HCP turned industry person here. Former Shire employee, now elsewhere but following closely the demise of this company. I find it incredible that there is finger-pointing at the sales force when a company starts to sink. If your drug isn't the best (or even a marginally better) drug, or if it isn't covered by 3rd party, sales reps will NOT be able to make any difference. So why not blame the drug, the clinical data, the market access, the payers instead of the sales reps? Never once while I was in practice did the sales rep make me prescribe a drug that wasn't on a patient's formulary, no matter how engaging he/she was, no matter how slick the leave-behind was, no matter how cool and groovy the digital sales aid was. The drug needs to work, and it needs to be covered. Whoever is blaming the folks who have to beat the pavement instead of their own R&D or payer people is completely out of touch.