Driving drug sales reps to “get those pills in people’s mouths any way you can.”

What kind of pressures drive drug salespeople?

A recent whistle-blower case gives us an insider glimpse of their world. And a glimpse is about all you would want. It’s not exactly sunshine and lollipops.

The whistle-blower is Ricardo Forges, a former sales rep for CV Therapeutics. In his lawsuit, he says CV managers pushed him and his colleagues to aggressively promote the off-label use of a drug. Which is a HUGE no-no.

That aside, two quotes from the lawsuit stand out.

This one comes from one of Forges’ district managers: “I do not care what you do to sell the drug. I don’t see anything and I don’t hear anything. Just get it done. Just get the scripts.”

And a director of training told Forges to sell “gobs of dope.” And added: “Get those pills in people’s mouths any way you can.”

Keep in mind that sales reps have no contact with patients, much less with patients’ mouths. So the reps are essentially tasked with convincing doctors (some might say “training” doctors, I would say “brain-washing” doctors) to shove the pills in people’s mouths for them…any way they can.

Source:
“When Reps are Told to Sell ‘Gobs of Dope'” Ed Silverman, Pharmalot, 1/5/11, pharmalot.com