexium this year, running approximately twice as much online display advertising in Q2 as either of its major competitors, Prevacid and Aciphex," said John Mangano, senior director, comScore Pharmaceutical Marketing Solutions. "This additional marketing muscle appears to have helped generate strong site visitation, a very important marketing step in the competitive pharmaceutical industry."

    Top 10 Pharmaceutical Brand Web Sites by Unique Visitors
    Q2 2008 vs. Q2 2007
    Total U.S. --  Home/Work/University Locations
    Source: comScore, Inc.
                                         Unique Visitors (000)
    Web Site                   Q2 2007         Q2 2008   Percent Change
    Nexium (purplepill.com)        659           1,021             55 %
    Actos (actos.com)               34             855           2399 %
    Ambien CR (ambiencr.com)     1,949             756            -61 %
    Gardasil (gardasil.com)        912             722            -21 %
    Lexapro (lexapro.com)          530             549              3 %
    Veramyst (veramyst.com)        N/A             538              N/A
    Januvia (januvia.com)          118             507            329 %
    Lyrica (lyrica.com)            368             501             36 %
    Topamax (topamax.com)          361             498             38 %
    Seroquel (seroquel.com)        359             447             24 %

Some highlights from the study include:

-- Takeda Pharmaceuticals substantially increased marketing for the Actos brand beginning in the third quarter of 2007, helping build actos.com into the second most visited site in the category in Q2 2008 versus year ago.

-- Merck's diabetes treatment Januvia increased marketing activity beginning in the second half of last year, resulting in a nearly 330-percent increase in visitors to januvia.com.

-- Pfizer has ramped up marketing and public relations efforts for Lyrica since the third quarter of 2007, when the product received FDA approval to be marketed for the treatment of fibromyalgia. The site, lyrica.com, has seen a 36-percent increase in unique visitors.

-- With a number of migraine treatments nearing patent expirations, the makers of popular migraine treatment Topomax launched a heavy online display ad campaign to bolster awareness, resulting in a 38-percent increase in Q2 2008 versus year ago.

-- Merck's highly publicized HPV vaccine Gardasil was approved by the FDA in the second quarter of 2006. Although the number of site visitors has declined 21 percent during the past year since the company's initial marketing and public relations push, the site still ranks among the top 5 most visited sites with 722,000 visitors.

These industry insights along with an analysis of other relevant online health trends will be presented during a complimentary webinar conducted by comScore and ePharma Summit entitled, Internet Trends and Usage in 2008 and Beyond, on Thursday, October 16 from 2 to 3 p.m. EDT.

To register for the webinar visit https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/831770879 and mention priority code G1P1406W2COM.

For more information on comScore Pharmaceutical solutions, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/solutions/info_req.asp?industry=pharma.

About comScore

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit http://www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

SOURCE comScore, Inc.

http://www.comscore.com

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