drug reps make 250k? ummmm....

[baby methuselah]

i was shadowing today and a drug rep talked to me after the docs left. said i should work for his pharmaceutical company and make 200 k w/in 1 year and he makes around 250k. is this possible? i laughed and told him that i will be making half of that by the time i get out of residency IN EIGHT YEARS! lol. i know a guy can get miserable if he does his work just for money, but DANG. i'm going to med school and working pretty hard for another decade just so that i can make half of what this drug rep does?

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[armybound]

I've heard of people just starting with a BS out of college for ~$100,000.

 

[glamqueen]

I'm a nontrad, and I have a friend who has been doing drug rep for a very very famous company for four years. He started at 70K (everyone at our young 22 years thought he was THE MAN), and now makes close to 100K. Don't believe the hype - whoever told you 250 was crazy. I should add, that my friend is also at the top of his game too. Top in the region, I believe? He owns a very pricey house (for our age range and area of town), and he does have the status in the company to be respected...but not 250K.

Don't let money dissuade you, or on the flip side, make you feel like you are missing out. The guy is totally lying to you. He wishes he were going to be a doctor is what the truth is!

 

[shotdiscus]

Its by no means guaranteed. My understanding is that the industry standard is pay based not simply on the number of scripts you can get docs to write, but the increase in the number of scripts every quarter. I think it pretty much boils down to the manufacturer you work for and the drug you're pushing

 

[Dr.D-man]

Most job ads for drug rep positions give you a base pay of around 40K. I have talked to a few reps and the work is not that great. What everyone sees is only the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Playmakur42]

i was shadowing today and a drug rep talked to me after the docs left. said i should work for his pharmaceutical company and make 200 k w/in 1 year and he makes around 250k.

Highly unlikely. Most drug reps start out w/ a base salary of 50-60K with an opportunity to make a 30-50K bonus if they "sell" enough of their assigned drugs. They also get a company car, cell phone, and expense account. As they progress in the company over a few years, they are usually promoted to sell a more niche drug and the total compensation goes up around 20-40K more if they are selling enough of their drugs. If they stay around for 10 years and go into management, they can meet or exceed 200K, but it's not easy to do. It's like going into a med school class of 150 students, where at the end only 1 or 2 get to that level and the rest have to work for around 100K the rest of their lives.

The caveats:
1.) The company decides what their "quota" of drugs is and it can oftentimes be unrealistically high. It sucks to work hard all year and then miss a 30K bonus check by being a few scripts short.

2.) After a new drug is introduced for a period and the docs are familiar with it, the sales force is cut down substantially. Everyone can't be a top sales person since all territories aren't equal, so you may get "let go" when this happens.

3.) You have to be super nice to everyone all the time or they won't buy your drug.


All things considered it's not a bad job, but an entirely different animal than medicine. At night, you get to go home and say, "I got Dr. so and so to write x more scripts so I'm going to get a nice bonues check!" instead of, "I helped improve all of my patients lives today." The money is out there in other places if it's what you desire. It's ultimately up to you.

 

[ssquared]

Do you really want to sell stuff for a living?

Ew. I hate asking people to buy stuff.

I can't imagine that being a drug rep has anywhere near the level of job satisfaction that a doctor has.

 

[etf]

all salespeople have the ability to rake in huge amounts of money, but only certain types of people will be successful in this field.

 

[benzene2008]

i was shadowing today and a drug rep talked to me after the docs left. said i should work for his pharmaceutical company and make 200 k w/in 1 year and he makes around 250k. is this possible? i laughed and told him that i will be making half of that by the time i get out of residency IN EIGHT YEARS! lol. i know a guy can get miserable if he does his work just for money, but DANG. i'm going to med school and working pretty hard for another decade just so that i can make half of what this drug rep does?

It is funny but I believe there are two types of doctor... Those who truly care about money and those who don't. Which one are you?

 

[VQuick]

IMO being a drug rep involves a serious conflict of interest (pushing uses of products that may be unnecessary or inappropriate in many cases) and is one of the more unethical jobs out there. They are paid well because they have to be very good at what they do in order to sell as many products while disguising the moral questionability as much as possible. At the end of your career, you will be much more satisfied as a doctor, unless you value money above all.

