Schering-Plough expands sales

Schering-Plough Corp., Madison, NJ, has announced the launch of a new, 120-member primary care sales force to complement its existing hepatitis C sales team. The new force is being acquired from Triangle Park, NC-based Innovex.

Prior to the announcement, Schering-Plough's hepatitis C sales force called solely on gastroenterologists, but because primary care physicians are becoming a more integral part of diagnosing, referring and treating infectious diseases, Schering-Plough said the new group will target the physician community directly.

According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, there are nearly 80,000 primary care physicians practicing in the United States, providing treatment for hundreds of thousands of patients each year. Only a fraction of the estimated four million Americans infected with the hepatitis C virus have been identified. Since one in 50 adult Americans are infected with hepatitis C, it is probable that PCPs are seeing patients who have yet to be diagnosed. According to Schering-Plough, the fact that most patients visit their primary care physicians to address unidentified ailments or for complete physicals makes it important that PCPs are kept informed of up-to-date statistics and therapeutic advances in the treatment of hepatitis C.

Jeff Meehan, national manager of Schering-Plough's hepatitis C primary care sales force, said: "Our goal is to arm the primary care physicians with more in-depth knowledge regarding diagnosis and current treatments for hepatitis C." PR