MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'drug reps'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:22:30 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4676790&cid=t_156111_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fthe-future-of-the-doctor-drug-rep-relationship%2F2011.04.03 Patient care is increasingly under third party control.  And as a consequence I make fewer decisions regarding the brand of medication used in my patients. So the role of a pharmaceutical rep comes into question.  If I don’t choose which medication my patients will use, why would a representative call on me?  And as American medicine becomes more centralized and standardized, I wonder how and why industry will connect with treating physicians.  Pharma it seems is asking the same question: Of the core medications I prescribe, I see far fewer reps these days and our relationships are markedly different from a decade ago. I don’t miss the pitch.  But I find the element of human support to be important.  For example, recently the FDA issued a black box warning for the concomitant use... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4676790 Mon, 04 Apr 2011 00:00:59 +0100 4676790 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636659&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F5PvEgH1s4QA%2F The pharmaceutical industry has traditionally established ties to doctors during their formative years in residency programs, but more recently, drugmakers have been shunned by several high-profile academic medical centers over concerns of undue influence on medical practice. Now, a new study in Academic Medicine finds that a wide array of family medicine residencies are taking similar steps. The researchers conducted a nationwide survey of family medicine residencies to determine the extent and type of industry interactions with trainees and to identify so-called pharma-free residencies that avoided iindustry influence. And so they e-mailed four questions to residency directors or coordinators at all 460 accredited US family med residencies. In all, 286 replied. The findings: 75 residenc... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636659 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:11:57 +0100 4636659 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3729875&cid=t_156111_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Findustry-sponsored-medical-education-should-big-pharma-buy-doctors-lunch%2F2010.07.06 “Appetite for Instruction: Why Big Pharma should buy your doctor lunch sometimes” is the headline of an article on Slate.com that has upset many readers. I’m not terribly upset about it because it just seems too naive and misinformed to get upset about. The final line of the piece tells you all you need to know about the tone of the column: “Ousting commercial support is creating a huge chasm in medical education, leaving doctors not only hungry but also starved for knowledge.” A number of online comments were posted in reaction to the piece. (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Gary Schwitzer's HealthNewsReview Blog* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3729875 Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:00:39 +0100 3729875 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3040011&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F11%2Fblack-monday-for-sanofi-reps.html Jim Edwards has the scoop (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3040011 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:07:00 +0100 3040011 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2512257&cid=t_156111_129_f&fid=36035&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.everydayhealth.com%2Fblog%2Flife-with-chronic-pain%2Fnot-all-drug-pushers-are-standing-on-the-corner%2F Many of you, our friends who visit us frequently, have expressed concern and exasperation over all the ads on TV and in magazines from the pharmaceutical companies. They have the pretty girls, the singing birds, the sunshine and very robust individuals extolling the virtues of a particular new drug. Our families and friends seem to be more taken in by the ads than we are. It reminds me of all the candy they sell beside the gossip magazines at the supermarket checkout. The candies are for the kiddies to beg off Mommy and the magazines, well, they’re just trash for the brain. Since the drug companies in this country are the largest lobby group in Washington, they have a lot to sell. When their main line drugs reach the termination age and are allowed to become generic, they lose money.... Life with Chronic Pain blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2512257 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:11:49 +0100 2512257 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2285063&cid=t_156111_97_f&fid=35606&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theangriestpharmacist.com%2F2009%2F03%2F20%2Fdrug-companies-corrupt-no%2F By NO, I mean yes… DRUG COMPANY CORRUPT We all know my thoughts on this, and recently Zyprexa paid out some BIG BUCKS because they pushed off label uses. It is now mega illegal for a drug rep to even utter the words off-label to a physician. Thanks to WILL for sending this to me… -=+=- BONUS: A lady bitch pissed me off today for standing at the register after I told her 15 minutes. After about 2 minutes of standing at the register I said, “Ma’am, it’s gonna be a while. If you wanna have a seat, I’ll hollar at you when we’re done.” Her response? “I don’t have time for that. If I walk away from this counter you all will just lolligag around, and it will never get done. I have to keep my eye on you.” In her honor, we now have t... The Angriest Pharmacist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2285063 Fri, 20 Mar 2009 05:03:35 +0100 2285063 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2169802&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fdr-max-writes.html