 

[benzene2008]

IMO being a drug rep involves a serious conflict of interest (pushing uses of products that may be unnecessary or inappropriate in many cases) and is one of the more unethical jobs out there. They are paid well because they have to be very good at what they do in order to sell as many products while disguising the moral questionability as much as possible. At the end of your career, you will be much more satisfied as a doctor, unless you value money above all.

Whats funny about drug reps is this. We as pre-meds hold a certain level of intelligence that is IMO higher than the average student... Which by the way, is exactly who the drug reps are. But, their job is to work for a multi-billion dollar company who provides them with an armada of literature about a drug that may be a little more effective than Tylenol. Every once in a while a good drug comes out and is really needed... But laughably most aren't but nevertheless these businesses and industry exists.

 

[SIREN]

Sales? Yuck, it can be an icky business. Trying to chase down docs can be a difficult feat for patients let alone sales reps, lol. It is funny you ask that because the two professions are day and night. Also the top salesmen are always trying to recruit newbies because they either receive an overhead commission of what you sell or some type of bonus. In addition, one of the big drawbacks in sales is when territory comes into play, if this is an issue than you can pretty much guarantee you wont be selling in the more lucrative areas.

 

[caprisun]

.

 

[stbxTechie]

I've heard of people just starting with a BS out of college for ~$100,000.

If you're willing to do night shift, around here (SF Bay Area) some of the hospitals are paying around $47/hour (just over $40/hr for days) for brand new RNs straight out of a bachelor's degree.

$47/hr is approximately equivalent to a salary of $94,000/year (depending on how many shifts you work; at 32 hours a week it's "only" $75k)

 

[Ephesus]

An ortho surgeon once told me to become a drug rep, saying the ones that come visit him make around 50k a year. If you wanna make more, you can be a rep for prostethics, they make 85k. I don't believe that drug rep; lies are what they're good at.

 

[ADeadLois]

i was shadowing today and a drug rep talked to me after the docs left. said i should work for his pharmaceutical company and make 200 k w/in 1 year and he makes around 250k. is this possible? i laughed and told him that i will be making half of that by the time i get out of residency IN EIGHT YEARS! lol. i know a guy can get miserable if he does his work just for money, but DANG. i'm going to med school and working pretty hard for another decade just so that i can make half of what this drug rep does?

As others have said, it's highly unlikely you'd make that kind of dough as a drug rep.

 

[sirus_virus]

im doing some clinical work right now and each week we have a drug rep come in with food, treats, etc. yea they may make 100k-200k in the long run.. but at the end of the day.. they still have to beg doctors to buy their goods. if im gonna be working my butt off for a decade to make that much money.. i dont want to be asking people to buy things from me and coercing them with fine dining.

that's not the life for me.


and the comment above is very true: when it comes down to it.. there are two types of doctors.. those who do it for the money and those who don't. you should decide now which one you are because it's a loooong road ahead.

You will do enough begging and ass kissing during your medical training to last you a lifetime.

 

[brainfry]

I personally wouldn't want to be a ***** for the pharmaceutical industry, regardless of the pay. Every Tuesday those guys would come to the Cancer Care Institute where I did research and wine and dine the entire staff. I hope that when I open a practice I use a drug because it works, not because some salesman kissed my behind. Also, I get angry every time I think about how healthcare is a commodity and not a right in this country (including meds). It just doesn't seem right that there are industries profitting from my grandmother's cancer. Am I too naive???

S

 

[DrBowtie]

I personally wouldn't want to be a ***** for the pharmaceutical industry, regardless of the pay. Every Tuesday those guys would come to the Cancer Care Institute where I did research and wine and dine the entire staff. I hope that when I open a practice I use a drug because it works, not because some salesman kissed my behind. Also, I get angry every time I think about how healthcare is a commodity and not a right in this country (including meds). It just doesn't seem right that there are industries profitting from my grandmother's cancer. Am I too naive???

