The impact of marketised discourse on the interaction between drug representatives and physicians

Abstract

Drug representatives (‘drug reps’) visit physicians to present and promote pharmaceutical products (‘drug detailing’). Against the background of a continuous innovative slow-down, drug companies have shifted strategic emphasis towards marketing and selling. With regards to drug detailing, I am investigating how this shift towards marketing is manifested in discursive terms. I show how the detailing discourse is impacting the attitudes and behaviours of those involved in it, namely physicians, drug reps and their managers. By means of qualitative interviewing I access the individual meaning-making and attitudes towards the phenomenon of drug detailing. I demonstrate how discourse is designed, transformed and responded to. In that, I point to a system of incompatibility resulting in unproductive action. Marketised discourse as devised by management is not fostering collaboration between the industry and the medical profession. Moreover, it leads to a growing detachment of drug reps from their organisations. By highlighting the issue of drug detailing for the first time from a drug rep perspective my research demonstrates that the industry is not an integrated ideological whole. I conclude by advocating a more transparent conduct of business, suggesting controlling means to improve the quality of information delivery. Last not least I want to stimulate a critical public discourse about the sublime ways of constructing and disseminating marketised pharmaceutical information.