How influential drug giants exercise their power
What does a regional sales manager for a major international drug
company see when he looks at a doctor's office?
Here's how one sales manager puts it: 'I see it like this: There is a
big bucket of money sitting in every office. Every time you go in, you
reach your hand in the bucket and grab a handful. The more times you
are in, the more money goes in your pocket. Every time you make a call, you are looking to make more money.'
Wow that's brutally honest! But here's what makes it appalling: The
sales manager is talking about oncology doctors. That's right he
equates doctors who treat cancer with a big bucket of money.
Executives for the sales manager's company (AstraZeneca) also found the comment just a little too honest: He was promptly fired.
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Pay pal
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A Reuters Health article ran with the headline: 'Posing as Pals, Drug
Reps Sway Doctors' Choices.' The article looked at two recent studies
that examine the strategies drug reps use to win over doctors and
influence their prescribing practices everything from free lunches to
gifts.
Meanwhile, back at AstraZeneca, things are not going well.
That 'big bucket of money' quote appeared in an AstraZeneca newsletter, sent out in April, and was intended for internal distribution only. But when it jumped the internal loop and surfaced on the Internet, it set off tremors through AstraZeneca's sales ranks.
But now, about a month later, we find out that this inflammatory
incident is actually very small potatoes compared to the potential
tsunami of legal problems prompted by AstraZeneca's sales strategy for a breast cancer drug known as Arimidex.
US Congressional Quarterly reports that a group of current and former
AstraZeneca employees recently accused the company of developing a
clearly defined marketing strategy aimed at persuading doctors to
prescribe Arimidex for off-label use. Doctors can prescribe drugs for
off-label conditions for which the medical authorities havent approved
the drugs, but drug sales reps are strictly forbidden from encouraging
such use.
A Health and Human Services (HHS) investigation may soon be underway, complicated by the fact that AstraZeneca was fined $355 million in 2003 for improper marketing of a prostate cancer drug called Zoladex. At that time, AstraZeneca executives signed a Corporate Integrity Agreement with HHS, promising to adhere to established standards of conduct.
Oops! I guess someone at AstraZeneca didn't get that memo.
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