I heard the training is over and you started the launch few days ago. How is it going?
I was very close (in my opinion at least) to get one of the positions, but it did not work out. Oh well.
Good luck.
I heard the training is over and you started the launch few days ago. How is it going?
I was very close (in my opinion at least) to get one of the positions, but it did not work out. Oh well.
Good luck.
Going great!
The physician interest is high and the reps are motivated! We are pumped!!
Honestly, what is an easier job. Selling a novel, one of a kind, specialty drug and working through reimbursement with relevant stakeholders, or selling a Statin in a crowded market with a specialty that doesn't want to deal with another rep for perhaps the rest of their careers.
Let's not overrate what we do on a day to day basis. Some of us have been lucky with good formulary coverage, large teaching medical centers, etc., and that combined with hard work will eventually take an average rep/manager to the top of the heap. Appreciate what you have, because it could be gone in a flash due to circumstances beyond our control. However, if you let past success go to your head, well, there may not be many people willing to help you/us out if things don't work out here after all.
I second this. Not one customer I visited the past two weeks said they would not use this product and most had patients already in mind. Just a matter of time !
Please explain what you mean by could be gone in a flash ? You'd still need reps if a buyout occurs.
Major payers writing policies weekly. No obstacles up to this point in those policies, in fact some are quite generous. Reimbursement will happen.
And just who is going to tie up that much $ for even just 1 or 2 patients in the hope of being reimbursed 5-6 months later ?
I agree, all of the targets I have been super blitzing are gun shy on this cost and reimbursement snafu, as aspected. I just wonder if we will have jobs by then. Probably not, they need business now, not in 6-8 months. My RBD is a bit of a kook and does not understand this will be a long cycle product and that it will be baby steps to even get this in front of the right people. Based off his comments, we do not have time to walk doc's through, it is put up or be moved out mentality at this place.
Also agree for the most part.There are pts out there; some good coverage policies too, but docs not wating to tie up their $ for months and months. Can you elaborate: How do you mean by not having the time to walk docs through this, but it's put up or be moved out ?
I can add to this as well, and agree that this is a micro managed culture, I knew that going in so not a big element of disappointment there at least not yet. I can still tune him out while I look for a better option and continue to get paid. My docs so far are not so down on the drug, my biggest guys see a need for a couple of patients, its funny they can name the couple of patients they have in mind for this in a second, but I don't feel like they will ever be on product as these same docs are also the most skeptical when it comes to them buying and stocking in their practice and then not getting the results or being able to talk the patients into it.
And just who is going to tie up that much $ for even just 1 or 2 patients in the hope of being reimbursed 5-6 months later ?
If a "buyout" occurs, which is highly likely and the reason we are even here now, then we are gone, the lot of us. No company is going to buy a salesforce, they want the drug and the expanded indications NOT THE SALES REPS. The last thing any company needs is reps! We are here to pad the spreadsheets for the investors to see "penetration", so Krystexxa looks better on paper, they had to have a temporary sales force at least attempt to sell this and they are using us like pawns for metric reports. But that was part of the deal, I am not complaining, I use them just as they use me. Part of the game, this industry is not what it was 10 years ago. It is all about making it look good on paper for the street and hope that another big pharma swoops in and over pays on the stock and makes the board and CEO rich, and we will be tossed like yesterdays news in a heartbeat. That is how this works. Most of us have been through this before, many times.
Exactly. Ditto. Whatever term you want to use, this is spot on. What exactly are our "reimbursement teams" that HO deployed doing on a daily basis? smoke and mirrors. I could give them a list of 25 docs who need an immediate visit from our "specialists" that are supposed to be out in the field storm trooping the big guys.
This seems like a bullshit ass backwards rodeo to me, have heard my teammates make similar comments. This baby is torpedoing into the abyss. I love how the "reimbursement hotline" does nothing but write down patient info and then call the insurance company who then says we do not cover this product and gives them a laundry list of options for a medical necessity letter to be submitted on the denied claim. I do not know one doc who is going to sit back and wait for that bullshit process to play out, they will easily just move back to what they were treating with or tell me to get the fuck out of their office and stop wasting patient time with non covered junk infusions for 3 of their patients out of 1000. What did I get myself into to? Dumb dumb dumb, and I had a real job unlike so many who took this job out of pure desperation.
The way I see it we have a few months until the brass pull the cord on the bloated salaries and bring in contract reps. I hear that was a very real consideration back in November but did not have time to contract that out with Ventiv, PDI or Quintiles. Shit they could have already revisited that idea and we wont know until the emails hit our box with the news.
Contract reps for orphan drug? doubtful.
The truly insane thing here is that the same guy is actually having an online conversation with himself in the middle of the day !!!!
Give it up !