S

Yes because without profit potential, there wouldn't be any medications to treat your grandmother's cancer.

 

[ADeadLois]

Also, I get angry every time I think about how healthcare is a commodity and not a right in this country (including meds). It just doesn't seem right that there are industries profitting from my grandmother's cancer. Am I too naive???

S

You have to keep in mind that it costs upwards of a billion dollars (not including advertising) and over a decade for a drug to reach the market. Pharmaceutical companies need to keep their profit margins big in order to attract the brightest minds to keep producing new, effective and safe drugs. It's tough to swallow, but this is the nature of free-market capitalism. I agree that it doesn't seem right for a company to profit from sick people, but it's necessary in order for drug companies to continue to produce more advanced drugs efficiently and safely.

 

[EBI831]

i've grown up around drug reps and from my experience they make 75k-150k working for top companies. also, if money is your poison, you can be both a doctor and drug rep sorta...my dad does...he runs his own lab as a PI, sees patients, and then has permission to do about 3 lectures promoting drugs a week (and trust me they pay nicely). the only issue is fatigue. and its better this way actually b/c he promotes drugs in his field so he already has a better chance at spotting flukes and ploys than the average drug rep. he doesn't get the car, phone, etc tho but he does get to travel to so many cool places around the world for free and sometimes take us along.

 

[leviathan]

I'd consider promoting drug sales as a temp job if I believed in the product. If you believe in it, its easy to sell, because it should be a no-brainer for people to prescribe. That said, I couldn't lie and promote a drug that was inferior to another.

 

[nutcancer]

i wouldn't be surprised if they made that much, but i doubt it. never understimate how valuable commodities good looks and great personality are.

 

[VQuick]

You have to keep in mind that it costs upwards of a billion dollars (not including advertising) and over a decade for a drug to reach the market. Pharmaceutical companies need to keep their profit margins big in order to attract the brightest minds to keep producing new, effective and safe drugs. It's tough to swallow, but this is the nature of free-market capitalism. I agree that it doesn't seem right for a company to profit from sick people, but it's necessary in order for drug companies to continue to produce more advanced drugs efficiently and safely.

They wouldn't have to sell half as much if they didn't firebomb the country with advertisements. Telling patients to "ask their doctor about ~" is not the way to get people appropriate treatment; rather, doctors should diagnose and prescribe appropriate treatment in the office according to their medical training and experience. It blows my mind.

 

[remo]

Many of my friends (I'm a non-trad) are sales people in the healthcare field. Drug reps make nowhere near $250K but they get a company car and a nice salary and can make $100-150K. Drug reps are not even considered good salespeople. All they do is hand out brochures and take people to dinner. A girl I know who worked for Pfizer had to spend at least $3k a month on dinner/entertainment or she would get in trouble. The rest of the time she would roam through medical buildings and try to get doctors to talk to her. That was basically her job and she hated it.

Top sales people at medical supply companies can make $250k+ if they are the best in the country (which isn't easy). I knew a guy who made like $350k one year selling OR lights. However, every few years he would have to jump ship to sell the next "hot" item. The lean years weren't nearly as good.

 

[ryandote]

They wouldn't have to sell half as much if they didn't firebomb the country with advertisements. Telling patients to "ask their doctor about ~" is not the way to get people appropriate treatment; rather, doctors should diagnose and prescribe appropriate treatment in the office according to their medical training and experience. It blows my mind.

That's on the doctors, then, isn't it? My patient can come in asking about Cialis all he wants, but if Viagra is the better option- that is what I should prescribe, no matter if Cialis is an official partner of the PGA Tour or not.

If you are going to get nearly idential results, though, I'm not against throwing the rep a bone. It's a fine line, but as long as you make patient outcome the "rate-limiting-step" I have no problem with drug reps. I just wish they could still take the docs golfing... I'd lobby for that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[ADeadLois]

They wouldn't have to sell half as much if they didn't firebomb the country with advertisements. Telling patients to "ask their doctor about ~" is not the way to get people appropriate treatment; rather, doctors should diagnose and prescribe appropriate treatment in the office according to their medical training and experience. It blows my mind.

