UK drug reps are turning to the industry regulator and blowing the whistle on their own companies, when they are asked to over-call on doctors.
Traditionally, many complaints made about companies to regulator the PMCPA have been from doctors or competitor companies, but reps reporting in-house misconduct is a new trend.
A new, tougher ABPI Code of Practice was introduced in January 2006, and this seems to have heightened awareness of the rules - not just among doctors, but also among reps themselves.
In particular, sales reps are increasingly fearful that if they are personally caught breaking the rules, their career will suffer.
There has been a small, but notable, increase in the number of reps complaining about the call rate targets they are given - rising from just one complaint in 2005 to four last year.
The code says reps should not normally call unsolicited on a doctor or other prescriber more than three times per year on average, but this can be supplemented by additional visits, such as group meetings.
One recent case involved a Pfizer rep who complained that he/she had been asked to call on target doctors eight times a year. The complainant said they and fellow reps knew the target was in contravention of the code and had questioned it many times, but that managers had not acted.
Pfizer claimed that there had been confusion over call rate and the broader contact rate, but the PMCPA nevertheless found it to have promoted over-calling and found it in breach of the code.
These cases come during a year in which high-profile breaches have gained considerable publicity in the media; most notably, the suspension of ABPI membership for Abbott and then Merck (MSD) for serious breaches of the code.
Heather Simmonds, Director of the PMCPA commented on the trend: "We have seen an increase in complaints from industry employees over the last year, and this could be an indication of greater awareness of the requirements of the code among staff at all levels. Representatives appear to be more willing to call their company to task if they feel they are being asked to breach the code."
She added: "While I'm sure companies would prefer if these concerns were raised internally (and in some instances they were), the most important thing is that representatives are following the code.
"Again, we encourage anyone with concerns about the activities of a pharmaceutical company to contact the PMCPA."
More at Pharmafocus
1 comment:
Finally the results of the "multiple forces of mass promotion" business model adopted by all big pharma, are showing up. Every company has at leas 5 and some up to 10 sales rep in every territory to call on the same doctora many with selling the same drugs. Frequency is also required to be very high up to 25 times per year or more for the top targets. The low targets 12 times or more. Novartis in Canada has this model (as other do) and is asking all the reps to keep the frequency up. No exceptions. They believe that the more the doc is seen and talked to about the same drugs the more they will Rx. Because docs can only tolerate one person for so many times they have up to 10 to call on regular basis.
Welcome to insenity.
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