前言

Pharmaceuticals is one of the most profitable industries in North America. But do the drugs industry’s sales and marketing strategies go too far?

制药业是北美利润最丰厚的行业之一。但制药行业的销售和营销策略是否过分了呢？

自然段A

A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her company’s latest products. That day she was lucky – a doctor was available to see her. ‘The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. What do you have?’ the physician asked. He was only half joking.

几个月前，全球一家知名制药公司的销售代表金·舍费尔走进纽约的一家医疗中心，提供了她公司最新产品的信息和免费样品。那天她很幸运，有一位医生有空见她。这位医生开玩笑地说：“上次那个销售代表给我提供了一次佛罗里达之行，你能给我什么？” 

自然段B

What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer is typical for today’s drugs rep – a car trunk full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drug’s profile. And she also has a few $1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors’ attendance at her company’s next educational lecture.

当天提供的是一对纽约音乐剧的门票。但在任何一天，舍费尔都可以提供如今典型的药品销售代表所能提供的东西：一车推销礼品和小玩意儿，一个足以为一个小国买午餐和晚餐的预算，数百份免费样品以及给医生200美元的自由，用来给符合药物适应症的下一个六名患者开处方。她还可以提供几千美元的报酬，作为医生参加她公司下一次教育讲座的交换条件。

自然段C

Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical judgment. Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospect’s time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. They work in an industry highly criticized for its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question – businesses won’t use strategies that don’t work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? Or is it the industry’s responsibility to decide the boundaries?

销售药品是每天都要进行道德判断的过程。像舍费尔这样的销售人员在常见的用免费餐来购买潜在客户时间和贿赂医生开处方之间徘徊。他们在一个备受批评其销售和营销方式的行业中工作，但同时他们也处于一个古老的企鹅蛋问题的中间——企业不会使用无效的策略，那么医生应该对制药营销的不断升级负责吗？还是行业应决定界限？

自然段D

The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field – and the amount of funding used to promote their causes – forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. Salespeople provide much-needed information and education to physicians. In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs – a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick information.

销售人员数量的爆炸性增长以及用于推销活动的资金量使得我们需要仔细研究药品代表与医生之间的压力、影响和关系。销售人员为医生提供了急需的信息和教育。在许多情况下，他们传递的华丽宣传册、文章重印件和处方成为医疗保健者获取药品教育的主要来源。随着行业在面对面销售方面的巨额投资，销售人员实际上已经成为一种药物或药物组的专家，这对于引起忙碌的医生的注意是一个巨大的优势。

自然段E

But the sales push rarely stops in the office. The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isn’t emblazoned with a drug’s name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical company’s logo. Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. Money well spent? It’s hard to tell. ‘I’ve been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesn’t make me prescribe their medicine,’ says one doctor. ‘I tend to think I’m not influenced by what they give me.’

但销售推动很少止步于医生办公室。销售代表留下的华丽宣传册和小册子通常会在昂贵餐厅的用餐、温暖阳光明媚地方的会议以及推销小玩意儿的洪水之后继续进行。患者很少能看到医生用没有药物名字的笔写字，或者看到护士使用没有药品公司标志的平板电脑。制药公司花费数百万美元用于咖啡杯、衬衫、雨伞和高尔夫球等促销产品。这些钱花得值吗？很难说。“我曾收到一家公司的高尔夫球，我确实使用了它们，但这并不意味着我会开他们的药方，”一位医生说，“我倾向于认为自己不会受到他们给我的东西的影响。”

自然段F

Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars’ worth of samples each week- $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns – the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice.

免费提供新的昂贵药物样品可能是使医生和患者对某种产品产生忠诚的最有效方法。销售人员每周分发价值数百美元的样品——一年总共价值72亿美元。虽然很少进行全面研究，但华盛顿大学的一项研究调查了药品样品的可获得性如何影响医生的开药行为。共有131名医生进行了自我报告，他们的开药模式——结论是，药物样品的可获得性导致他们开出和推荐与他们首选药品不同的药物。

自然段G

The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. And patients are the ones who pay – in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices – for every pen that’s handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to increase sales. But as the medical world continues to grapple with what’s acceptable and what’s not, it is clear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies.