By Martha Rosenberg*
More than a
decade ago, the job of the pharmaceutical rep was enviable. Direct-to-consumer
advertising pre-sold many drugs so doctors already knew about them. Medical
offices welcomed the reps who were usually physically attractive and brought
lunch. In fact, reps sometimes had their own reception rooms in medical
offices.
By 2011
thanks to drug safety scandals and new methods of marketing, the bloom had
fallen off the pharma reps’ roses. The number of prescribers willing to see
most reps fell almost 20 percent, the number refusing to see all reps increased
by half, and eight million sales calls “could not be completed” at all,
reported ZS Associates.