For the sixth consecutive year, New York-based Pfizer Inc.'s pharmaceutical sales organization placed first overall in Newtown, PA-based healthcare consulting firm Scott-Levin's survey of U.S. physicians in nine core specialty groups: general/family practitioners, internists, pediatricians, obstetrician/gynecologists, psychiatrists, general surgeons, gastroenterologists, cardiologists and otorhinolaryngologists.

Pfizer was rated first by five of these key physician groups, as well as urologists, nephrologists, emergency medicine specialists and neurosurgeons. The company also was ranked number one by nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

The report also examined sales force value among physician specialty groups. The leading sales forces among select groups of specialists:

•Â Allergists: Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Parsippany, NJ.

•Â OB/GYNs: Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, Philadelphia, PA.

•Â Oncologists: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., New York.

•Â Orthopedic surgeons: Merck & Co. Inc., Whitehouse Station, NJ.

•Â Psychiatrists: Eli Lilly and Co., Indianapolis.

These rankings come from "Pharmaceutical Sales Force Structures & Strategies 2000-2001," the 13th edition of Scott-Levin's annual study of pharmaceutical sales forces. Thirty-three physician specialty groups and other healthcare providers were surveyed for this year's report. PR