GSK was fined $3-billion in the U.S. for off label and fraudulent promotion of its drugs and has just gotten nailed in China for bribing Doctors and fudgeing clinical trial data.
Their B.O.D.s are on the hot seat from major stock holders to take some drastic action in the wake of these scandals. It's a dog and pony show with a lot of fluff and a smokescreen to lower their promotional costs by dropping physician pitchmen and reducing rep compensation.
Pharma sales has degenerated into a salaried position since there are so many non-reporting pharmacies and sales volume is driven by formulary status. Over the top influencing influencing of HCPs with lavish dinners, pseudo conferences at resorts, outrageous speaker honoraria for high prescribing targets, preceptorships, roundtable discussions, dine and dashes, etc., are things of the past that have sullied and tarnished the reputation of the industry. The legal departments now have marketing and sales personnel on a short leash and field sales is nothing more than playing canned infomercials on an iPad and regurgitating local formulary updates. You don't need highly compensated PharmDs or M.B.A.s to execute those marketing tactics against a company issued target list. The ACA will further drive generic utilization in the near term putting more pressure on big pharma. Contract sales will also recalibrate rep compensation downward. The real sales professionals either jump to biotech or another industry as pharma sales is no longer a stable, long term lucrative profession.
