Article: Sleeping pill wars to feature ad blitz; Ambien and Lunesta are expected to get a new competitor

NEW YORK - The maker of Ambien has begun a new ad campaign it hopes will reverse a sales slide triggered by reports that some patients couldn't recall driving or eating while sleepwalking when using the prescription sleep aid.

The campaign Sanofi-Aventis SA launched Wednesday is likely the first salvo in what analysts predict will be a fierce advertising war in a market that has seen sales drop in the aftermath of the negative news. Sanofi's Ambien is expected to have a new competitor by this summer when Pfizer Inc. and partner Neurocrine Sciences Inc. are slated to debut a new pill.

Analysts expect the ads to flood the media just as the commercials for erectile dysfunction treatments like ...

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