Contract sales firm PDI said it inked a one-year contract sales agreement for a cardiology drug with an unnamed “top-10 pharmaceutical company.” The initiative, expected to bring in $13 million in revenue, will target primary care physicians and cardiologists and was scheduled to get underway beginning April 2. The announcement is viewed as needed boost for PDI, which last month announced a decision by a “large pharmaceutical company” client not to renew a $35 million contract sales engagement with the firm. PDI previously expected that one-year deal, which expires May 12, to be extended through the end of 2007. PDI had 4 major contract losses during the past 12 months, as many drugmakers decided to re-evaluate sales force strategies. In October, GlaxoSmithKline chose not to renew its 2007 sales agreement with the firm – a deal representing as much as $70 million in annual revenue. Also in October, Sanofi-Aventis ended a $20 million sales engagement with PDI. And in March 2006, AstraZeneca discontinued its fee-for-service agreements with the contract sales firm, after previously working with PDI for 12 years. That termination affected approximately 800 field reps and impacted $65 to $70 million of PDI’s revenue.