PharmExec Blog

Reps Allowed Access; Just Make an Appointment

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Image by Joseph Cote via Flickr

SK&A released the results of its latest physician survey, and it turns out that most docs are happy to meet with sales reps as long as they make an appointment in advance.

In fact, 98 percent of offices that allow sales reps to make office calls see 20 reps per week.

“That’s how many reps step through the door,” said Jack Schember, director of marketing, SK&A. “And by that we mean reps that were allowed in to drop off promotional materials, drug samples for signature, attempt to see the physician, or have an appointment for a meeting.”

Schember admits that SK&A has no benchmark to compare the data against, as this is the first time that company has asked the question as part of its Physician Access Survey, which surveyed more than 200,000 medical offices.

There is no data on how many of these sales calls are repeat visits from the same rep, or what companies they represent.

Of the physicians interviewed, 49.6 percent said that they require an appointment to meet with a rep. That’s up from 38.5 percent in 2008. Doctors in smaller practices appear to be the most likely to demand appointments, but they are also more likely to meet with reps, because they own the practice.

On the other hand, “doctors in larger practices are requiring appointments because their policies are governed by corporate owners, such as medical groups and health systems,” Schember said. “In some cases, pharma reps have to apply through the corporate owner for clearance to visit a single office.”

Physicians in specialties such as diagnostic radiology, pathology, and neuroradiology are the most likely to deny all access to reps, while diabetes specialists are the most likely to meet with a rep. Just make sure to schedule an appointment ahead of time.

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Upcoming Webcast: The Visibility Solution

The Visibility Solution: Delivering an Accurate View of Clinical Operations
Thursday, April 1, 2010 at 11:00 AM PT; 2:00 PM ET; 16:00 GMT

This event focuses on our Clinical Trials solution with HighPoint Solutions and is designed to illustrate how pharma companies can reduce the risk and expense of the clinical trial process with better use of data. Attend this Web seminar to understand how pharmaceutical manufacturers can obtain a clear and consistent view of clinical-trial progress and costs through effective data governance – providing a platform for future growth.

Register Free at http://pharmexec.com/clinicaloperations

Sponsor by Kalido

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Is There Life After Big Pharma?

Jacky Law

Jacky Law

Guest blog by Pharm Exec Europe’s Jacky Law.

It’s hard to get precise figures of how many people have been taken off the payroll at pharma and biotech companies recently. According to staffing firm, Challender, Gray and Christmas, the combined industries shed 58,969 jobs in the first nine months of 2009, 15,000 more than the whole of 2008. In total, that makes around 74,000 redundancies in just 21 months, many but not all of which came from sales forces. Figures from FiercePharma, meanwhile, show just ten companies saw 66,850 jobs go in 2009. And this doesn’t include layoffs from the merger of Roche and Genentech nor the 860 jobs that were announced at Boehringer Ingelheim in August.

They could do worse than follow the example of Medivation, a Californian company that has more than doubled its workforce, albeit from an extremely low base, from 28 in 2007 to 59 in 2008. Founded by a group of experienced professionals, its business model tries to bridge the gap between early-stage development and product launch. It finds promising compounds in markets with significant unmet needs, adds a bit of value and then sells them on to big pharma in record-breaking deals. In that sense, it is doing precisely what a team of analysts at Morgan Stanley said in January that Big Pharma should be doing, moving away from internal R&D and focus more on in-licensing. To move, in other words, from research and development to search and development. Read More »

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PhRMA Calls for New Style Search Link Ads

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), on Tuesday, revealed its comments to FDA about how to handle search link ads on sites such as Google and Yahoo.

PhRMA showed off two versions of its recommended search ad, one with a universal symbol that’s easily recognizable as a link to risk information (the sample one showed the FDA symbol). The other ad includes a short-form version of the adverse event warning, such as “All drugs have risks, click here for more information.”

The two versions of the search ads also include some form of warning information on the actual ad. Pharma marketers originally thought they could have risk information provided on a separate landing page linked to the ad, but FDA shot down this “one-click rule” last year.

Social Media has become a necessary evil for pharma in the past few years. Once upon a time, news took days to spread through media channels; now someone can post an article on a blog or social network site and millions of people view it almost instantly. While some pharma companies have taken advantage of social media, creating their own networks and blogs, others are taking a wait-and-see approach toward such technology. Read More »

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Takeda Changes Dexlansoprazole Brand Name From Kapidex to Dexilant

Takeda’s US subsidiary launched its proton pump inhibitor dexlansoprazole last February under the name Kapidex. No one thought they’d have to find a new name a year later.

But shortly after the launch, the company began getting reports of dispensing errors. Some were due to prescription misreading, others to simple, honest mistakes. The two drugs causing all the confusion were AstraZeneca’s Casodex (bicalutamide) and Actavis’ Kadian (morphine sulfate extended-release), treatments for prostate cancer and chronic pain, respectively.

The number of incident reports was actually quite small: less than 20 out of over a million prescriptions. Still, Takeda decided not to take any chances and expedited reporting to the FDA. They released sales reps into the healthcare professional population to increase awareness of the name confusion, published announcements in journals—and saw a decrease in incidents.

Before the company could breathe a sigh of relief, though, the numbers started climbing again. That’s when Takeda’s conversation with the FDA took on a new urgency. “The FDA recognized the fact that lots of patients have come to rely on this medication,” said Robert Spanheimer, Takeda’s VP of medical and scientific affairs in North America. “Both parties knew how important it was to not have gaps in patient care.”

So Takeda swiftly came up with a list of possible names and sent them off to the FDA for review. After some back-and-forth, they agreed on Dexilant.

Name changes can be confusing for consumers as well as professionals, so as early as next week the company will send out an army of reps to educate pharmacists and pharmacy technicians about the switch—which is just the name, by the way. The formula and approved indications are the same, Spanheimer stressed.

What’s really interesting about this story isn’t the name switch; it’s the fact that the FDA and a pharma company worked together harmoniously—and quickly—to nip a potential fiasco in the bud. All those promises of a more efficient FDA seem to be the real deal….For now, at least.

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Posted in Corporate Responsibility, FDA, Marketing, News, Safety, Strategy | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment