No more pens and mugs.
WASHINGTON — The pens, pads, mugs and other gifts that drug makers have long showered on doctors will be banned from pharmaceutical marketing campaigns under a voluntary guideline that the industry is expected to announce Thursday. (Via NYTimes)
Would cold, hard cash do instead?
TBTAM,
You know that the direction will now turn to cold hard cash in the form of participation in Phase 4 trials. Trust me, it’s the new trend. Gone are dinners, lunches, gifts, pens, etc. This may even eventually lead to the elimination of reps altogether. It will cut down costs so that they can spend on DTC (I can’t wait for that dialogue) and phase 4 trials for expansion of indications.
This new guideline is very impactful to how companies will interact with physicians in the future. The ball may be in the doc court on this one in terms of feeding themselves information. I look forward to being a fly on the wall.
I have been waiting to sell my Viagra pens and ties on eBay.
The Cockroach Catcher
Wow….that’s a bummer to think that our office will have to start buying our own note pads, sticky notes, staplers and pens by the year 2030! (Last count, I have about 18 staplers from different drug companies stashed away).