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Are managers losing the battle of sales force turnover?

Joe Sharpe came to pharmaceutical sales with a strong background in customer service, and it shows.

In a profession in which success is often driven by long hours, the concept of cutting back to a part-time job may seem foreign, but a reduction in hours can sometimes be necessary for even the most dedicated reps. New York-based Pfizer Inc. has responded to this need by creating its part-time field sales force, Vista Rx. Launched in April 1999 as a pilot program with 70 reps, Vista Rx allows sales representatives to work 60% of a full-time schedule while retaining the benefits and privileges of full-time employees, making it the first of its kind in the industry.

During the first years of HIV infection, women have significantly lower amounts of the virus in their blood than men, according to one of the largest studies ever to examine gender-specific differences in HIV infection. Despite their lower initial viral levels, women suffer the loss of immune cells and develop AIDS just as swiftly as men. The findings, reported in The New England Journal of Medicine (vol. 344, no. 10), lend further support to recent changes in the criteria used to help doctors tailor anti-HIV drug therapy to delay the onset of AIDS.

Westport, CT-based IMS Health has released data from its annual "World Review" report showing that audited global pharmaceutical sales grew 10% in 2000 to $317.2 billion, up from $295.9 billion in 1999. "The IMS Health World Review" tracks actual sales of approximately 90% of all prescription drugs and certain over-the-counter products in more than 60 countries. Proprietary data projection methodologies are used to estimate total global pharmaceutical sales, which grew to $354 billion in 2000.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers spent $1.9 billion on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs between January and September 2000, the same amount spent in all of 1999, according to Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin's "Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Audit." The audit, which surveyed over 4,000 consumers and 3,000 physicians, found that two major therapeutic classes - antihistamines and COX-2 inhibitors - generated 20% ($390 million) of advertising expenditures in the first nine months of 2000.

A new study released in the Journal of the American Pharmaceutical Association (vol. 41, no. 2) estimates that drug misuse costs the economy more than $177 billion each year. And, according to the study, the estimated number of patient deaths resulting from misuse of prescription drugs has increased from 198,000 in 1995 to 218,000 in 2000.

Fifty-one percent of consumers report that prescription drug advertising keeps them informed of available treatments, according to a survey of 12,000 individuals conducted by The NPD Group, Port Washington, NY.

You, the doctor and the sales call.

In an effort to address the declining flow of much-needed medications used during surgery, the American Society of Anesthesiologists is calling on federal regulators and pharmaceutical industry leaders to take action quickly to end the nationwide shortage of anesthetic agents.

What's behind the new surge.

The Institute of Medicine of the Washington-based National Academy of Sciences has released "Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New System for the 21st Century," a follow-up to its earlier report, "To Err is Human." While "To Err is Human" concentrated on the issue of patient safety, the new report offers suggestions for wider healthcare reform.

Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, and Mountain View, CA-based Alza Corp. announced that they have entered into an agreement under which Johnson & Johnson will merge with Alza in a stock-for-stock exchange, valued at roughly $10.5 billion.

Bagsvaerd, Denmark-Niche players with good exposure to US markets are showing strong growth, bucking the notion that size is everything in the pharmaceutical industry. And, if it is true that the industry is recession-proof, that situation is unlikely to change, even in the event of a US downturn.

Effective DTC Product Web Sites Must Synthesize Advertising and Labeling Requirements

Brussels-Two types of mutual recognition procedures are necessary to ensure that generics get to market as quickly as possible, according to the European Generics Medicines Association.

Pretoria, South Africa-Few people noticed that the ground had begun to crumble under Big Pharma when, after the failed World Trade Organization talks in Seattle, Washington, the Clinton administration indicated that it would take note of the effects of its trade policies on healthcare in developing countries. Multinational companies had hitherto been able to take the support of governments for granted when it came to policing intellectual property, but Clinton's move indicated a major shift in policy. Few noticed, because the rhetoric wasn't immediately matched by reality. In fact, the US government continued to pressure countries whose intellectual property protection seemed too weak. Then the new Bush administration, thought to be an unwavering ally of the pharmaceutical industry, indicated it would continue the Clinton policy.

Patents before profits. That soundbite snagged my ears and turned my full attention to the CNN business report. I recognized the voice and the face}Ray Gilmartin, chairman of Merck. Calmly and reasonably, he explained how extraordinary circumstances in the developing world demand that his company uncouple the normally fused objectives of high profitability and unwavering patent protection.

Developing Palatable Medicines for Children is Never Easy, But the Rewards Can Be Great

Uniondale, New York, USA-Thirty-eight companies submitted proposals to develop OSI-774, OSI Pharmaceuticals' lead cancer candidate, making it the most sought-after compound of 2000. The statistic was revealed with some satisfaction by Myrtle Potter, chief operating officer of Genentech, the joint winner-along with Roche, its majority stockholder-at the Economist Conferences' annual pharmaceuticals conference.

FDA's Final Rule Forces the Pharma Industry to Change It's Clinical Trial Culture

Genentech's sprawling campus overlooking San Francisco Bay seems serene on the surface, but internally, the company resonates with energy.

London-The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has decided that Roche's Xenical (orlistat) should be available from the National Health Service for managing obesity and its related problems, but it should not be viewed as a slimming pill.

How to Hire the Right Reps, Train Them to Excel, and Retain Them for the Long Run

Although industry seeks to protect its rights, the only long-term solution is working with the international community to address the AIDS crisis and other serious health problems.

What the WLF decision means for pharmaceutical reps.

It seems nothing short of amazing to me that the vast majority of pharmaceutical reps bypass what is surely the most potent sales tool that exists. Before I became a provider 22 years ago, I was involved in sales. It was then that I realized that sales are greatly influenced by the nature and quality of the relationships between salespeople and their customers. Failure on the part of pharmaceutical representatives to develop good, strong relationships most often leads to poor prescribing habits on the part of the provider.

In an independent analysis of prescription drug treatments for hypertension, the Evanston, IL-based health data company Solucient found that 49% of patients who were started on an ACE inhibitor had no prior history of hypertension treatment during the previous 12 months. Moreover, three in four of those patients also had no history of heart failure or diabetes, two conditions that indicate ACE inhibitors as a first-line hypertension therapy.

According to "Outlook 2001," a report released by the Boston-based Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, the United States today spends nearly three times as much on physician services as it does for prescription drugs, and over four times as much as it does for hospital care. Although prescription drugs, as a share of total U.S. healthcare spending, increased from 5.5% a decade ago to 8.5% today, hospital expenditures declined from nearly 37% to 33% during the same time period, while spending on physician services remained nearly constant.

More than 20 new drugs were added to the Fall 2000 edition of Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin's Managed Care Formulary Drug Audit. Betapace AF™ (sotalol HCl), a cardiovascular therapy manufactured by Berlex Laboratories Inc., Montville, NJ, was the new product with the highest level of formulary acceptance, according to the audit.