Former Pharma Rep Looks Back

Nice essay here by Gwen Olson on her years as a pharma rep and her role in pushing a dicey anti-inflammatory drug (Suprol, a J&J drug, later recalled) on docs that later had many adverse events associated with it. As I once did, she also worked for Abbott Labs among others. The essay is a good read.

"Little did I know at the time, one of the doctors who had reported an adverse event, which eventually resulted in death due to dialysis complications, was in my territory. I was later contacted and instructed by management to have my doctor complete an Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) report. Much to my surprise, the doctor referenced in my instructions was the Late Adopter/Skeptic, who had promised me his “most difficult patient” against his better judgment. Even more startling would be the discovery that the patient had been his very own mother. Of course, I didn’t find that out until I visited him to do the ADR. (By the way, the ADR was a daunting ream of paperwork that appeared to be designed to discourage busy doctors from reporting. That reporting process has since been streamlined online with MedWatch.) I will never forget the betrayed look on his face or his terse remark to me that “the company’s marketing strategy had obviously been more thoroughly tested than our drug!” I was devastated and riddled with guilt. I didn’t call on his office again for nearly six months. I didn’t have the nerve!"

Once when I was a sales rep for Abbott Labs--I sold cardiac catheters and pressure transducers for Abbott Critical Care--I had a cardiac surgeon scream at me that "You killed my patient!" He'd floated one of our catheters into the heart of a patient who soon developed ventricular fibrillation, went into cardiac arrest and couldn't be revived. I did exactly as told in sales training: I stood there and let the doctor scream at me, then told him I would turn the situation over to my sales manager.

I'll never forget his response: "Your boss isn't going to help that patient. She's dead."

Pretty rough all around. I was 25-years-old at the time, hired by Abbott because I was "smart, articulate and you look good in a suit," as one of my bosses once put it. In reality, the catheter likely hadn't caused the v-fib, but I'm sure it didn't help and the doc sure needed someone to unload on. That someone was me.