Drug companies need to advertise in order to recoup their investment and maintain a competitive profit margin. It's basic economics. If you feel that drug production should not be a private enterprise, then please tell me where the money to produce them will come from. At the end of the day, it's up to the doctors to decide who gets what drugs. Drug companies can influence doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and HMOS all they want, but they're not the ones prescribing them.

 

[Trindelinberg]

You can work for big pharm as a sales rep when you get your MD (or DO), that's when you make > 200K/yr.

 

[45408]

It is funny but I believe there are two types of doctor... Those who truly care about money and those who don't. Which one are you?

and there are those who truly care if they are able to pay their bills each month and those who don't. 🙄

Your statement should read "There are two types of pre-meds...."

 

[deleted103644]

The prettier you are, the more money you will make as a drug rep. This goes for boys as well as girls. 😛 The people who do it are quite literally selling themselves to socially-starved doctors to influence their spending decisions.

 

[limpkitty]

You have to keep in mind that it costs upwards of a billion dollars (not including advertising) and over a decade for a drug to reach the market. Pharmaceutical companies need to keep their profit margins big in order to attract the brightest minds to keep producing new, effective and safe drugs. It's tough to swallow, but this is the nature of free-market capitalism. I agree that it doesn't seem right for a company to profit from sick people, but it's necessary in order for drug companies to continue to produce more advanced drugs efficiently and safely.

You need to keep in mind that drug companies spend tons more money on advertising than R&D (i'm talking about a magnitude more, it's not even a comparison). And the research is subsidized by the government anyway. If you think advertising is so great tell me why every health care expert in the country (not including those on the payroll at pharm companies) wants DTC advertising outlawed, like it is in every other modern country. And are you really saying that you think it's a good thing that pharmaceutical companies have the highest profit margins of any industry?

I wouldn't be surprised if ADeadLois is on the payroll of Eli Lilly

 

[ryandote]

You need to keep in mind that drug companies spend tons more money on advertising than R&D (i'm talking about a magnitude more, it's not even a comparison). And the research is subsidized by the government anyway. If you think advertising is so great tell me why every health care expert in the country (not including those on the payroll at pharm companies) wants DTC advertising outlawed, like it is in every other modern country. And are you really saying that you think it's a good thing that pharmaceutical companies have the highest profit margins of any industry?

I wouldn't be surprised if ADeadLois is on the payroll of Eli Lilly

Nice!

Conjecture, straw-man, rhetoric, socialism, bold claims disguised as questions, and an attempt at a personal insult all in one post!

Care to post some numbers from a reputable source? I thought all you Marxists were too busy pegging the Oil Industry as rapists of the poor... when did Pharm take over as the "highest profit margins of any industry?"

 

[MossPoh]

Also.....Looks are a pretty important part. I don't know how many very attractive girls (can't testify about guys) I have seen. They sell more...tend to be taller, in shape. Looks fade...

You can make good money, but anything with sales SUCKS. The best ones at it are waking up, taking a potential client to breakfast, talking, calling, talking, calling, reading up on materials, lunch with client, talking, calling, calling, driving driving driving driving, getting yelled at, client to dinner, talking. Prep for the next day and repeat.

 

[limpkitty]

Nice!

Conjecture, straw-man, rhetoric, socialism, bold claims disguised as questions, and an attempt at a personal insult all in one post!

Care to post some numbers from a reputable source? I thought all you Marxists were too busy pegging the Oil Industry as rapists of the poor... when did Pharm take over as the "highest profit margins of any industry?"

