Dive Brief:
- Merck is carrying out a major restructuring of its U.S. sales teams resulting in a net loss of over 800 jobs.
- The big pharma is ditching its primary care, disease-focused endocrinology and hospital chronic care teams, according to a report in Reuters, with losses of 1,800 jobs. This will be replaced by a new chronic care sales team, creating 960 jobs. Displaced staff will be able to apply for jobs within the new team or elsewhere within the company, and none of the jobs are being moved outside of the U.S.
- The chronic care sales force will focus on Januvia (sitagliptin) and other primary care products such as the sleep medication Belsomra (suvorexant), as well as products for respiratory conditions and women's health. The team will also be involved in the launch of ertufligozin and insulin glargine, both in late stage R&D in diabetes.
Dive Insight:
Merck & Co. Inc. is following a pattern that has been seen across the industry, including at Sanofi, AstraZeneca plc, Novartis AG and others. Sales forces in pharmaceutical companies grew rapidly in the mid-1990s and early-2000s, but have been declining over the last decade. This change has been driven by a number of trends, including the growth of digital technology, an increasing difficulty in accessing physicians, and a move towards smaller specialty care markets including rare diseases.
(Check out this infographic from BioPharma Dive on the diminishing pharma sales force.)
To meet the new need, companies, as in Merck's case, are creating smaller, more specialist sales teams that can target the specific stakeholders, bring greater expertise and added value. This is especially important in rare diseases, where the patient pools – and therefore the numbers of specialists – are so much lower.
"Merck is moving to a new sales team structure to better support changes in our business in the United States. While we are eliminating certain sales teams, we are adding a new sales force in chronic care. This is part of ongoing prioritization efforts and the ebb and flow of our business means that at the same time we're eliminating certain U.S. jobs, we're also adding new U.S. jobs in growth areas," Merck said in a statement emailed to BioPharma Dive. "These changes are part of ongoing company-wide efforts to sharpen Merck’s focus on innovative R&D that addresses significant unmet medical needs and on our best opportunities for growth, while reducing overall costs."