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The rate of sales growth in North America and selected international markets grew by 6% from February 1997 to January 1998, according to a recent "Drug Monitor" report from IMS Global Services. Final sales closed at $181 billion.

Sort your sales strategy according to your customers.

Last November, President Clinton formally signed into law the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act, sweeping bipartisan congressional legislation focused on reforming the agency's regulation of food, drugs, medical devices and cosmetics. Overall, the new law is considered a triumph by both the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America and the Biotechnology Industry Organization because it embraces many of the FDA legislative reform recommendations the industries had proposed to streamline the drug regulatory process.

Pam Bailey, Jim LaMartina and Andy Hartnett have joined Pharmaceutical Representative's editorial advisory board, boosting the number of members to 13.

REP PROFILE

Overcoming those bad days.

The Institute for Safe Medication Practices released its 1997 list of "cheers and jeers." Based in Warminster, PA, the non-profit organization serves as an education resource for medication-system errors. Its cheers and jeers, some of which are excerpted below, are issued as part of an effort to improve drug distribution, naming, packaging, labeling and delivery-system design.

A true story of role-reversal.

Have you been hearing this from doctors? "Stop, I don't want to hear about your study!" If so, you're not alone.

Reports of cancer and deaths attributed to cancer are on the decline in the United States for the first time in nearly 20 years, according to the latest report from the American Cancer Society, the National Cancer Institute and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Initial feedback on the impact of direct-to-consumer advertising suggests that on-line and television ads influence doctors' prescribing habits and will wield even more power as marketing tools within the next 10 years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new guidelines for sexually transmitted diseases stress the importance of early screening, diagnosis and treatment.

Nationwide, prescriptions for psychotropic drugs increased dramatically between 1985 and 1994.

As a result of expanding sales forces, many companies have multiple sales representatives calling on the same physicians with the same products.

HIV-infected pregnant mothers in developing countries will be better able to afford Retrovir® (zidovudine, or AZT), thanks to a recent decision made by the drug's manufacturer.

Smart sales strategies help companies sidestep the pitfalls of expiring patents.

The Federal Trade Commission blocked two mergers proposed by the nation's four largest drug wholesalers on antitrust grounds.

Research-based pharmaceutical manufacturers are reinvesting nearly one in every five sales dollars in the discovery and development of new medicines, according to the Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.

Do small, voluntary community hospitals face separate issues and need different services from pharmaceutical sales representatives than their large, for-profit counterparts?

Your product is finally on the hospital formulary. You worked hard to secure its approval or you inherited a product that was already on formulary. In either case, you're in an enviable situation.

BASEL, SWITZERLAND – Roche Holding AG received official permission from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for its proposed acquisition of Corange Ltd., the parent company of Boehringer Mannheim and DePuy.

PHILADELPHIA - SmithKline Beecham announced it has ended merger discussions with British rival Glaxo Wellcome.

INDIANAPOLIS - Randall Tobias, Eli Lilly and Co.'s chairman and CEO, is the top manager for 1997, and Zyprexa® (olanzapine), Lilly's new product for schizophrenia, is one of the year's top products, according to "Business Week."

rep profile

Baltimore-based HCIA Inc. and Washington-based William H. Mercer Inc.'s Health Care Provider Consulting practice released their 1997 list of top hospitals and industry benchmarks for hospitals.

The Food and Drug Administration endorsed the equivalency of generics and brand-name pharmaceutical products in a letter sent to physicians and state boards of pharmacy in January.

BEIJING - Chinese officials and Sidney Taurel, chairman of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, met to discuss ways that China can provide better, more affordable health care for its people.

Prices for generic and brand-name pharmaceutical products rose a cumulative 3.1% in the last quarter of 1997, according to Plymouth Meeting, PA-based IMS America.

Nursing home pharmacy providers and managed care pharmacy executives named Merck and Novartis, respectively, as the pharmaceutical companies that best meet their overall needs, according to new audit reports released by Newton, PA-based Scott-Levin Associates.

Hospitals and HMOs should prepare for a year of turnarounds and transitions, according to managed care analyst Mary Jane Foster of Medical Data International, Irvine, CA.