Listening to the Wrong Docs? Maybe So

The text for this sermon is a blog posting on the eyeforpharma.com website: http://social.eyeforpharma.com/blogs/lisa-roner/what’s-doc

This firm recently sponsored a conference for drug reps and their handlers, Sales Force Effectiveness USA 2009 (see previous posting, http://brodyhooked.blogspot.com/search?q=eyeforpharma). Not having $2295 for the registration fee burning a hole in my pocket at the time, I elected not to register for the conference, so I'm glad that Lisa Roner has posted about a panel discussion among practicing physicians that occurred there.

Ms. Roner tells us that these 5 physicians on the panel had a point of view quite different from what most of us have been reading about lately, and from the pontifications of various medical organizations. These docs are thrilled to spend time visiting with reps. They highly value the information and materials that reps provide for them. They appreciate shortcuts given how busy they are, but getting rid of reps or diminishing Pharma influence over their practice is the last thing on their to-do list.

Roner suggests:

When asked why their attitudes toward reps and their usefulness seemed to differ from so much from what we hear from professional medical associations today, one participant explained that most of the boards that state positions on such matters are populated by academic MDs, whose perspectives and available time for researching new information on prescription drugs is different than that of practicing clinicians.
It was interesting to hear that the organizations that claim to speak for physicians perhaps don’t really represent the views of those truly serving patients....
In short, although they had some suggestions for improvement, this was not a group that appeared to want to distance itself from pharma or its reps. In fact, it was quite the opposite . These doctors saw value in what pharma and its reps have to offer. Funny that’s not what we hear in the media or from the political lobby. Have we been listening to the wrong “doctors?”

So-- just where did this much more representative group of doctors, who "truly" serve their patients (while academic physicians, apparently, only pretend to) come from? The post does not say exactly how they were chosen, except to say that the panel was moderated by Hank Parish, VP of Doctor Directory. Just what exactly is Doctor Directory? Business Week e-trade tells us:

DoctorDirectory.com, Inc. operates as an online directory for finding a doctor by specialty. Its solutions include IncreaseRx, market research, eSampling, consumer email, physician email, eDetailing, custom directory, and advertising. The company also provides patients from online directory, cash for online research projects, online sample closet, and practice management advice to the physicians. It serves pharmaceutical prescription drug manufacturing companies, patients, and physicians.

I like that last part-- the company serves "pharmaceutical prescription drug manufacturing companies, patients, and physicians"--presumably in that order. So a group of 5 physicians selected by that outfit (presumably) is a more reliable sample of physician sentiment than what is said by major medical organizations?

Now, perhaps it does--perhaps the views of these 5 docs are truly more representative of the rank and file than anything I or the AMA or the AAMC says. That's why it's still important to recall a key fact about ethics--it's not a popularity contest. You don't get to say that something is ethical merely by putting it to a vote. Even if 90 percent of US physicians believe what these dudes said in their panel, it would not make it the ethically correct answer.

It would just make it a sad commentary on the state of American medicine.

(Thanks to Marilyn Mann for calling my attention to the blog!)

Get the Goods on Drug Industry Marketing--Only $2295 If You Hurry!

My esteemed colleague Marilyn Mann, who has been a great help in highlighting items for my attention, was so kind as to send me the 8-brochure for this conference:

http://www.eyeforpharma.com/sfeusa/index.shtml

--to wit, eyeforpharma's Sales Force Effectiveness Summit, to be held May 4-5 in Princeton, NJ.

I wanted to give you the link to the brochure itself. But when you click on "download brochure" on the homepage above, you are asked to fill in a series of questions, including name, position, and company you work for. Only then can you access the brochure. I am not sure if that is designed to keep out snoops like me, who are not really part of Pharma marketing, or of it's just part of their own marketing campaign to expand their e-Rolodex. Anyhow, being sufficiently paranoid that I did not want to tell them who I am, I did not access the brochure myself and will rely on the copy Marilyn kindly sent me.

First thing that jumps out at a pore ole academic like me is the price tag-- if you want the Platinum package, which gives you access to the most bells and whistles, this 2-day event will cost you $2295--it goes up to $2695 if you miss the "early bird" window. (If you're a skinflint, you can make do with the Silver pass for a mere $1795.)

More seriously, though, I scanned the program to see if I could find any clues about what impact efforts at reform of Pharma marketing, such as the new PhRMA code of conduct that bans pens and coffee mugs, etc., is having on the way that the marketers themselves think about their work. Answer--not much, apparently. There are a number of vague references to the "changing climate" (for instance, "Understand how the role of the rep has altered in light of economic and political change to refocus your targets and objectives"). But for the most part it seems to be business as usual.

Sessions on "Sales Tools and Technology" and "Physician Access," for instance, will instruct you on how to "teach your reps to 'target within their target' at key sales periods to further optimize sales and establish relationships"; "recognize the barriers to entry that reps face"; "learn to communicate with your physician demographic to understand their thought process"; "web based promotion, e-detailing and tele-detailing."

What industry outsiders like me learn from this program, mostly, is the way that big fleas have little fleas to suck their blood and so forth. Pharma wants to sell drugs to patients, meaning that physicians must write scripts, so they have to sell to physicians. In turn, marketing know-how companies (like eyeforpharma, and most of the companies that are putting on panels at the conference) want to sell their consulting services and technologies to the Pharma firms. It would all be laughable if all of this blood-sucking (including the exhorbitant conference registration costs) did not end up on the tab of the poor patient who has to pay for the drugs.