Should I Become a Drug Rep? Be Careful. Future Drug Rep Numbers are Declining.

Are you asking yourself, "Should I become a drug rep?".  If you are, be careful.  You might soon find yourself out of a job.  I seem to see much fewer drug reps these days than I did as a resident.  Where did all the drug reps go? 

From American Medical News comes this piece about the changing landscape of pharmaceutical detailing in the doctor's office.  With many blockbuster drugs going off patent, few in the pipeline, new rules regarding "gifts" and a recession, it appears that the days of the drug rep might be limited.  Peaking at 102,000 reps in 2007, the industry expects no more than 75,000 by 2012.

When I was a resident, we used to see drug reps all the time.  They'd bring  hospital food.  Some would bring a waffle iron and a griddle and make us eggs, bacon and waffles right in the resident lounge.  What self respecting resident would turn that down?  They would try and get us young uns to use their drugs.  They are salesmen.    At the end of the day, their main goal is to get us to use their drug.

I rarely see drug reps as a hospitalist.  I don't generally find I have the time.  Occasionally they come for other groups and I may stop by briefly.  Of course, they have food.  It really is a giant sales job. A while back, word got out that a hospital  formulary interchange for a major drug was in the works.   It was no more than a week later that all us hospitalists and other docs were invited to an upscale bar for free food and drink.  It was a giant pimp session to try and understand exactly what was going on and if we would consider changing drugs.

I found it comical.  Drug reps running scared.  It really was unbecoming of their profession.  It turned me off completely to their plight.  It's all about money.  Medicine is no different from every other business.  Why we fail to accept that and structure reform around that basic principle is beyond me.  The day of the drug rep is limited.