Pharma industry urged to act now on rogue sales representatives

The pharmaceutical industry will have to step up its efforts to root out rogue sales people if its new drive to improve relationships with doctors is to succeed. According to sector commentators at business advisory firm KPMG, the industry's own stated intention to establish higher ethical standards in its dealings with the medical profession could be blown out of the water if misbehaving representatives are not weeded out immediately.

Drugmakers have come under pressure recently to curtail the level of promotional activity which they currently employ when marketing drugs to the medical community. There have been concerns expressed that lavish promotional spending is being rewarded with product orders well above and beyond what is actually required to meet medical needs. In the USA, there have been many well-publicized enforcement actions and fines for marketing malpractices sometimes running into hundreds of millions of dollars, notes KPMG.

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