Healthy Skepticism Library item: 14329

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: news

Goldstein J.
After Cutting U.S. Sales Reps, Merck Brings in Contract Sales Force
The Wall Street Journal Health Blog 2008 Sep 19
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/09/19/after-cutting-us-sales-reps-merck-brings-in-contract-sales-force/

Full text:

A few months ago, Merck said it was cutting about 15% of its U.S. sales force – some 1,200 positions. Now the drugmaker says it’s bringing in some contract sales reps to hawk its drugs.

The company has formed a “strategic partnership” with inVentiv Health, a shop that does lots of sales and marketing work for Big Pharma.

Merck spokeswoman Amy Rose told Dow Jones Newswires that “rather than recruit, hire or keep full-time representatives on the books, we’re creating a more flexible approach so as the market demands, we can expand and contract the number of reps we have at our disposal.”

The company wouldn’t be specific about how many inVentiv reps will be working the field for Merck, or which drugs they’ll be promoting. But Rose said the partnership does not include vaccines or drugs marketed to oncologists, ophthalmologists, or dermatologists. That leaves some big drugs often prescribed by primary care docs, including the allergy drug Singulair and the blood pressure medicines Cozaar and Hyzaar, Dow Jones notes.

The agreement didn’t do much for investors’ view of inVentiv, whose shares were down 12% in midday trading to about $18 a piece. Despite the Merck win and a banner day on Wall Street, inVentiv was hammered for losing a contract to promote blood pressure med Micardis for Boehringer Ingelheim.