My father retired from GSK several years ago. He started his career with Warner Chilcott, a division or Warner Lambert over 40 years ago. Into his 70's he was still calling on doctors and able to see many inspite of how the industry changed. He attributed that to his maturity and network that he had established over a life time career in big pharma.
I would imagine that most doctors are under pressure see as many patients as possible in as little time as they can. Meeting with sales people is a thing of the past. I've been in sales for 30 years and 10 of those inculde being a sales trainer. I cannot imaging selling pharma and they don't require sales training (soft selling skills versus product knowledge). The days of reps building relationships with doctors is gone.
When did we start to see mass marketing of prescription drugs directly to consumers? I can't remember, but it doesn't seem that it was as prevelant 10-15 years ago as it was today. Would Viagra be a blockbuster drug if it hadn't been in print media, radio and TV ads?
I really hope that Afrezza is embraced by the medical community and does not require a media blitz to drive sales. My concern is that pharma reps do not have access to doctors or will not have the time or expertise to develop the market. That leaves us with having to create the market by to taking it directly to the consumer with advertising.
I was heavily invested in Amylin and participated in a phase 3 trial on Bydureon. Absolutely great stuff and Amylin knew they did not have the ability to create the market. They sold out and yet I still don't think the medical community is aware of this marvelous drug. My father (now 78) is a pharmacy technician and my neighbor is a pharmicist at CVS. Neither my father or neighbor has ever filled a Bydureon script. I find that amazing. Afrezza needs to be the gold standard of diabetes treatment.
