Then who replaces the contract reps, given that they're low paid and have forecasts/expectations that are no different from J&J employees? The plan is to outsource sales to 13 year old Indian kids from Mumbai. They're the only ones making less than contract reps.
Guess again. If this is credible, the days of contractors at Pricara are numbered. http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?t=466240
I've been both. Being the contract rep is 3rd tier, minor leagues. Being the direct hire is first string.
Contract reps are paid less but their experience and talent is equal to that of pharma company reps. Everyone on my team (including my manager) has years at top pharma and biotech companies with great performance records. Downsizings in the industry is a harsh reality many of us have had to face. Most of the pharma and biotech companies aren't filling full-time positions anymore with new employees.
It's the incredible shrinking pharma industry. Those still fat and happy working directly for the Big Boys think they're immune. Guess again. The future is less, less, less, less. People laid off by Pfizer, Merck, and (yes) J&J are taking jobs paying 1/2 or less than they made before. If it hasn't yet happened to you, don't think it won't. The industry is dying in stages.
Doubtful. J&J is already suspicious enough of contract reps who sort of look like regular employees. It's hard to imagine J&J loving paid-by-the-call reps even that much. No, the assumed "expansion" of Pricara division of Janssen for Fall '11 may be Quintiles-centric, but between July and whenever that happens the current crop of contractors will be standing (again) at the unemployment office. At all levels of activity J&J's upper management succeeds in creating nothing but loathing among the people they depend upon to sell customers on the idea of using J&J products. I'd really like to know which B-school is teaching this kind of stupidity in their MBA classes.
Quintiles reps are not "paid-by-the-call." Up until now we have had our own territories and have had sole responsiblity for making quotas based on the same criteria as J&J reps. We report to J&J managers and have field rides, contact reports, etc. identical to J&J reps. Until recently the only truly noticeable difference from our standpoint is that our checks (admittedly smaller than J&J) come from Quintiles and our bonus structure is somewhat lower. Now we are completely out of the loop on what is going on. We have been told nothing as to what we can expect July 1st. There are territories that are not currently filled under the new alignment, but we are only told that we can bid on posted positions. Problem is, very few retail positions have been posted.
PDI reps are often paid by the call. That's why I wrote what I wrote. You are assuming I am NOT working for Quintiles. You are incorrect. Even the retail positions that are posted may often NOT be filled now. I have no idea why J&J posted positions they do not intend to fill until Xarelto gets a 2nd indication, but that's apparently what they did. [Who knows? Xarelto may NOT even be approved, and then what? Pricara reps will be laid off by the boatload.] For all practical purposes there do not appear to be ANY quintiles positions at Pricara for the next 4-5 months. J&J is essentially saying, "What 24 month contract?" My guess is that J&J is telling Quintiles, "We're going to break our contract, and NO, you're not going to hit us with the 90-day out-clause penalty because if you do, the contractors we place in November (or whenever) will be from Publicis, Inventiv, or someone else." As usual, the reps (quintiles) are left stranded. I recall when I went to training that a large number of Quintiles folks were recently laid off from across the spectrum of pharma companies. Many thought this Pricara gig would lead to permanent employment, but I tried to tell them this was unlikely. I don't relish being right.
Have to admit, you have been right on a lot of points. Under the new assignments that the PriCara reps received this week, there are many territories that are slotted to have 3 and even 4 reps. In many cases there is currently only one PriCara (in some cases Pain and in some cases AI/GI) assigned to those territories. Do you think that come July 5th there will still be some territories with just one rep? And the Quintiles reps currently in those geographies will be laid off?
I'm 99% certain that all the Quintiles reps will be laid off. The 1% is if Quintiles can pull a rabbit out of their hat and find a new contract for everyone. I think the Pricara "vacancy management" contract is DOA in July. Where I am at there are two positions within the "footprint." One is filled with an existing Pricara employee. The other is a new position that was posted on career connections a week or two ago. The DM told the Pricara rep that they will be ALONE in the footprint, probably until Xarelto gets its 2nd indication, Prevention of stroke in pts with AF. Since they don't even have a single approval yet, it's pure speculation as to when that will occur. Another "footprint" has 4 slots, one being filled immediately with a Pricara rep and three contractor positions that---once again---are not slated to be filled until PSAF. I wish the news was better. I had counted on 24 months for this gig. I did not think it would lead to a permanent job with J&J, but it would have been nice. It pisses me off that J&J is punting us prematurely. Just more evidence that the industry hosed. Truth be told, Pharma is still dying. The heyday was decades ago, and the boom in 1997-2002 was just that, a BOOM. Booms are always followed by busts, and this one is more than that. It's structural. All the easy clinical stuff has already been mined. Physicians increasingly work very much like blue collar assembly-line workers in an auto plant. They punch in, work their 8.5, and punch out. Don't confuse them with new stuff, all they want to do is follow the approved Disease Management Pathway for each patient diagnosis, be patted on their head for seeing 3 more patients per day this quarter than last, and forget about work with a beer or two. Long gone are the days when docs were scientists and businessmen. They're one step from being replaced by a computer algorithm. Woe be to us all, on that. Pharma no longer has the legal immunity of the FDA. Now, even if a company markets its drugs exactly in conformance with FDA regs, lawyers can wring huge settlements and win big judgments...look no further than Levaquin's woes in court. Pharma used to have government in its back pocket. Those days are coming to a close. Anyone who thinks Pharma is not headed for decline, sometimes slow, other times fast, is fooling themselves. After 20+ years playing this (or related) games I'm damned if I know what to do for a living. Too young to retire, too old to retrain. The little purple "smiley" says it all.
