On your way to work one morning, you may have noticed a twenty-something backing up to a storage unit at your local self storage facility and wondered what was going on. Had you stayed to observe further activity, you may also have noticed that person loading boxes into their American-made car trunk with various prescription drug names and logos. What does one have to do with the other? Read on…
Today, there are roughly 100,000 pharmaceutical sales representatives in the United States “detailing” 830,000 pharmaceutical prescribers. A pharmaceutical representative will often try to see their “targets” (physicians) every few weeks, as physicians are the most important component in pharmaceutical sales; they write the prescriptions that determine which drugs will be used by their patients. Influencing physicians is the key to pharmaceutical sales, and has historically been done by a large pharmaceutical sales force (as mentioned above.) These pharmaceutical sales reps visit specific physicians regularly, providing information (“detailing”) and free drug samples to physicians.
Here in the United States, the marketing and distribution of pharmaceuticals is regulated by the federal 1988-enacted Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA), created to address certain prescription drug marketing practices that contributed to the channeling of large quantities of prescription drugs into a multi-million dollar drug “diversion” market, which introduced mislabeled, expired, and counterfeit drugs enter our nation's drug distribution system. This act also oversees the distribution of free samples, the use of coupons redeemable for drugs at no/low cost, and the sale of deeply-discounted drugs to hospitals and health care entities.
This is where the self storage and the PDMA roads meet: pharmaceutical reps sample their company’s products to physicians for their patients to try (to see if they are well-tolerated, etc.), as well as providing “free” prescription medications for indigent patients. And where, exactly, is rep to store a month’s worth of medicine? The ideal choice is a climate-controlled, secure self storage facility within their territory! Why?
A key provision of the PDMA requires that “drug wholesalers, prior to distributing any prescription drug; provide the purchaser with a statement of origin identifying all prior sales of the drug, including the dates of the transactions and all parties thereto.”
This provision is intended to ensure that all prescription drugs in commercial channels are accompanied by a paper trail and can be traced (if necessary), in the event of a recall, etc. Violation of this requirement is considered a misdemeanor. Monthly inventories of their “on-hand” samples are required of most pharmaceutical reps, and district managers often perform impromptu inspections of their employee’s drug-storage facilities, to ensure their valuable products are being accounted for; stored properly and safely.
So the next time you see that pharmaceutical representative pulling into their neighborhood self storage unit, you will know that they are simply doing their job: keeping their products viable and safe – for you!
John Stevens is an outdoor enthusiast, who, after many years in the corporate world finds himself enjoying a slower pace by doing some freelancing, journaling and blogging about a myriad of subjects ranging from sports to storage and all things in between.
John is exploring the business of storage and also looking into self storage in San Jose.
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