Oct 11 2006, 12:00 PM EST
News source: Business Wire
Nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) are responsible for a growing number of prescriptions in 2006, and pharmaceutical companies continue to promote to them. NP and PA retail prescriptions increased 22% in the first 8 months of 2006 compared to the same time period a year ago, while physician retail prescriptions increased at a significantly slower rate: only 2%.
New patient transactions for NPs and PAs increased 14%, and switch-add patient transactions for these prescribers, or transactions capturing patients switching to a different product, or adding a drug to their current therapy, in the same market, grew 22%. New patient transactions for physicians, on the other hand, dropped 2% during the same time period.
In the 12 months ending July 2006, detailing by pharmaceutical sales representatives to NPs and PAs increased 9% compared to the same time period the previous year, while detailing to office- and hospital-based physicians continued to decrease: 6% and 16%, respectively. Of the top products detailed to NPs and PAs during this time, details for Nexium increased 28%, followed by details for Singulair, which increased 24%.
According to Verispan's Pharmaceutical Company Image study, the majority of PAs (86%) see at least one sales representative each week, with an average of 6.8 reps seen. Eighty-five percent of NPs reported seeing sales representatives each week, with an average of 5.9 seen. NPs who saw more patients were significantly more likely to see a higher number of sales representatives. For example, 59% of respondents who saw more than 100 patients each week also saw four or more sales reps a week. In comparison, 30% of NPs who saw 50 or fewer patients per week also saw four or more reps a week. About Verispan
Verispan, a healthcare informatics joint venture of Quintiles Transnational Corp. and McKesson Corp., provides a broad array of information products and services to the healthcare industry, including sales targeting and compensation products; market research audits; healthcare profiles; comprehensive managed care offerings; primary market research; data integration, warehousing and mining; data analysis and consulting; direct mail; list services; disease management studies; clinical trial investigator targeting and protocol recruitment evaluation; healthcare outcomes; and cost/benefit analyses, among many others. Verispan is also the nation's leading provider of patient-centric longitudinal data, with dozens of products used by clients spanning the industry.
Headquartered in Yardley, Pa., Verispan employs over 500 dedicated healthcare information professionals. The company's Web site is www.verispan.com.
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