Odell Beckham, Jr. & more pre-Super Bowl drug hype

“A clear win for your skin”

We already wrote about TV sideline reporter Erin Andrews and her dry eye disease drug promotion - with special mention of her work on the upcoming Super Bowl.

Now it’s pro football player Odell Beckham, Jr. - or the drug company he’s working for - announcing “a clear win for your skin.”

“My seborrheic dermatitis started to bother me in my 20s when I noticed white flaky skin throughout my beard and at my hairline accompanied by a deep, burning itchy sensation that was extremely uncomfortable,” he said. “After trying to figure out the cause for several years, I finally visited my dermatologist who diagnosed me with seb derm and prescribed Zoryve foam, which works really well for me.”

He continued, “Seb derm is such a common condition but like me, many people may have a hard time trying to figure out what it is and what can be done about it. I want to inspire people not to be embarrassed or discouraged about their condition and instead be empowered to find a dermatologist and work together to find a treatment that works for them.”

The drug company provides this photo of OBJ, as he’s often called

How big a market is there for this drug? The drug company behind this says it’s 10 million Americans.

Even before the Zoryve foam was approved by the FDA, the company had started “an unbranded campaign” to raise awareness of seb derm - as they like to call it.

The marketing is luring all kinds of news media coverage. Par for the course.

The Forbes piece, above, was especially obsequious - stating that his partnership with the drug company “certainly marks an exciting shift in his career beyond sports.” That story - and a Prevention story along with a Parade story - went out of their way to even highlight OBJ’s dermatologist - which I’m sure was a highly appreciated bit of free advertising.

The Mayo Clinic puts the condition in perspective:

This condition can be irritating but it's not contagious, and it doesn't cause permanent hair loss.

Seborrheic dermatitis may go away without treatment. Or you may need to use medicated shampoo or other products long term to clear up symptoms and prevent flare-ups.

So there are other treatments, if even needed. Some don’t require a prescription. Other long-proven approaches include ketoconazole, hydrocortisone and desonide creams, lotions or shampoos. You won’t find any big-name celebrities touting these generic products.

I could see “an exciting shift” in my late-stage career if I so choose. I could write every day about celebrities making money off of drug promotions.

That would be sick.

Addendum after original post: Want to know something else sick? I didn’t address pricing. That was an oversight. But a physician left a comment below that pointed out the >$1,000 per tube average retail price of one tube of the stuff.