All News

Many of the communication and relationship-building skills that made Jan Hearn a great sales rep for nine years now make her a great corporate account manager. Promoted three years ago by Thousand Oaks, CA-based Amgen Inc., Hearn now works with corporate pharmacy staff, medical directors, CEOs, CFOs and COOs at five major integrated healthcare systems in three states to gain access and coverage for Amgen products. Although this new role required Hearn to undergo extensive training and master new skills, many challenges of relationship-building in the corporate environment aren't so different from those she faced as a rep.

According to Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin, the movement toward larger sales forces that began in 1995 continues unabated despite consolidation within the pharmaceutical industry.

Scientists have developed a new tool that may help physicians predict, during the first several hours a stroke patient is in the hospital, the degree of recovery the patient will eventually experience. The tool uses three factors for the accurate prediction of stroke outcome: measurement of brain injury using magnetic resonance imaging, the patient's score on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and the time in hours from the onset of symptoms until the MRI brain scan is performed.

In 2000, the number of independent pharmacies grew by more than 200, according to the National Community Pharmacists Association, Alexandria, VA. Based on NCPA's definition of an independent pharmacy - single-store independent pharmacies, independent chains, pharmacy franchises and pharmacist-owned supermarket pharmacies - independent pharmacies now number 24,841, or 45% of the nation's total market of 55,011 pharmacies.

Challenging one of medicine's long-standing beliefs, a team of scientists funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the National Institute on Aging has found the strongest evidence to date that human heart muscle cells regenerate after a heart attack. In a paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 344, no. 23), scientists from New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY report their success in finding large-scale replication of heart muscle cells in two regions of the heart, and in identifying several other key indicators of cell regeneration.

Four pharmaceutical companies, Kenilworth, NJ-based Schering-Plough Corp; The Procter and Gamble Co., Cincinnati; Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis; and Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL, were named to Fortune magazine's list of "50 Best Companies for Minorities." The list was published in the July 9 issue of the magazine.

It doesn't matter what you sell. Whether it's widgets or pharmaceuticals, we all face the same challenge - connecting with our customers and getting our message across.

In an era in which companies can forfeit $1 million each day they delay a product launch-and being second can mean failure-pharma executives are under pressure to make risk and opportunity decisions in less time than ever.

London-GlaxoSmithKline is proposing to cut more than 2,000 jobs from its worldwide workforce of 100,000 as it seeks to generate the promised savings from its merger.

While making small talk at a party, a new acquaintance asked a senior pharmaceutical executive what line of business he was in. "I work for a multinational pharmaceutical company," he replied.

Pharma mergers have hardly brought runaway success. Yet, judging from industry CEOs' public pronouncements, on the horizon is another merger and acquisition wave that will challenge both participants and spectators. The M&A game of the future may diverge drastically from strategies of the past, as multiple acquirers begin to target specific therapeutic franchises rather than whole companies.

Early e-health enthusiasts envisioned a rapid technology and information metamorphosis that could only be described as a quantum leap. In the aftermath of the dot-com shake out, pharma companies reported e-initiative progress that more accurately resembles a shuffle-with an occasional stumble. Cap Gemini Ernst & Young surveyed more than 100 senior managers from 42 pharma companies, including the top 10, to assess the current state of all things "e." The results are mixed.

That marketing should begin early in product development has become a truism in the pharma industry. But as a statement on its own, it sheds little light. What does it mean to begin? At what point do marketers insert themselves into the process? To what end do they enter where once only scientists trod? And, the ultimate question—which the truism fails to answer—how might their intrusion affect the lives of patients, in trial or thereafter?

The growing number of foreign-born physicians in the United States presents both challenges and opportunities for pharmaceutical sales representatives.

HIV risk factors among injection drug users differ markedly by gender, according to a 10-year study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The findings, reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine (vol. 161, no. 10), indicate that while drug-related risk behaviors and homosexual activity are the most important predictors of HIV seroconversion among males, factors consistent with high-risk heterosexual activities are the main predictors among females.

See how you can incorporate these five B's in some of your two-minute-or-less encounters with physicians.

Having so many retirement choices shouldn't leave you wondering which type of retirement savings plan is best for you.

Tips from a doctor's perspective.

When Kimberly Farrell, currently president of Unlimited Performance, a training consultation company based in Highland Park, IL, was asked by the National Society of Pharmaceutical Sales Trainers – now the Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers - to put together a workshop for the society's 2000 meeting, she immediately designed a questionnaire for top female executives, networked to identify top talent, and wrote and called female executives to interview them. The answers to her queries were presented in the workshop. "The turnout and response were so positive," said Farrell, "I was asked by the board of SPBT to facilitate a similar workshop in 2001. I redesigned the workshop to include a live panel of three top industry vice presidents to speak to our membership about career strategies, challenges, successes and insights."

The rates of new cancer cases and deaths for all cancers combined continue to decline in the United States, according to the "Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1973-1998, Featuring Cancers with Recent Increasing Trends," which was released by the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute. The report was published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (vol. 93, no. 11).

A new survey by Rochester, NY-based Harris Interactive reveals that public perception of the pharmaceutical, health insurance, managed care and hospital industries continues to decline. The survey, which was conducted by telephone among a nationwide sample of 1,014 adults, measures how many people believe particular industries are doing a good or bad job of serving their customers.

Data from a recent survey of patients with diabetes suggest that the vast majority of them are unaware that they are at risk for anemia and the health complications that can result.

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura has signed a bill that will allow hospitals, doctors and healthcare professionals across the state to share patient safety information.

The 50 most heavily prescribed drugs for seniors have risen in price, on average, at more than twice the rate of inflation, according to a new report issued by Washington-based Families USA. The report examined drug price increases through January of this year.

People who get migraines experience a decreased quality of life - not solely from their migraines, but also from the fear of future migraines, according to the "Life Impact Survey" of almost 4,000 headache sufferers.

London, United Kingdom-The UK OTC trade association supports the Community Pharmacy Action Group (CPAG) in its decision to withdraw a court case regarding the price-fixing of OTC drugs after the judge said there was little evidence that abolition of price maintenance would harm community pharmacists. The withdrawal brings an end to a long-running court battle pitting the pharmaceutical industry against an equally powerful corporate enemy, the supermarkets.

Carol Nacy, PHD, Has Invested Her Expertise - and her money - to fight the devastating tuberculosis epidemic.

The time is ripe to further a pharmaceutical career in the United States. The industry is full of promising opportunities for people eager to contribute and advance.