Drug Rep Chronicle – Autumn Edition – October 2011

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How have web-communication and information technology affected your job as a pharma rep?

How long have you been a pharma rep?

Drug Rep Chronicle – Summer Edition – June 2010

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Drug Rep Chronicle – Preview Edition

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GSK to Revamp Basis for Bonuses

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will revamp the way it pays U.S. drug salespeople next year, tying bonuses to customer service rather than just sales targets, reports PharmaLive on July 27, 2010. This decision is a response to requests by physicians who want to see fewer drug salespeople and is GSK’s attempt to adapt to a changing health care system. Due to the GSK’s size and influence, its decision to restructure its compensation system could have far reaching consequences, inducing change in the business strategy of rival drugmakers. For more information visit, http://pharmalive.com/news/index.cfm?articleID=719565&categoryid=9&newsletter=1

Decentralized NHS could be a sales-rep boon

The new, more decentralized National Health Service in the UK could mean more jobs for sales reps and health managers, reports InPharm on July 16, 2010. With this change, pharma marketing will also have to be decentralized, moving away from where it is currently concentrated on NHS headquarters and other national-level decisionmakers. As a consequence, general practitioners will enjoy more freedom of prescribing decisions. For more information, visit http://www.inpharm.com/content/what-might-nhs-white-paper-mean-pharma-commercial-models

For Eisai in China, the sales rep’s the thing

Eisai’s sales strategy in China revolves around sales reps, reports the Financial Times on July 8, 2010. For important considerations such as which drugs to field first, Eisai’s decision is based largely on which drugs would attract sales people. That being said, the high yearly turnover rate (1/3) of sales reps poses an issue for the company. As a solution, Eisai is looking to implement a tiered sales force, with some 300 “experts” who have deep knowledge of the company’s drugs and therapeutic areas. These experts will receive higher wages than lower-level reps, who’ll do more routine work and won’t need much training. This way, if lower level reps run off, knowledgeable experts will remain to keep the ship afloat. For more information, visit http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/eisai-china-sales-reps-thing/2010-07-08

Pharmaceutical Companies Replace Sales Reps With Websites

Pharmaceutical companies are beginning to experiment with cheaper ways of selling drugs, such as pitching to doctors over the Internet through what is known as e-detailing and using call centers to answer questions, reports DailyFinance on June 24, 2010. These changes can be attributed to several factors:

1) In recent years, the drug industry’s pipelines have dried up, leaving all those reps with fewer new medicines to plug.

2) The depressed economy necessitates cost-savings, and cutting the sales force is an easy place to start.

3) With a number of big drugs going off patent in the coming years, drugmakers will be looking for any way to cut their overhead.

4) As younger physicians who are more tech-savvy take the place of older doctors, the trend toward more Web-based sales strategies will increase.

Japanese pharma loads up on reps in China

In anticipation of capturing part of the big growth in Chinese healthcare spending that’s expected over the coming years, many Big Pharma companies are ramping up sales staff in China, reports Reuters on June 16, 2010. Astellas Pharma plans on doubling its 300-strong sales force to more than 600 by 2014, Eisai intends on increasing its sale staff to 1,000 by next year and to 1,400 by 2013 (up from 730 currently), and Pfizer is aiming to get 3,200 reps into China by the end of next year (up from 2,300 now), to name three examples. The race is on for that all-important market share. For more information, visit http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE65E27820100615

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