Now integrity is even more important to your pharmaceutical sales career

With pressure to provide fewer incentives to doctors and other providers, integrity has become even more important for people pursuing a career in pharmaceutical sales. If you're thinking about a career in pharmaceutical sales, you need to keep this in mind. Read and learn about the industry marketing guidelines released in 2002, as well as the Office of Inspector Generals guidelines released last year. MedZilla offers an update on these documents aimed at guiding sales and business practices in the industry and offers tips on how you can communicate your integrity during interviews.

Marysville, WA (PRWEB) March 5, 2004 --- If youre pursuing a career in pharmaceutical sales, and you are impeccably honest, you are ahead of the game.

Integrity is more important in pharmaceutical sales than ever before," says Frank Heasley, PhD, President and CEO of MedZilla.com, a leading Internet recruitment and professional community that targets job seekers and HR professionals in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and science. The emphasis in pharmaceutical sales is shifting from one of winning physicians business based on perks and incentives to winning business based on honesty and product knowledge."

Integrity is a fundamental key because all sales are based on trust," says one respondent on MedZillas forum. Relationship building is trust. If the doctor doesnt trust you, hes not going to write your product. Also, if the company you are representing isnt truthful, [it will make all the reps look bad."

A paradigm shift in sales tactics

In the past, some pharmaceutical sales reps and their employers may have offered physicians and other providers large incentives to push pharma products, according to Michele Groutage, MedZillas director of marketing. But this has changed due to pressure from consumers and the government. Even the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), which represents research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, released a new marketing code governing pharma companies relationships with physicians and other healthcare professionals."

According to the code, released in April 2002, ...meals (but no entertainment/recreational events) may be offered so long as they: (a) are modest as judged by local standards; and (b) occur in a venue and manner conducive to informational communication and provide scientific or educational value." Including a healthcare professionals spouse or other guests is inappropriate. In addition, offering take-out meals, or meals to be eaten in the absence of a company representative -- such as dine and dash" programs -- is inappropriate.

The code specifies that token consulting or advisory arrangements should not be used to justify compensating healthcare professionals for their time, travel, lodging and other out-of-pocket expenses. The code also specifies that sales reps can offer items valued at $100 or less that primarily benefit patients. For example," the code states, an anatomical model for use in an examination room primarily involves a patient benefit, whereas a VCR or CD player does not."

The new code also states that no grants, scholarships, subsidies, support, consulting contracts, or educational or practice-related items should be offered to a healthcare professional in exchange for prescribing products or for a commitment to continue prescribing products. Nothing should be offered or provided in a manner or on conditions that would interfere with the independence of a healthcare professionals prescribing practices."

The government steps in

A year after the code was developed; the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its compliance program for pharmaceutical manufacturers. According to Lesley Ann Skillen, a partner at Getnick and Getnick in Manhattan, a general business integrity and antifraud practice, the governments guidelines pack even more punch than PhRMAs.

Although these guidelines are not laws, but rather, recommendations, the practical effect is that if a company does not comply and is caught, there is a greater chance that the government will view it as a violation of the anti-kickback act, she says. I think that pharmaceutical companies would be unwise not to comply with [the OIG guidelines."

Fortunately, now its harder than ever for companies to get away with unethical sales practices because of the whistle-blower statute, which allows private citizens who have knowledge of fraud to bring lawsuits in the name of the federal government and to share in the proceeds.

Skillen believes that pharma employers are educating their sales people about the guidelines. I think that sales and marketing reps are going to be held to stricter standards and fundamentally will have to change their practices because they have been so dependent upon getting physicians to cooperate by various financial and other incentives," she says.

One questionable practice addressed head-on in the guidelines is detailing," according to Skillen. A sales rep goes into a doctors office and gives the doctor a pitch about why the doctor should prescribe the drug. The doctor then fills out a form reporting on that pitch and gets paid for it," she says. Its very common. The OIG guidelines say that the practice is suspect and potentially in violation of the anti-kickback act because the doctor is potentially getting paid for a referral."

There have also been a series of multimillion-dollar whistle-blower cases regarding the marketing spread" to physicians. It was once common for companies to sell drugs to doctors at large discounts. The doctors would then bill Medicare for those drugs at the Medicare average wholesale price. Pharma companies, according to Skillen, were competing to see which could offer the doctors the lowest prices, resulting in the greatest profits to the doctors. Obviously that affected the clinical judgment of the doctors because they were 'incentivised' to prescribe the drug that would give them the biggest profit," she says.

Sales reps that begin their career understanding the importance of integrity might have a leg up on the competition, according to Skillen. The thing that you have to remember is that compliance is a relatively new thing for the pharma industry. I went to a conference at the end of 2002 and it was the first pharmaceutical industry compliance summit. It is somewhat remarkable that its as novel as a concept for the pharmaceutical industry. So, I think that a lot of the practices that have grown up in sales and marketing in pharma are at odds with what the government is saying is potentially illegal and unethical."

Pharma sales reps of the future, Skillen says, need to educate themselves about the OIG guidelines and make sure their employers educate them on what they can and cannot do to win sales. They need to keep their companies honest and make sure their companies keep them honest," she says.

Let your honesty shine

Roz Usheroff, a coach and communications specialist who works with pharmaceutical sales reps, has a client that developed an acronym based on the key characteristics it looks for in an interview. PRSAMGH," Usheroff says, stands for: proactivity, receptivity, stability, ability, motivation, goal orientation and honesty.

Usheroff, author of Customize Your Career: How to Develop a Winning Strategy to Move Up," says that in todays industry, sales reps need to honor integrity in their sales approach. One reason is the rapid turnover in reps. Pharmaceutical sales reps usually last three years before they are promoted, she says. Doctors are less apt to trust sales reps from the beginning. Its more important for sales reps to create that trusting relationship."

Sales reps also need to build trusting relationships to reflect well on their fellow team members. It used to be that there would be one sales rep for the doctor; now there might be six from one company. So, you want to have integrity, because if you dont, you are also impacting your team that services that physician," Usheroff says.

To communicate your integrity to recruiters, be aware of body language --make sure that youre not giving mixed messages. Be open to conversation and make eye contact, she says. Be honest in admitting your strengths, tactful in discussing your weaknesses, and talk about what you are doing to improve. Focus on loyalty and show that you are a team player, Usheroff says.

About MedZilla.com

Established in mid 1994, MedZilla is the original web site to serve career and hiring needs for professionals and employers in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medicine, science and healthcare. MedZilla databases contain about 10,000 open positions, 13,000 resumes from candidates actively seeking new positions and 71,000 archived resumes.

Medzilla® is a Registered Trademark owned by Medzilla Inc. Copyright ©2004, MedZilla, Inc. Permission is granted to reproduce and distribute this text in its entirety, and if electronically, with a link to the URL www.medzilla.com. For permission to quote from or reproduce any portion of this message, please contact Michele Groutage, Director of Marketing and Development, MedZilla, Inc. Email: mgroutage@medzilla.com.

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Contact: Michele Groutage

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