Biopharm; how many to be displaced?

Just got the email of Biopharm changing it’s “organization structure” and opening up new positions to other field sales for interview.

How many in biopharm have taken severance aka been displaced due to this restructuring vs. the actual amount of “new opportunities” that were created?

 

Many years ago, at the ISTH meeting in Belgium, I listened to the poster presentation by a doc from UNC Chapel Hill. Gail worked with the late Dr. Harold Roberts and was the PI for rFVIIa. Many of you still with Novo may remember Dr. Roberts. Gail told me this product was so good she would use it for ALL of her hemophilia A patients, not just those with inhibitors to FVIII. This FVIIa investigational drug is now NovoSeven. A great drug, but a niche product when compared to drugs used to treat hemophilia A and B. When I found out Novo was getting into the FVIII market, I cringed. I sold FVIII drugs years ago and know from experience that this is a cutthroat market with many players willing to do anything to keep market share. Now, with Hemlibra on the market, traditional FVIII products are at the end of their life cycle. If Novo stays in this market, I wish them the best of luck. If it were my money, I would cut my losses and get out, FAST.

 

Biopharm sales jobs were the greatest jobs in the industry. Product efficacy for rFVIIa was undisputed. Had 5, maybe 8 HTCs to call on, some community hospitals to drop in on and do a lunch program on Acquired Hemophilia. FVIII and FIX got us into the larger, but commoditized market. And now competition has ‘the’ game-changer. Ethically, we can’t compete. It’s that much better of a product.

It’s time to fold the tent a much, much different way. We don’t need to pay managers (they’re actually first line reps, leveled up), a 150k base, 50 bonus and it’s a much easier job than being a diabetes rep. Those dollars my friend, can be cut half. If you’re here >5 years, you better be looking hard, it’s game over.

Diabetes reps: be assured you can out perform virtually any biopharm rep be it hemo or growth disorders.

On the hGH side, well, that’s been commoditized from the get-go. Novo did a great job differentiating with the device and our services, but the game now is price. Again, these reps make a lot of coin, far more than an insulin rep, and it’s an easier job.

The bigger issue for us is why it takes exec leadership soooo long to see these issues and to make changes. We are always playing catch-up, be it product, strategy or service.

 

Well said.
I was an EDCS rep ~3 years ago and man, my biopharm counterpart had it
m-a-d-e

 

Several diabetes reps have joined biopharm over the years. Some were fantastic, others flamed out. Like everything it depends on the individual rep. Novo Nordisk left the cookie jar unguarded by allowing a competitor to buy a molecule that is destroying NovoSeven. It was an enormous strategic mistake made years ago, and it is finally biting us with the commercial launch of Hemlibra. GH is undergoing the same market access challenges we've seen in diabetes and obesity. Regarding pay, some reps are a bargain at $150k, as crazy as that sounds. In a therapeutic area where a single prescribing decision can mean $1 million per year in revenue to the company, paying for the best is worth every dime. Biopharm has no superiority data to sell. Every sale must be earned. But the division is a mess. The current VP of biopharm is the fourth in two years, and the strategy changes every six months. Two years ago we were told biopharm would no longer be an important pillar in the growth story of Novo Nordisk, as it had been for the previous two decades. We were being deprioritized and given the impression it would be treated as a runoff business. Our VP position was demoted and merged into marketing. A year later, the direction changed again. We are now investing in biopharm, looking for acquisitions, with the goal to return to growth. There are many good people at biopharm. But there is no clear direction or leadership at the top, and as yet no effective strategy to address the many challenges buffeting the business.

 

Geez, sounds like Novo can’t get their sh!t together when figuring out the future direction.

 

This is it in a nutshell!

 

There is a whole lot of truth to that story...

 

This sums up Novo for the last 4 years. We change our “strategic direction” once every quarter, it seems. In other words, we have no strategy, only tactics. I’ve never seen a company so terrible at lifecycle management of its products than we are. On the insulin side, how is it that we keep asking for Levemir conversions and investing in formulary coverage for Levemir that is currently makes it the best on the market? Who does that? We are afraid to lose a penny today to make a dollar tomorrow. It’s embarrassing.

 

Spoke to a couple of Biopharm ‘managers’ the past few weeks as they’ll be interviewing for their jobs over there.

You’d be ah-mazed at the coin they’re making. Customer-facing, first line rep, with base salaries ranging 120-140k plus 40+ in bonus!!

C’mon, growth hormone is much less challenging than selling Tresiba let alone GLP-1. It’s a total commodity, like selling human insulin.
The factor products aren’t much different, but there’s a new kid on the block who’s going to dominate, so the hemophilia business is in trouble.

A lot of those people have been making big bucks the past 10-15 years, I hope they’ve been banking it, because the party is over. They’re not as good nor indispensable as they’ve thought.

#hopeyouare55plus10yearsatnovo
#gameover

 

They may have been making good money but you must also take into account they covered "multiple states" not a zip code in a city nor do they have pod partners. Also, the salary range you reference was probably tenured employees with a history of hitting all their targets thus received good annual reviews which made them eligible for solid salary increases at the annual review. The rest of your points are spot on.

 

Those large territories have just gotten larger! BioPharm is a cash cow for Novo.

 

Interesting approach to have everyone interview (for their jobs). Will job levels and salaries be adjusted downward ?