The pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, headquartered in the UK and Sweden, has been running ads, for esomeprazole magnesium, a proton-pump inhibitor used in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), heartburn, and ulcers. The drug is sold under a catchy name, Nexium, and the address of its online home is even catchier: purplepill.com. (You can also get there via prilosec.com prilosec.com.)

It’s no surprise that purple dominates the design; a thick frame in that color surrounds each page. Each page also contains the Nexium logo on the upper left, the AstraZeneca logo on the right, and a large image of a Nexium pill (not actual size, one hopes) on the lower right.

The site targets two consumer audiences—those who take Nexium, and those who don’t—and gently directs each audience to the intended content. When you first arrive at purplepill.com, a headline asks, “Currently Taking Nexium?” Above the big purple pill, a “learn more” link leads to information on “how to make the most of your treatment” with the drug.

If you’re not currently taking Nexium, you’re asked to click a link that delivers what looks like a basic page refresh, but the headline now reads, “Could Nexium Be Right For You?”—and the “learn more” leads to the “How NEXIUM Heals” page. (Though the brand is spelled Nexium on its logo, it appears as all-capped NEXIUM throughout the site.)

The site boasts plenty of information about GERD, including a couple of animated videos that deliver a detailed, but not too graphic, description of the disease and how Nexium fights the symptoms.

The videos are not the only elements that deliver a message that a brochure could not. A section called “Living Better With Acid Reflux Disease” contains a body mass index (BMI) calculator (because weight is a factor with the disease) that is not a mere “calculator” but a Flash application that uses sliding rulers for height and weight so you can not only see what your BMI is, but you can quickly see how many pounds you’d have to shed in order to generate a healthier score.

A really cool (albeit somewhat under construction) Tools and Resources section helps make the site more than just about a pill. Because diet can also exacerbate the disease, the site contains a robust recipes section, plus a menu planner that can be customized according to the number of servings and number of calories per meal, category (e.g., low carb, easy to prepare), and main ingredient. With the planner you can list a week’s worth of meals, know your carb-and-calorie consumption for that week, and even print out a shopping list of the ingredients you’ll need.

Other tools track and analyze your sleep habits and help you organize your medication consumption. Disappointingly, the two most intriguing tools, Fitness Planner and Ask a Dietician, are under construction.

Finally, there are two video testimonials. Each features a Nexium user with a higher profile than the average person (a pro football player turned opera singer, a radio talk-show host) and production values beyond a one-camera shot of a talking head in front of a blank wall. With multiple interior and exterior locations, a musical score, and some fleet editing, these videos—which run more than four minutes each—create human-interest stories about how Nexium has not just tamed the symptoms of GERD, but improved lives.

Nexium is not the only fancy proton-pump inhibitor website on the online block. AcipHex (Eisai Company’s rabeprazole sodium) and Previcid (TAP Pharmaceutical Products’ lansoprazole) offer similar messages. While the Nexium site has better tools (e.g., more recipes), the AcipHex site feels “warmer” thanks to the use of more people images. And even the site for the over-the-counter version of Prilosec, from which Nexium is derived, works the purple better.

Still, with its user-friendly tools, Nexium presents a clear online message about its benefits for those suffering from the distress of GERD. And once all those tools are working properly, the site will reduce its online agita as well.