Bristol Continues To Refocus Marketing By Outsourcing Cefzil And Tequin
This article was originally published in The Pink Sheet Daily
Executive Summary
Ventiv will commit 375 reps to focus on the primary care market while Bristol will continue to sell the antibiotics to specialists in hospitals. The two companies had terminated a previous co-promotion agreement for Cefzil; the new contract is fee-for-service and does not include risk sharing.
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Bristol Myers-Squibb is enacting its strategy of moving away from primary care by outsourcing sales of the antibiotics Cefzil and Tequin to Ventiv. The contract sales organization will commit 375 sales reps to promote the two drugs to the primary care market, Ventiv said Jan. 4. Bristol will continue to sell Cefzil (cefprozil) and Tequin (gatifloxacin) to specialists based in hospitals. The move supports Bristol's new strategy of focusing its marketing efforts on specialty markets and select primary care physicians (1 (Also see "Primary Care Sales Force Downsizing Will Continue, Bristol Says" - Pink Sheet, 29 Jul, 2004.)). The company will shift its antibiotics reps to concentrate on high prescribers of other products in the company's key therapeutic areas. Bristol's recent agreement with Merck for its type-2 diabetes NDA submission muraglitazar is another example of the new strategy. Under an agreement announced in April, Merck paid $100 mil. up-front for co-promotion rights to the drug (2 (Also see "Merck Gets Second Chance On Dual PPAR: Will Co-Develop Bristol's Muraglitazar" - Pink Sheet, 28 Apr, 2004.)). The agreement between Ventiv and Bristol has its first opportunity for renewal at the end of 2006. The deal represents a return to Cefzil marketing for Ventiv. The companies signed a contract in 1999 for the co-promotion of Cefzil and the ACE inhibitor Monopril (fosinopril), but announced its termination in 2001. The previous agreement was a risk-sharing arrangement while the new one is a fee-for-service contract, Ventiv said. - John Rancourt |