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The 12-person sales team of sigma-tau Pharmaceuticals Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, added 22 new employees to its force.

James B. Couch, M.D., J.D., director-in-charge of disease management for Coopers & Lybrand Integrated Healthcare Consulting, has published his second book, "The Physician's Guide to Disease Management." However, the comprehensive guide to disease management's initiatives, strategies and trends is not intended only for physicians. Representatives may read it to strengthen their understanding of this popular trend in managed health care.

Patients do not understand basic information about cholesterol and other lipid risk factors, according to two new surveys sponsored by Miami-based Kos Pharmaceuticals and conducted by Yankelovich Partners Inc.

More than 100 years after its discovery, Bayer Corp. is celebrating the success of aspirin.

The National Cholesterol Education Program made several changes to its adult treatment panel report on the detection, evaluation and treatment of high blood cholesterol.

Watson Laboratories Inc., a subsidiary of Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., Corona, CA, signed an agreement to acquire CoCensys Pharmaceutical's neurology and psychiatry sales and marketing divisions.

Reps often spend much of their days behind the wheels of their automobiles, clawing past congestion, feeding toll booths and speeding to beat the clock.

At the request of the Food and Drug Administration, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a subsidiary of American Home Products, has voluntarily pulled Redux® (dexfenfluramine) and Pondimin® (fenfluramine) from the pharmaceutical market.

The oral diabetic market will more than triple within the next five years, according to a new forecast from consultants at The Plymouth Group, Somerset, NJ.

TIM HANKE Berlex Laboratories Chairperson of the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society CLEARWATER, FL - When Berlex Laboratories began developing neurology products about five years ago, sales rep Tim Hanke began calling on doctors who treated patients with multiple sclerosis.

In another market-study report, the New York-based strategic management consulting firm Datamonitor predicted a significant decline in the global antihypertensive market by the year 2010.

The Certified Medical Representatives Institute Inc., Roanoke, VA, has added three new self-study courses to its continuing education program for pharmaceutical sales representatives.

The first in a series of three articles on creativity in selling.

Plan dinner meetings that tempt and educate.

Our most precious commodity - "face-to-face, one-on-one" selling time with physicians - continues to decline in both quantity and quality. While there are certainly those glorious times when "just a minute" turns into a 15-20 minute pride-of-the-training-class sales extravaganza, many, if not most of our sales encounters are of a less epic proportion.

Know who's who and how they influence prescription volume.

New hypertension medicines - angiotensin II receptor blockers - are among the more popular products gaining acceptance in the managed care market, according to Newton, PA-based Scott Levin's annual spring formulary survey.

Much to the disappointment of the FDA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and numerous patient advocacy groups, legislators failed to debate or pass the FDA reform bill (S 830) before Congress' summer recess. At press time, discussions were expected to be resumed after the August recess.

The Food and Drug Administration announced a proposal that will require that new drugs and biologics be labeled for safe use in children. If approved, the mandate may also apply to some medicines that are already approved and in use.

Rep profile

The FDA loosened restrictions for advertising prescription pharmaceuticals on television and radio.

One major pharmaceutical company unloaded a bevy of over-the-counter products at press time as another announced its plan to sell its entire line of prescription generics.

Although every sales manager's personality and work style is unique, there are similarities in what many expect from the representatives who work for them.

Focus groups give you an in-depth understanding of the variable needs of managed care organizations and healthcare providers.

Follow these seven steps to make meetings more productive.

Your course of actions when doctors say 'no.'

The growth of physician practice management companies.