WHITEHOUSE, N.J., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Health Products Research, Inc.(R) (HPR(R)), a division of Ventiv Health, Inc. today announced it has successfully supported Sales Force Effectiveness programs for over 70 brands through the end of the 3rd quarter of 2004, including 12 of the top 20 most promoted brands in the U.S. This is an increase in activity of over 40% compared to a year ago, with several pharmaceutical companies turning to HPR as their partner of choice for managing its Sales Force Effectiveness initiatives.
To date, HPR has fielded over 200,000 physician and healthcare professional surveys centered on the topic of field force execution, delivery and effectiveness. "Companies are moving beyond the number of presentations generated for a brand and are increasingly more focused on the quality and effectiveness of those presentations," noted James Charnetski, Vice President of HPR's Market Research Division. "In today's highly competitive pharmaceutical/healthcare marketplace, every dollar spent on sales force promotional activity is being scrutinized, and companies are relying more heavily on measuring the quality of its selling efforts in order to optimize the return on the single largest marketing investment made by pharmaceutical manufacturers."
HPR draws upon many of its tools throughout the Sales Force Effectiveness Management process, including its proprietary Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit TM (MPA) and Rapid Recall(TM) offerings, coupled with advanced promotion analytics. The Internet also plays an integral part in HPR's execution of its Sales Force Effectiveness programs and delivery of information to its clients. HPR's extensive physician network currently houses information on more than 500,000 physicians, including nearly 70,000 high Rx potential physicians covering over 100 distinct areas of specialization. Depending on the scope of the sales force effectiveness program, studies are now completed in days rather than weeks or months. "We are delighted that our investments in HPR's technology backbone and marketing research division are being exploited by our clients, enabling them to capture a leading edge position in measuring the effectiveness of field representatives. Clients using our technology are able to reach key physicians within literally hours after they have received a call from a sales representative," commented Leonard Vicciardo, President and Chief Operating Officer of HPR. "This is powerful information provided to our clients in a highly cost-efficient manner," added Vicciardo.
The information and subsequent analyses enable clients to assess a variety of field force performance metrics, including:
* Gaining localized competitive promotional intelligence
* Evaluating the recall and importance of specific product messages
* Monitoring the effectiveness of their sales presentations relative to
their competition
* Identifying competitive counter detailing activities
* Measuring physicians' intent to prescribe and reasons why
This information ultimately helps clients identify the optimal selling message/s for their brands by physician segment, enhance district-level incentive compensation initiatives, better understand competitive positioning, ensure sales representatives are "on-target" with key selling messages over time, and gain an early read on competitive launches and insights into future product utilization. With HPR's integrated suite of sales force effectiveness offerings, pharmaceutical companies now have very specific, local market intelligence on the sales execution process, enabling them to more effectively measure rep performance and capitalize on local market opportunities.
For more information on HPR's offerings in the area of measuring Sales Force Effectiveness, please contact Kevin McFadden at (609) 771-9777.
About The Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit (MPA)
The Metropolitan Area Promotional Audit (MPA) is a monthly service providing insights into pharmaceutical/healthcare company promotional activities and sales force structure across 22 metropolitan area geographies (MSA-GEOs). Physicians provide insights into the nature of the sales rep product discussions, the value of this information, their intent to prescribe the product, in addition to a host of other information collected on the sales rep call. This enables pharmaceutical companies to fine-tune their marketing, field force resource allocation and professional medical education support initiatives to better meet the on-going information needs of physicians and healthcare providers. The MPA service was launched in January 2000, and has a dedicated panel of over 15,000 physicians representing 12 specialty segments.
About Health Products Research(R)
Headquartered in Whitehouse, New Jersey, Health Products Research, a division of Ventiv Health, Inc. , provides the pharmaceutical industry with sophisticated consulting services, including market research, promotion analyses, market segmentation, strategic planning, sales force deployment and call planning, for more than 30 years. Utilizing market, product and physician-level intelligence, in combination with advanced statistical modeling, mathematical techniques, and market research. HPR offers management solutions that maximize the effective use of promotional resources, optimizing Return on Investment (ROI).
About Ventiv Health
Ventiv Health, Inc. is a leading provider of late-stage clinical, sales, marketing and compliance solutions to the world's largest pharmaceutical companies as well as to emerging and specialty pharmaceutical and biotech organizations. Ventiv's clients include more than 75 pharmaceutical and biotech organizations, including virtually all of the top 20 global pharmaceutical companies.
The Ventiv delivery model is flexible and client-focused, enabling Ventiv to rapidly respond to changing client needs and market conditions across the full spectrum of late-stage clinical, sales, marketing and compliance services, with both integrated and independent programs. These include: Sales and Marketing Teams (Ventiv Sales and Marketing Teams(TM)), Clinical Staffing and Recruiting (Smith Hanley Corporation), Planning and Analytics (Health Products Research(R)), Sample Accountability/Patient Assistance Programs (The Franklin Group), Marketing Support (PROMOTECH), Recruitment (Ventiv Recruitment Services(TM)), Professional Development and Training (Ventiv Professional Development Group(TM)), Data Solutions (Total Data Solutions(TM)) and Clinical Support (The Therapeutics Institute(TM)). Ventiv is a multi- disciplinary company with a singular focus on providing excellence in customized solutions to meet clients' late-stage clinical, sales, marketing and compliance objectives.
Ventiv's approximately 4,000 employees support over 75 client organizations. For more information on Ventiv Health, visit http://www.ventiv.com/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that may cause Ventiv Health's performance to differ materially. Such risks include, without limitation: changes in trends in the pharmaceutical industry or in pharmaceutical outsourcing; our ability to compete successfully with other services in the market; our ability to maintain large client contracts or to enter into new contracts; uncertainties related to future incentive payments; and, our ability to operate successfully in new lines of business. Readers of this press release are referred to documents filed from time to time by Ventiv Health Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission for further discussion of these and other factors.
Ventiv Health, Inc.CONTACT: Investors or Corporate: John Emery, CFO of Ventiv Health, Inc.,+1-732-537-4804, investor@ventiv.com; or Client Questions or Marketing: KevinMcFadden of Health Products Research, Inc., +1-609-771-9777,kmcfadden@hprmrd.com; or Media: Felicia Vonella of Lazar Partners Ltd.,+1-212-867-1762, fvonella@lazarpartners.com, for Ventiv Health, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.ventiv.com/