Drug Pushers !

Perhaps there is a fine line between the people who make illegal drugs available and are sought by the police and the legitimate industry that serves the big pharmaceutical companies.  The entire commercial world employs a sales force to move its products and nowhere is this more hotly contested than in the drug world.

The medical profession is well served by medical journals which provide indepth analysis of new drugs entering the market and expert comment on their benefits.   In some cases a new entrant is replacing an older treatment, but very often it is simply providing an extra benefit to other drugs and may be at a much higher price to generic counterparts.   That is something a medico may take into consideration when writing scripts.

Big Pharma employs well trained sales Representatives who visit doctors in their surgeries and promote their companies products.   In many cases these representatives come bearing gifts that may include expensive new diagnostic equipment or even items like a new Smartphone.   The aim is to achieve a cordial relationship and the hope that the doctor will favour that company's products.

A decade or so ago pharmaceutical promotions came under the spotlight when it was learned that many companies were holding medical conferences at exotic resorts.   Invitations to key doctors and their wives included air fares and while the conferences spanned several days, the actual medical briefings were sparse, leaving much time for holiday activities.  It was concluded that these were little more than bribes to influence the movement of the sponsors products - and they fell into disfavour.

Bringing a new drug to market comes at enormous cost.   The development process contains many hazards and there is a long delay while the testing process seeks any side effects and then come the work to gain a patent.  The company owning that patent can expect protection during the patent period and that will be a time of big profits, but once the patent expires competitors will be able to copy that formulae and market a generic product.   In most cases, the price will fall precipitously.

It is in the company's interest to heavily promote their patented drug during patent protection and that is why they deploy a sales force to achieve maximum penetration.  Many doctors do not readily accept new drugs and prefer to stick with older drugs that have served them well.   It is the task of the drug task force to change their minds.

We now learn that the drug companies are targetting nurses with lengthy medical conferences held at luxury resorts.   While nurses do not write scripts, they are hugely influential in most medical practices.  This seems to have been the line of approach with promoting the newly released Hepatitis C drug Daklinza.   That encompassed bringing seventy nurses to an educational conference at the luxury Langhams hotel in Melbourne.

The industry needs to watch carefully to ensure that product promotion remains within commercial guidelines.   Should it stray order the border and bring accusations of bribery - there will be consequences !