"Matt" on proboards helps explain one of Mannkind's many problems:
"It is a common practice in many parts of the country to prohibit sales calls during hours when physicians are seeing patients. That is a direct result of the "share of voice" selling model employed by some pharma companies in the past where they had multiple reps from the same company detailing the same product to the same physicians. Multiply that problem by ten or fifteen drug companies calling on your clinic. At the end of the day, it is the physician's job to treat their patient and not to talk to pharma reps so I think it is a perfectly acceptable practice.
It is not fair to characterize it as the physicians having blinders on. They have plenty of opportunity to learn about new products at medical meetings (which also have an exhibitors floor), print advertising in medical journals, peer-reviewed articles in major journals, continuing education dinners held after office ours, monthly hospital based "drug fairs" where all reps are welcome to sell during a period of three to four hours, and many companies sponsor lunch at the clinic in exchange for having the physicians attention while they have a sandwich. Each of these approaches have merits and flaws, but to say that a clinic "no see" policy does not allow physicians to learn about new products is not accurate.
The problem for MNKD is that an increasing number of offices have a "no see" policy during clinic hours. If the receptionist will not allow the salesman to see the physician, there is very little selling that can take place."
