THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Sales and Medical Affairs

SUMMARY OF MY CAREER: ACADEMIC RESEARCH

B.Sc. Melbourne University Honours Zoology PhD Zoology (Neurobiology) Postdoctoral research
1 yr Melbourne University
2 yrs Georgia State University, USA 6 months Melbourne University

SUMMARY OF MY CAREER: PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

GP Medical Representative
AstraZeneca 8mths Cardiovascular Respiratory

Hospital Representative
AstraZeneca 4.5yrs Anti-infectives

Medical Affairs Associate

GlaxoSmithKline 6mths Vaccines Current position

MEDICAL SALES REPRESENTATIVES

Employed by pharmaceutical company to maximise prescribing of products in specific geographic area

Indirect selling to healthcare professionals

Paperwork
Personal budget for expenditure Sales data Recording information from all calls made with customers Business operational plans and SWOT analyses

Significant travel requirement

Country trips (eg. 5 days every 6 weeks)

National conferences (Australia and overseas)

TRAINING
Therapeutic area
Basic anatomy and physiology

Product
How your particular drug works

Sales
How to become an effective sales person

Medical representatives receive one of the best training programs found in any industry
Well sought after by most large companies Future directions not limited to pharmaceutical industry

GP MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVES
Main customers: 500-1000 per territory
GPs, practice nurses, community pharmacists

Critical customers are high prescribers & key opinion leaders who influence others
Appointments
Aim for 3-4 a year per customer
Some customers allow only 1 appointment / yr

Highly competitive between companies so expectation is to stand out at all costs Companies require certain # of calls / day

High level of sales skills imperative

GP REPRESENTATIVE: TYPICAL DAY

9am: appointment at medical clinic with GP 9:30am: drop in to 2 pharmacies in local area 11am: appointment with GP

12:30pm: lunch at clinic (2-5 doctors, 1 nurse)

2-5pm: in the same area
Drop off literature and check sample cupboards Drop in to see doctors or catch them at the counter Paper work (fill in details of all calls) Team meetings with members on the same territory

HOSPITAL MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVES

Main focus is education and customer service Appointments easier to obtain

Lots of emphasis on clinical papers

Work very closely with specialists in your area
YOU are the product expert

Travelling (conferences & 6/yr country trips) Contract negotiations for formulary listings

Involved in development of clinical trials

Paper work

HOSPITAL REPRESENTATIVE: TYPICAL DAY

8-10am Breakfast meeting at St Vincents ICU
10am Appointment with Director of Microbiology 11am Appointment with Austin Health Director of ID 12-2pm Lunch inservice with ID/Micro journal club 2.30pm Page Austin Health ICU registrars

3pm Drop in to see ID physicians at Dorevitch

3:30pm Appointment with Austin haematologist 4pm Drop off literature for intensivists 4.15-5pm Enter calls and other paperwork

MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVE: POSITIVES

Excellent pay and promotional opportunities Flexibility and versatility Job security Independent working environment Excellent training for opportunities in other areas
Sales in other areas, clinical research, management

Involved in an industry that creates new medicines to help improve peoples lives Challenging (?)

MEDICAL REPRESENTATIVE: NEGATIVES

The business world is very different to science!
Big Brother!
Every month, full day must be spent with field manager to assesses your abilities in all calls

Lots of out-of-hours work Often not family orientated

Excellent for single people!

Many doctors have condescending attitudes & lack of respect for representatives

MEDICAL AFFAIRS ASSOCIATE

Part of the Medical Directorate Medical knowledge for products within company
Work with Marketing to develop brand strategies and produce promotional material

Work with Training to provide Therapeutic area and Product knowledge to representatives
Work with Sales (especially Specialist Representatives) to handle customer enquiries Work with Medical Information and Pharmacovigilance to handle difficult customer enquiries

MEDICAL AFFAIRS: TYPICAL DAY

Scan Alerts from medical journals and OVID
Work in Progress meeting with Marketing and external advertising and public relations agencies

Review two promotional pieces currently under approval process

Todays presentation! Meeting with Manager to discuss Personal Development Plan & discuss promotional pieces

Read clinical papers for meeting on Friday re. new brand strategy for 2006

MEDICAL AFFAIRS: POSITIVES

Extremely rewarding and enjoyable Strong use of science background Encourages proactive research of disease, products and clinical papers Involvement in brand strategy and development of promotional material

Strong teaching component

Product expert

MEDICAL AFFAIRS: NEGATIVES

None! Act as Police for the company, approving promotional material based on internal guidelines and Code of Conduct

FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS
Science/Research
Honours (nil) PhD ($15-20K tax free) Research Assistant ($44K - NHMRC scale) Postdoctoral Fellow / Research Officer ($50K NHMRC) Research Fellow ($63K plus)

Pharmaceutical industry
GP representative ($4248K, car, phone, computer, bonus payments $5-20K) Hospital representative ($50-70K, car, phone, computer, bonus payments $5-20K) Management ($80K plus)

WHERE CAN YOU GO?

Management
Field manager

State/National sales manager

Sales director

Marketing including business development

Associate product manager Product manager

Regulatory affairs Clinical research associate Training

HOW TO GET A JOB IN THE INDUSTRY

Research the companies and products
Pharmaceutical (indirect sales) vs devices (direct sales)

Company philosophies
Different ways of working: regimented versus relaxed Incentive schemes

Promotion opportunities
Marketing and medical information support

Talk to people in the industry

Go out on the road for a day? Difficult to organise, but extremely worthwhile

HOW TO GET A JOB IN THE INDUSTRY

Learn to sell yourself
Turn all negatives into positives

Introduce yourself to companies & recruiting agencies Learn how to handle interview style common to the industry
Situation or behavioural questions

Industry courses ($200-400)

Tanner Menzies, Darryl Alexander, Innovex

seek.com, monster.com, The Age etc

WILL THIS JOB SUIT YOU?

Must have passion, drive and enthusiasm Outgoing personality is vital for Sales

Adaptability, resilience, persistence, creativity

Strong communication skills Excellent organisation skills Team player yet able to work autonomously Strong knowledge of the industry and customers