http://drugreptime.wordpress.com/I observe some major changes in the way pharma promotes its products. Interestingly, it is not the result of strategies by marketing and sales departments. The time we live in, the dynamics of health care, growing lay offs, pathological spread of the influence of regulatory and legal, and, of course, apathy, all contributed to this new reality of pharmaceutical sales.The following is the short list of strategies for better sales by drug reps as of January 2009. I do not like them since they appeal mainly to subcorical parts of doctors brains . I do not promote them either. I just pass them along to you since they work most of the time for others.1. Find a way to directly pay busy doctors of your choice. Examples: “Speaking” engagements without making th... PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2169802 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 16:29:00 +0100 2169802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2132560&cid=t_156111_97_f&fid=35606&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theangriestpharmacist.com%2F2009%2F01%2F25%2Fanother-rule-or-two-to-circumvent%2F I’m excited. We’ve got more rules to break or circumvent. Are you? http://tinyurl.com/NoMorePens — News Article http://tinyurl.com/BigPharma — Members of PhRMA As you all may have heard, certain pharmaceutical companies have recently adopted a new “ETHICS POLICY” banning all gift-giving to prescribers. They are still allowed, however, to disperse “EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL” as well as meals for “office-based lessons.” [I read this as "LOTION" for "HANDJOBS" or "BREASTS" for "GAWKING' AT" -- with the lotion being slapped with a FORTAMET sticker, of course!] We all know that this is horseshit (what Pharma said — what I said is right on the money). While they cannot give away pens, clocks, stress balls, calendars, scissors, stapler... The Angriest Pharmacist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2132560 Sun, 25 Jan 2009 17:00:29 +0100 2132560 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1939057&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fgsk-to-lose-1000-us-barbies-and-yams.html GlaxoSmithKline Europe's largest drugmaker, will eliminate 1,000 sales positions in the U.S. as part of a plan to trim costs.The jobs will be cut by the end of the year, Claire Brough, a company spokeswoman, said in a telephone interview today. Glaxo said in October 2007 that it would cut jobs in sales, manufacturing and research as part of a plan to save 700 million pounds ($1.12 billion) per year by 2010.In June, the company said it planned to cut about 350 jobs in research and development in the U.S., U.K. and Italy.More (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1939057 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:38:00 +0100 1939057 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1876020&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F10%2Fpfizer-attention-drug-reps-incoming.html One hint that Pfizer layoffs will only continue: The company extended its severance-package program, which was due to expire at year's end, through mid-2009, because the drugmaker couldn't treat new layoffs differently from those cut previously.According to sources close to the action, those layoffs probably would include a large number of sales reps. FiercePharma has the report.And Ed at Pharmalot has the story. (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1876020 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 08:48:00 +0100 1876020 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1856022&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F10%2Fdrug-samples-just-say-no.html A new study suggests that free drug samples, an effective marketing tool for the drug industry, do little to help the poor and may put children’s health at risk.Researchers from Harvard medical school analyzed data from a federal survey, and found that in 2004 children in the lowest income group weren’t more likely than those in the highest group to get free samples — in part because poor children have less access to doctors overall. And uninsured children were more likely than those with insurance to get the samples.Free samples are often given for new drugs that have less of a proven safety record than older medicines, one of the study’s authors told the New York Times. And samples sometimes lack specific instructions for children.More (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1856022 Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:00:00 +0100 1856022 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1531217&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Fkol-super-drug-rep.html Are senior doctors who help drug companies sell their drugs independent experts or just drug representatives in disguise, asks Ray Moynihan from the University of Newcastle in Australia, in this weeks BMJ.Moynihan exposes the reality behind the practice with some candid revelations from industry insiders.Pharmaceutical companies regularly sponsor leading specialists with "generous fees to peddle influence" and promote drugs to the profession and the public, writes Moynihan.Drug companies will pay influential doctors up to $400 an hour to act as key opinion leaders (KOLs), and some doctors earn more than $25 000 a year in advisory fees.Kimberly Elliot, a former award-winning drug company sales representative interviewed (watch the videos) by Moynihan, reveals that drug companies desperately... PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1531217 Fri, 20 Jun 2008 04:32:00 +0100 1531217 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1518677&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Ffor-peter-pinata-pitts-at-drugwanks.html Hat tip: http://placebojournal.com/ (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1518677 Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:45:00 +0100 1518677 