pharmaceutical sales representative

Doctors can receive small gifts, such as free dinners, event or travel tickets, clocks, free drug samples and swag{{cite web|url=http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-10-22/online-extra-cracking-down-on-pharma-swag|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140503215138/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2006-10-22/online-extra-cracking-down-on-pharma-swag|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 3, 2014|title=Online Extra: Cracking Down on Pharma Swag|last=Weintraub|first=Arlene|date=October 22, 2006|publisher=businessweek.com|access-date=8 July 2013}} like pens, paper pads, and office toys with company logos.{{r|DrugRush}} Controversial inducements include jobs offers for the drug company, consulting / speaking fees,{{cite web|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/lawsuits-say-pharma-illegally-paid-doctors-to-push-their-drugs|title=Lawsuits Say Pharma Illegally Paid Doctors to Push Their Drugs|last=Ornstein|first=Charles|author2=Tracy Weber|date=Oct 18, 2010|publisher=propublica.org|access-date=8 July 2013|archive-date=9 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709100007/http://www.propublica.org/article/lawsuits-say-pharma-illegally-paid-doctors-to-push-their-drugs|url-status=live}} and all-expense-paid travel to resorts{{cite web|url=http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/morreim/prescribing.html|title=Prescribing Under the Influence|last=Haavi Morreim|first=E.|publisher=scu.edu|access-date=8 July 2013|archive-date=6 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706125600/http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/morreim/prescribing.html|url-status=live}} and exotic locations where attendance is limited or not mandatory.{{cite web|url=https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/|title=Dollars for Docs: How Industry Dollars Reach Your Doctors|last=Merrill|first=Jeremy|author2=Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber, Sisi Wei and Dan Nguyen|date=June 24, 2013|access-date=8 July 2013|archive-date=8 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708062912/http://projects.propublica.org/docdollars/|url-status=live}}

Pharmaceutical Representative is a trade journal featuring common sales tactics such as how to close a tough sale by flattering a stubborn doctor.[http://pharmrep.findpharma.com/ pharmrep.findpharma.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130082848/http://pharmrep.findpharma.com/ |date=2011-11-30 }} Along with flattery, the attractiveness of sales reps has been noted, with a trend of former cheerleaders entering the field. Researchers stated that "seduction appeared to be a deliberate industry strategy", and in informal survey by a doctor found that 12 out of 13 women sales reps said they had been sexually harassed by doctors.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/28/business/28cheer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=Gimme an Rx! Cheerleaders Pep Up Drug Sales|last=Saul|first=Stephanie|date=November 28, 2005|work=New York Times|access-date=8 July 2013|archive-date=29 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329000650/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/28/business/28cheer.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|url-status=live}}

Sales reps push new "follow on" or "me-too" drugs with free samples{{Cite web| url=https://www.propublica.org/article/vying-for-market-share-companies-heavily-promote-me-too-drugs| title=Vying for Market Share, Companies Heavily Promote 'Me Too' Drugs| date=2015-01-07| access-date=2018-07-02| archive-date=2018-07-03| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703050520/https://www.propublica.org/article/vying-for-market-share-companies-heavily-promote-me-too-drugs| url-status=live}}[https://www.who.int/intellectualproperty/topics/ip/Me-tooDrugs_Hollis1.pdf Me-too drugs]WHO {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111215524/https://www.who.int/intellectualproperty/topics/ip/Me-tooDrugs_Hollis1.pdf |date=2020-11-11 }} that are more expensive than existing generic drugs, such as Nexium which costs three times as much as its predecessor Prilosec, with no evidence of improved efficacy.{{cite web|url=http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2005summer/drugs-metoo.html|title=Me-too drugs|last=Spector|first=Rosanne|year=2005|publisher=Stanford Medicine Magazine|access-date=8 July 2013|archive-date=4 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004233353/http://stanmed.stanford.edu/2005summer/drugs-metoo.html|url-status=dead}} With beta-blockers and statins, me-too drugs have improved results, and increased competition while lowering prices.{{cite web|url=http://www.pharmainfo.net/reviews/me-too-drugs-good-or-bad|title=Me-Too Drugs : Good or Bad?|last=Murti|first=Yogesh|date= 7 May 2008|work=pharmainfo.net|access-date=8 July 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130708063230/http://www.pharmainfo.net/reviews/me-too-drugs-good-or-bad|archive-date=8 July 2013}} As me-too drugs are similar but new, their side effects can be unknown and not well understood. Pharmaceutical marketing / reps assert a me-too drug may work better than another, but they "don’t test their me-too drugs in people who have not done well with an earlier drug of the same class."{{cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/09/truth-about-drug-companies|title=The Truth About Drug Companies|last=Meredith|first=Peter|date=Sep 7, 2004|publisher=motherjones.com|access-date=8 July 2013|archive-date=9 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130709221424/http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2004/09/truth-about-drug-companies|url-status=live}}

In 1990, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) passed laws banning "gifts of substantial value" of drug companies to doctors, however this has changed the gifts from objects to meals and travel.{{cite web|url=http://www.nofreelunch.org/faqs.htm|title=FAQs|publisher=nofreelunch.org|access-date=29 October 2014|archive-date=10 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181110102357/http://www.nofreelunch.org/faqs.htm|url-status=dead}}

In 2006, New Hampshire forbid the sale of prescription data to commercial entities.{{Cite web|author=Paul C. Remus|url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/First-in-the-nation+law+pits+N.H.+against+drug+industry.-a0155402582|title=First-in-the-nation law pits N.H. against drug industry. |work= New Hampshire Business Review |publisher=Yankee Publishing|date=November 10, 2006|access-date=10 November 2023 |via=TheFreeLibrary}}[http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2006/HB1346.html gencourt.state.nh.us] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306173001/http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2006/HB1346.html |date=2010-03-06 }} Chapter 328 – HB 1346 – Final Version

Encountering ill-informed reps at his practice Dr. Dan Foster, a West Virginia surgeon and lawmaker, introduced a bill to require reps to have science degrees. While it did not pass, it led to a disclosure of minimum hiring requirements.

In Australia the government funds academic detailers that are impartial medical students who provide drug information to medical professionals.{{cite web|url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0005.pomper.html|title=Drug Rush|last=Pomper|first=Stephen|date=May 2000|publisher=The Washington Monthly|access-date=3 December 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120204040615/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0005.pomper.html|archive-date=4 February 2012}}

• Bad Pharma (2012) by Ben Goldacre
• Big Pharma (2006) by Jacky Law
• Me-too compound
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Pharmaceutical marketing
• Ethics in pharmaceutical sales
• Sales techniques

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120204040615/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2000/0005.pomper.html Drug Rush] – Why the prescription drug market is unsafe at high speeds
• Carlat, Daniel. [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/magazine/25memoir-t.html?_r=1 "Dr. Drug Rep"], New York Times magazine, 25 November 2007.

{{Pharmaceutical industry in the United Kingdom}}

{{Pharmaceutical industry in the United States}}

{{Pharmaceutical industry by country}}

{{Public health}}

{{Medicine}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Sales occupations

Category:drug marketing and sales

it:Informatore scientifico del farmaco