THats what I'm hearing in the field, they are waiting for our drug combo. The ones in the know, know and the are pissed at Gilead for price gouging.
Oh yeah. Doctors are going to wait around to treat their patients for the mighty Merck and their wonder drug even though they will have probably three other choices before Merck comes to market. How funny! Another rep that believes anything Merck tells them.
I couldn't have said it better! We will have TWO pills to pay for - not to mention a barren pipeline to replace revenue for! Look out Gilead, we'll make you look like a charity before this Hep C war is over!
We'll do fine out of the gate, then we'll get more company in the market and it will be a bloodbath. The blood will be all ours.
problem we will face is that doctors will have Gilead combo to get used to for over a year before we launch. This gives insurance time to set contracts and it also gets doctors comfortable with success in their patient populations. If doctors like what they see the SVRs are 90%+ and it's already easy and it's covered they probably will hesitate to use new drugs unless its for special populations they are having problems with- 1b cirrhotics? I think our combo is the closest thing to compete with Gilead and it will launch as a once daily QD drug. But will we have the MSL's going into offices with us? Will we have good patient support? Will our territories be competitive and accessible? Will we get good coverage? We will wait and see, there are several combos coming out Oct 2014-Dec 2015 and everyone wants to get business, it will be interesting
So I used to work in HCV. Still have a couple of friends there who I adore. Friends that have always been successful, realistic and professional. Both of these people are delusional at this point. They actually think that when Merck's combo comes out that docs will completely switch from what they will be doing and prescribe Merck's. I'd be scared to what they are putting in the water at the national meetings.
The national meetings haven't discussed any details. Merck only cares about sharing details with Managers the reps hear things from doctors that deal with other hidden people at Merck. Merck's problem is the communication is so random that people don't have trust or value in conference calls and meetings because noone higher up finds value in being transparent and honest with the salesforce. Unlike other companies, when information is released they openly send emails, have calls with everyone and the customers are informed with most of the same information quickly. Merck hides behind their lawyers and delays reports, sales aids, customer questions and needs are ignored and the medical responses are a joke. The real reason people are waiting is for the patients with insurance issues and the patients who are F1/2. Noone should think that ANY of the HCV drugs will be used 100%. Any doctors that doesn't find value in looking at all the new combinations is probably a speaker or part of a study and tainted. The majority of institutions and community MD's will use all of the new drugs and start nitching groups with certain drugs based on real life data. The drug approvals are being allowed FDA approvals with low number patients in studies which could very well change in the real world when doctors treat over 10-20 people with complicatoion- cirrhosis, geno 1a or 1b, F3/4, diabetes, coinfections,heart disease, race gender issues, weight, compliance etc Real life will determine the success of these new drugs. Insurance could mandate what people prescribe.
