By JEANNE WHALEN
Big pharmaceutical companies have found replacements for the army of sales representatives they've laid off in recent years: digital sales tools that seek to sell doctors on drugs without the intrusion of an office visit.
Tens of thousands of pharmaceutical sales reps have been eliminated in the U.S., creating a void that drug makers are now increasingly filling with websites, iPad apps and other digital tools to interact with doctors who prescribe their treatments.
Doctors can use the tools to ask questions about drugs, order free samples and find out which insurers cover certain treatments. Sometimes drug-company representatives will engage them in live chat, or phone them back if they have more questions.
The changes are designed to cut costs and to reach doctors in ways other than the traditional office visit, which many busy physicians say they find intrusive and annoying. In 2009, one of every five doctors in the U.S. was what the industry calls a "no see," meaning the doctor wouldn't meet with reps.
Just a year later, that jumped to one in four, according to Bruce Grant, senior vice president of Digitas, a digital marketing agency of Publicis Groupe SA that has created tools for companies including AstraZeneca PLC and Sanofi-Aventis SA. About three-quarters of industry visits to U.S. doctors' offices fail to result in a face-to-face meeting, he adds.
Most companies say they're using digital tools to supplement personal sales calls, but widespread layoffs in the sector suggest that technology is replacing, not just supplementing, human reps.
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Danish drug maker Novo Nordisk AS says it hasn't cut its U.S. sales force over the past five years but is still adding digital marketing tools. Late last year the company launched a website and iPad/iPhone application called Coags Uncomplicated, which offers tools to help doctors diagnose bleeding disorders. The site and app include a plug for Novo Nordisk's drug NovoSeven, which helps stop bleeding related to acquired hemophelia.
Citing data from market-research firms, Eddie Williams, head of Novo Nordisk's biopharmaceutical business in the U.S., said 72% of U.S. doctors own a smartphone, and 95% of them use it to download medical applications. Novo Nordisk has several other applications available on iTunes, including one that helps doctors calculate blood-sugar levels. Novo Nordisk is a major seller of insulin and other diabetes treatments.
Other companies offering iPhone and iPad apps for doctors include Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, Pfizer.inc., GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Novartis AG.
Eli Lilly & Co. set up lillyconnect.com in 2002 as a new channel for marketing its drugs to doctors. But the company has since shut the site down, according to a Lilly spokesman, who says the site "outlived its goals." He says Lilly is now considering "newer on-demand portals" that will allow doctors to "access information instantly as they are treating patients."
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