No, I'd never heard of Auriga Labs either. They make "Aquoral for the treatment of xerostomia, Akurza and
Xyralid dermatology products, and the Zinx, Extendryl, and
Levall families of products for relief of symptoms associated with
a range of acute respiratory diseases," it says here. In a recent press release the company claims it has just doubled its sales force to 200 even though they are on commission-only compensation.
Given that other drug companies are cutting back on reps because their productivity in a saturated market is down, this is something to watch. One has to wonder whether there are Big Pharma CFOs out there who're slapping themselves on the forehead and saying, "why didn't we think of this earlier?"
Will it catch on? Depends. I suspect it is easier to detail unusual or speciality drugs than it is to be constantly updating docs on old, commonly used scrips, and thus the model might be useful for specialty brands but not for the statins and antibiotics of the world.
One potential danger: When a rep's compensation is based entirely on scrip numbers, you don't really have a doctor education force, you have a mercenary force. If ever there was a temptation for reps to detail off-label, then commission-only compensation would provide it.
(Thanks to Internet Drug News for spotting this one.)
Danazol may be used for a number of different medical problems. These include treatment of: pain and/or infertility due to endometriosis; a
tendency for females to develop cysts in the breasts (fibrocystic breast disease); or hereditary angioedema, which causes swelling of the
face, arms, legs, throat, windpipe, bowels, or sexual organs. http://www.drugstoreltd.com/pill/Danazol.html
Zelnorm is used for short term treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in women who have constipation as their main symptom. It is also
used for treating certain men and women who have a type of chronic constipation. http://www.drugstoreltd.com/pill/Zelnorm_.html
Posted by: Troy | March 05, 2008 at 07:13 PM