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The number of pharmaceutical company-sponsored physician meetings and events skyrocketed from 70,000 in 1993 to 280,000 in 1999, according to Newtown, PA-based Scott-Levin's Physician Meeting & Event Audit. Between 1998 and 1999, the number of events held for doctors jumped 25%.

I have been in pharmaceutical sales for less than a year, and the following are the things that I've learned.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal announced that he has filed a class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut against four of Connecticut's largest managed care companies: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Connecticut (and its parent, Anthem Health Plans Inc.), CIGNA HealthCare of Connecticut (and its parent, CIGNA Health Plans Inc.), Oxford Health Plans of Connecticut Inc. (and its parent, Oxford Health Plans Inc.) and Physicians' Health Services of Connecticut (and its parent, Foundation Health Systems Inc.).

What to focus on when it comes down to you.

A look at the most important breakthroughs of the last century.

A business plan and achievement log can help.

Decode Genetics, Reykjavik, Iceland, and Basel, Switzerland-based F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. announced that scientists at Decode have successfully mapped a novel gene that contributes to the occurrence of the common form of Alzheimer's disease.

A recently published House Government Reform Committee staff report criticized the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control for routinely allowing scientists with conflicts of interest to serve on two influential advisory committees that make recommendations on vaccine policy.

Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ) have introduced the Greater Access to Affordable Pharmaceuticals Act, which, if passed, would modify the 1984 Hatch-Waxman Act to make it easier for generic drugs to enter the marketplace.

Question your way through opening, probing and closing.

In an effort to stimulate women's health research across a variety of disciplines, the National Institutes of Health announced that it will fund 11 awards to support development of new research in women's health. The program, Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health, seeks to increase the number of researchers working on women's health issues and to mentor junior researchers in an interdisciplinary scientific setting by pairing them with senior investigators.

The U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., has ruled in favor of Pomona, NY-based Barr Laboratories Inc.'s double patenting claim against the patents protecting Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co.'s Prozac® (fluoxetine HCl) anti-depressant. The decision strikes down the patent that would have expired in December 2003; however, the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the lower court with respect to the expiration of the patent in February 2001.

A new study published in the Journal of Internal Medicine (vol. 15, no. 7) shows that samples handed out by pharmaceutical sales representatives may influence doctors to prescribe drugs they wouldn't have otherwise.

According to a new report by Washington-based Families USA, senior citizens can expect their drug prices to more than double in the next 10 years. The report is based on figures from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey, a household survey of about 12,000 elderly and disabled Medicare users.

Federal intellectual property protection laws have significantly delayed the entry of some generic drugs into the U.S. market, forcing consumers to incur billions of dollars in prescription drug costs that they otherwise might not have paid, according to an analysis released by the Washington-based National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.

Applying the wisdom of emotion to sales.

There is a saying, "If you don't ask for it, you don't get it." In pharmaceutical sales, as well as most other sales jobs, this saying usually holds true.

Doctors are dishing more duties to physician assistants and nurse practitioners.

According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol. 97, no. 16), researchers at the Rochester, MN-based Mayo Clinic have identified premature aging in the immune systems of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. This finding reverses the earlier belief that these patients have overactive immune systems.

FDA says things haven't changed.

The pharmaceutical industry is fighting back against a Maine law that would require the industry to bargain with the state over pricing. The Washington-based Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has filed a challenge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maine, claiming Maine's "Act to Establish Fairer Pricing for Prescription Drugs" is unconstitutional. The law, which was signed by Governor Angus King in May of 2000 and took effect the following August, allows the state to collectively negotiate rebates on drugs from pharmaceutical companies, which would then be sold at lower costs through participating pharmacies. The law also authorizes government price controls if state officials are not satisfied with the price decreases by July 2003.

According to a new report on children's health insurance released by the Washington-based Children's Defense Fund, 12 million children are still uninsured three years after Congress passed the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which provided $48 billion for the states to provide health insurance to children. CDF estimates that nearly 12 million children are uninsured, but seven million of those uninsured are eligible for CHIP and Medicaid and not enrolled.

Pre-call planning is a necessity if you're going to move your physicians and your productivity to another level.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, reported that they have identified a single gene that lends some cancer cells the ability to metastasize.

New guidelines designed to address the alarming rise in bacterial resistance to antibiotics have been issued by The Sinus and Allergy Health Partnership, with representation from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. The guidelines were developed to stem antibiotic resistance by helping health professionals to more accurately diagnose acute bacterial rhinosinusitis, reduce the use of antibiotics for non-bacterial infections and recommend the use of the most effective antibiotics when rhinosinusitis is likely.

According to a new study, published by Waltham, MA-based research and consulting company Decision Resources Inc., on the market for drugs targeting depression, the estimated sales of antidepressant drugs - in the treatment of depression only - exceeded $6.4 billion in 1999 in the seven major pharmaceutical markets.

At the May 7-10 Annual Conference of the National Society of Pharmaceutical Sales Trainers, the membership voted to change its name to the Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers.

Results from the first study within the healthcare industry documenting how implementation of a three-tier prescription co-pay plan affects pharmaceutical and medical utilization and expenditures, continuation with chronic medications and plan enrollees were presented at the fourth annual Express Scripts Outcomes Conference, held in St. Louis.

Despite a booming national economy, private and public health insurance coverage continues to decline for Americans at all income levels, while American voters, who continue to view healthcare as an important topic, seem unmoved on the issue, according to two studies published in Health Affairs (vol. 19, no. 4).

A bill that would allow doctors to collectively bargain with health plans over the terms of their contracts with them passed the House of Representatives by a 276-136 margin.