Sales Force

Access to docs flat, but appointments on the rise, survey says

Ben Comer March 15, 2010

Ninety-eight percent of the doctors surveyed in an SK&A study said up to 20 sales reps visit their practices each week, while total access to docs during 2009 increased by a fraction.
 

Covidien, Biovail to beef up sales forces

Ben Comer March 11, 2010

While many sales jobs at large pharmaceutical companies continue to be shed amidst reorganizations, mergers and consolidations, Covidien and Biovail are bucking the trend and hiring new personnel.
 

Healthy Advice to mount flat screens in doc's offices

Ben Comer February 08, 2010

Healthy Advice Networks is betting docs need one more video screen to look at during office hours.
 

Novo reps to spotlight weight loss for Victoza launch

Ben Comer February 04, 2010

Sales forces for Novo Nordisk's Victoza will underscore the injectable's weight loss properties when it launches next month.
 

UCB exits US primary care

Matthew Arnold February 01, 2010

UCB is getting out of the US primary care market by the end of the month to focus on its specialty immunology and neurology franchises.
 

Novartis held the line on sales and marketing spend in 2009

Matthew Arnold January 26, 2010

Novartis' US sales reorg seems to have paid off in 2009 as the company held the line on sales and marketing expenses despite a passel of global launches.
 

Ax falls at Merck as CEO talks sales cuts

Marc Iskowitz January 07, 2010

Eight weeks after the completion of Merck's merger with Schering-Plough, the new company is making staff cuts while hinting of more in commercial and manufacturing areas.
 

Sanofi-Aventis sales cuts come due

Marc Iskowitz December 01, 2009

Sanofi-Aventis is laying off 750, or nearly 12%, of its US sales reps, as the firm retrenches in the face of generic exposure on some of its lead products.
 

GSK relocates 2,200 sales positions as part of 'growth strategy'

Marc Iskowitz October 29, 2009

GlaxoSmithKline has put a twist on pharma's strategy of slashing sales reps to improve the earnings outlook, reallocating the positions to emerging markets.
 

Shire prepares marketing efforts for Intuniv

Ben Comer September 04, 2009

Shire announced an FDA approval for Intuniv (guanfacine) Extended Release Tablets yesterday, and is preparing professional advertising efforts for a November launch, with "closely aligned" consumer ads to follow in 2010.
 

Schering-Plough gears up for Saphris launch

Ben Comer August 14, 2009

Schering-Plough announced FDA approval on a key pipeline antipsychotic today, and is developing marketing materials and building a US sales force for the Q4 launch.
 

Lilly revamps sales model for smaller territories

Matthew Arnold August 04, 2009

Eli Lilly & Co. will eliminate around 300 positions in its US diabetes, neuroscience and osteoporosis sales forces as it implements a new sales model featuring smaller territories, each manned by a rep with deep therapeutic expertise.
 

Zogenix and Astellas to co-promote migraine injectable

Ben Comer August 03, 2009

California-based Zogenix announced a partnership with Astellas to co-promote Sumavel DosePro, a subcutaneous injection for migraine relief.
 

IMS Health restructuring after dismal Q2

Ben Comer July 24, 2009

IMS Health announced a streamlining of business operations in the wake of second quarter losses, which may include as many as 850 job losses.
 

Only a tenth of scripts are up for grabs, says IMS study

Matthew Arnold June 09, 2009

Traditional promotion efforts, including details and sampling, can only affect about 10% of prescriptions, an IMS study found, suggesting that the bulk of promotion dollars is misplaced.
 

Abbott, AZ extend co-promotion to Trilipix

Ben Comer June 04, 2009

AstraZeneca will help Abbott reach more physicians with its Trilipix (fenofibric acid) drug, a cholesterol product approved by FDA last December. The companies also filed an NDA for Certriad, a Trilipix/Crestor combination drug.
 

Amylin slashes sales force by 35%

Matthew Arnold May 05, 2009

Amylin is cutting 200 sales positions -- around 35% of its sales force -- as it merges its specialty and primary care sales forces into a single organization targeting endocrinologists and diabetes-focused primary care physicians.
 

IOM: quit gifts, reps, samples

Matthew Arnold April 28, 2009

Physicians and medical institutions should shun gifts, reps, samples and ghostwriting, said the Institute of Medicine's conflict of interest committee in its full recommendations.
 

J&J to eliminate 900 sales-related positions

Ben Comer April 10, 2009

Johnson & Johnson will cut 900 positions at its Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit by the end of the second quarter.
 

GSK to co-promote Shire's Vyvanse

Ben Comer March 31, 2009

GlaxoSmithKline will partner with Shire to co-promote Vyvanse, Shire's Adderall follow-on ADHD drug. The three-year deal will double the brand's sales force, with 600 GSK reps targeting primary care physicians and specialists, the companies announced today.
 

IMS, SDI want Supremes to look at prescriber data laws

Ben Comer March 27, 2009

IMS Health and SDI are seeking a Supreme Court review of an appeals court ruling that restricts the commercial use of prescriber data in the state of New Hampshire.
 

Number of reps down 10% since 2007, says study

Anthony Vecchione March 23, 2009

Job security for pharma sales reps is looking bleak, going by the results of a ZS Associates study. The survey found that the number of US reps has plummeted 10% since 2007 to 92,000, and the management consultancy projects a further decline, to 75,000 by 2012.
 

Iowa Senate passes harsh gifts, data ban bill

Matthew Arnold March 20, 2009

Iowa's state Senate passed a healthcare bill containing some of the toughest restrictions on drug company contacts with physicians yet.
 

MedPAC calls for reporting of samples

Matthew Arnold March 03, 2009

An influential advisory board urged Congress to impose far-reaching transparency rules on payments to healthcare professionals and organizations interacting with the drug industry--including reporting samples, in part to aid counterdetailing efforts.
 

BIO punts on PhRMA physician interaction code

Matthew Arnold February 20, 2009

The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) issued a statement calling on member companies to develop their own codes of conduct on interaction with physicians, but again stopped short of adopting the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals.
 

Physician-rep relationships in retreat, says TNS

Matthew Arnold February 19, 2009

Merck ranks tops among US physicians for sales and services, according to TNS Healthcare data, while Novartis is Number One in Europe, but physician-rep relationships are souring across the board.
 

Allergan, King cut sales and marketing

Matthew Arnold February 04, 2009

Allergan announced it will lay off 460 employees, mainly in sales and marketing, while King Pharmaceuticals said it would cut 760 positions, including 380 field sales staff.
 

Deep cuts at AstraZeneca, Sepracor

Matthew Arnold January 29, 2009

The cuts keep coming. AstraZeneca will make another 6,000 job cuts for a total of 15,000, or 23% of its global workforce of 65,000, by 2013, and Sepracor is slashing its sales force.
 

Pfizer/Wyeth cuts to top 18,000

Matthew Arnold January 26, 2009

Pfizer will cut between 18,000 and 19,000 jobs as it absorbs Wyeth, the company said.
 

Generics taking a greater toll on pharma sales forces

Anthony Vecchione January 23, 2009

The number of working sales reps in the US dropped below 93,000 in 2008, from an all-time high of 102,000 in 2005, according to an SDI report. Numbers are expected to decline further in 2009.
 

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