From the Philly Inquirer:
AstraZeneca said it has disciplined some sales managers for encouraging improper promotional activity and is "actively" investigating others.
The London-based company, with U.S. headquarters in Wilmington and major operations around Philadephia, made the announcement late Friday a week after firing a regional sales director, Michael Zubillaga, 50, of Kennett Square.
Zubillaga, in an internal newsletter, had exhorted sales representatives who call on cancer doctors to view those doctors' offices as a "bucket of money." After industry bloggers obtained and published his comments on the Internet, casting the company in a negative light, the company fired him for allegedly violating its policy on ethical conduct.
But another comment by Zubillaga, in the same newsletter, evidently was just as troublesome and provoked the new claims. Zubillaga was quoted as lamenting that sales reps last year had been too slow to promote AstraZeneca's cancer drug Arimidex in direct comparison to Novartis AG's treatment, Femara.
"We should have changed our strategy with our core messages earlier in regards to selling against letrozole," Zubillaga says in the newsletter. Letrozole is the generic name for Femara.
Such direct comparison or counter-promotion of two drugs could be improper, since neither company has tested the products directly against each other.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration prohibits drug companies from promoting their products without valid or FDA-approved data, and requires them always to present "fair" and "balanced" data in their sales pitches.
Despite the prohibition, Peter Rost, a former Pfizer Inc. marketing executive and now author of the blog Question Authority (http://www.peterrost.blogspot.com/), said anonymous AstraZeneca sources have sent him documents indicating that sales managers have compiled comparison data for sales reps. He said these are the same sources who initially sent him the Zubillaga newsletter that turned out to be genuine.
In response, AstraZeneca said:
"The company takes claims of misconduct very seriously and investigates these in a timely and effective manner. Investigations concerning the specific claims referenced were initiated. Some claims reported prior to this incident were investigated and concluded with appropriate corrective action being taken. More recent claims are actively being investigated."
AstraZeneca already is under heightened scrutiny by regulators from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services for illegal marketing and billing involving another cancer drug, Zoladex, in 2003. It paid a $355 million fine and must report suspicious or improper activities by its employees to regulators.
AstraZeneca also said it is continuing to look into production of the newsletter itself, a subject of incessant debate and speculation on Internet chat rooms and industry blogs in the last 10 days.
AstraZeneca said it has disciplined some sales managers for encouraging improper promotional activity and is "actively" investigating others.
The London-based company, with U.S. headquarters in Wilmington and major operations around Philadephia, made the announcement late Friday a week after firing a regional sales director, Michael Zubillaga, 50, of Kennett Square.
Zubillaga, in an internal newsletter, had exhorted sales representatives who call on cancer doctors to view those doctors' offices as a "bucket of money." After industry bloggers obtained and published his comments on the Internet, casting the company in a negative light, the company fired him for allegedly violating its policy on ethical conduct.
But another comment by Zubillaga, in the same newsletter, evidently was just as troublesome and provoked the new claims. Zubillaga was quoted as lamenting that sales reps last year had been too slow to promote AstraZeneca's cancer drug Arimidex in direct comparison to Novartis AG's treatment, Femara.
"We should have changed our strategy with our core messages earlier in regards to selling against letrozole," Zubillaga says in the newsletter. Letrozole is the generic name for Femara.
Such direct comparison or counter-promotion of two drugs could be improper, since neither company has tested the products directly against each other.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration prohibits drug companies from promoting their products without valid or FDA-approved data, and requires them always to present "fair" and "balanced" data in their sales pitches.
Despite the prohibition, Peter Rost, a former Pfizer Inc. marketing executive and now author of the blog Question Authority (http://www.peterrost.blogspot.com/), said anonymous AstraZeneca sources have sent him documents indicating that sales managers have compiled comparison data for sales reps. He said these are the same sources who initially sent him the Zubillaga newsletter that turned out to be genuine.
In response, AstraZeneca said:
"The company takes claims of misconduct very seriously and investigates these in a timely and effective manner. Investigations concerning the specific claims referenced were initiated. Some claims reported prior to this incident were investigated and concluded with appropriate corrective action being taken. More recent claims are actively being investigated."
AstraZeneca already is under heightened scrutiny by regulators from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services for illegal marketing and billing involving another cancer drug, Zoladex, in 2003. It paid a $355 million fine and must report suspicious or improper activities by its employees to regulators.
AstraZeneca also said it is continuing to look into production of the newsletter itself, a subject of incessant debate and speculation on Internet chat rooms and industry blogs in the last 10 days.
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