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1502545&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Fthird-sanofi-aventis-drug-reps-to-go.html French drugs group Sanofi-Aventis on Monday confirmed a newspaper report saying that it planned to cut over 700 jobs in France.Sanofi-Aventis passe à l'étape suivante de son programme de réductions d'effectifs de visiteurs médicaux en France: l'annonce d'un plan social qui se traduira par 700 à 800 suppressions de postes. According to French daily Les Echos, the group could cut between 700 and 800 positions of sales representatives in France, or one-third of a total workforce of 2,200. (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1502545 Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:05:00 +0100 1502545 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1426327&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F05%2Fguess-what-merck-has-called-its-1200.html "Plan to Win"! (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1426327 Wed, 07 May 2008 09:00:00 +0100 1426327 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1423169&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F05%2Fmerck-gives-field-force-little-to-cheer.html Merck said Monday that it is eliminating 1,200 U.S. sales jobs, a move that comes a week after federal regulators' surprise rejection of Cordaptive.The cuts come on top of the elimination of about 8,100 positions under the sweeping restructuring plan announced in December 2005.The new cuts are to be completed by the end of July and amount to nearly 15 percent of the 8,500 sales jobs Merck had at the beginning of 2007, said Amy Rose, spokeswoman for the Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based firm. More at The Trib Insider's view: time to blow the whistle, perhaps? (Source: PharmaGossip) PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1423169 Tue, 06 May 2008 07:52:00 +0100 1423169 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1079657&cid=t_156111_90_f&fid=34499&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcalifmedicineman.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Fmore-what-drug-reps-think-of-us.html (Source: California Medicine Man) California Medicine Man blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1079657 Fri, 07 Dec 2007 15:54:00 +0100 1079657 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1052568&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F191305444%2F No one ever said it would be easy. But being a rep these days, well, it just seems to get harder and harder. At least that’s the take-away message from a poll conducted for Pharmaceutical Representative magazine. The sample size of 205 respondents, including 29 who indicated they were in a management role, is rather small. Nonetheless, a temperature reading can be useful and they mostly work at big names - Glaxo, Sanofi-Aventis, Pfizer, Abbott, AstraZeneca, Schering-Plough and Merck, for instance. Of course, to live is to complain. And so the reps say the one thing that has the most “negative impact on performance” is the industry’s own code governing interactions with docs. Adopted five years ago, the PhRMA code, for those who don’t recall, is supposed to cre... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1052568 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:29:35 +0100 1052568 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1048566&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F189815483%2F In a first-person essay in The New York Times magazine, Danny Carlat, a psychiatrist and gadfly who publishes a newsletter about drug research and marketing, recounts how he was wooed by Wyeth to pitch Effexor to other docs. The tale is, basically, one man’s primer on how the process often works - how the reps schmooze, the drugmaker pays and the doc is seduced. For those unfamiliar with the routine, this is worthy reading. For those in the know, this is a reminder of the ceaseless tension between marketing and science. This is how Carlat opens his mea culpa… “On a blustery fall New England day in 2001, a friendly representative from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals came into my office in Newburyport, Mass., and made me an offer I found hard to refuse. He asked me if I’d like to g... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1048566 Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:36:40 +0100 1048566 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1024183&cid=t_156111_90_f&fid=34499&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcalifmedicineman.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F11%2Fwhat-drug-reps-think-of-doctors.html (Source: California Medicine Man) California Medicine Man blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1024183 Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:15:00 +0100 1024183 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1020076&cid=t_156111_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F183537073%2F The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is putting the finishing touches on a conflicts-of-interest policy that will establish new guidelines for distributing sample medications provided by drugmakres, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. The wide-ranging policy also will impose restrictions on consulting relationships, ban gifts from sales reps and call for other restrictions. The policy will apply to about 50,000 people - faculty, staff and students of the university’s Schools of the Health Sciences, and other professionals and staff employed or contracted by UPMC’s US operations. The move comes after the American Medical Student Association began an aggressive campaign ranking med school policies in hopes of reducing industry influence. The organization recently held its... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1020076 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:23:39 +0100 1020076