"But while the rhetoric is stirring, it has very little to do with reality. First, research and development (R&D) is a relatively small part of the budgets of the big drug companies—dwarfed by their vast expenditures on marketing and administration, and smaller even than profits. In fact, year after year, for over two decades, this industry has been far and away the most profitable in the United States. (In 2003, for the first time, the industry lost its first-place position, coming in third, behind "mining, crude oil production," and "commercial banks.") The prices drug companies charge have little relationship to the costs of making the drugs and could be cut dramatically without coming anywhere close to threatening R&D."
--Marcia Angell, senior lecturer of social medicine at Harvad Medical School (yeah, you know harvard? i'm sure you've heard of it)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244

sorry, I forgot about oil, you fascist pig

 

[Doctor M]

As a pharmacist and a hopeful med student soon 🙂)), I hate it when the drug reps come into the pharmacy. They always come in when I'm running around filling scripts. I never talk to them I usually send a tech for a maximum of 2 minutes. If I go over there, they will talk my ear off and tell me about a drug I will probably never order! I know thay need to make money and what not, but please let me service my patients first. Anyway, i see medicine in my future soon!

Dr. M

 

[Bluemirage]

i was shadowing today and a drug rep talked to me after the docs left. said i should work for his pharmaceutical company and make 200 k w/in 1 year and he makes around 250k. is this possible? i laughed and told him that i will be making half of that by the time i get out of residency IN EIGHT YEARS! lol. i know a guy can get miserable if he does his work just for money, but DANG. i'm going to med school and working pretty hard for another decade just so that i can make half of what this drug rep does?

That's total BS...maybe he was talking about surgical device reps that sell pacemakers or other advanced surgical equipment/devices. These guys frequently have territories that include 2-3 states and have alot of overnight travel. They are always in the OR the same time the surgeon is, so they technically work surgeon hours which explains the $200k+ salaries. I used to work for big pharma as a senior sales rep for 4 years and I have never heard of a pharm rep earning that kind of salary. Even our regional directors do not earn this much.

 

[ryandote]

"But while the rhetoric is stirring, it has very little to do with reality. First, research and development (R&D) is a relatively small part of the budgets of the big drug companies—dwarfed by their vast expenditures on marketing and administration, and smaller even than profits. In fact, year after year, for over two decades, this industry has been far and away the most profitable in the United States. (In 2003, for the first time, the industry lost its first-place position, coming in third, behind "mining, crude oil production," and "commercial banks.") The prices drug companies charge have little relationship to the costs of making the drugs and could be cut dramatically without coming anywhere close to threatening R&D."
--Marcia Angell, senior lecturer of social medicine at Harvad Medical School (yeah, you know harvard? i'm sure you've heard of it)
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244

sorry, I forgot about oil, you fascist pig

Actually, I'm more of a capitalist/free-market sort of pig.

Fascism was originally a response to Marxist Socialism, which was in turn a response to late 19th and early 20th century capitalism. Almost all fascist governments instituted price controls, wage controls, and other nationalizing policies consistent with government economic planning. Definitely not something a god-fearing capitalist would condone.

While I'll give you Marcia Angell as a reputable source, your quote has NO citation in her article. I'm not quite convinced she has numbers to back that up, seeing as I doubt drug companies hand Ms. Angell their budget and expense statements.

My bottom line is that nobody would do it well if it wasn't profitable. In fact, I don't think it is likely that anyone would do it at all.

 

[patrickd223]

Sales people tend to be good at selling products at any cost (lie, steal, kill, toture) 🙂

It sounds to me like he was trying to sell his job to you.

 

[limpkitty]

Actually, I'm more of a capitalist/free-market sort of pig.

Fascism was originally a response to Marxist Socialism, which was in turn a response to late 19th and early 20th century capitalism. Almost all fascist governments instituted price controls, wage controls, and other nationalizing policies consistent with government economic planning. Definitely not something a god-fearing capitalist would condone.

While I'll give you Marcia Angell as a reputable source, your quote has NO citation in her article. I'm not quite convinced she has numbers to back that up, seeing as I doubt drug companies hand Ms. Angell their budget and expense statements.

My bottom line is that nobody would do it well if it wasn't profitable. In fact, I don't think it is likely that anyone would do it at all.

the price controls were in response to the war (nixon did the same, remember??) at it's base, fascism is an economic system characterized by unrestrained capitalism w/o any protections for workers etc...

read a book about it sometime and quit quoting your high school social studies teacher

 

[Bluemirage]

Sales people tend to be good at selling products at any cost (lie, steal, kill, toture) 🙂

It sounds to me like he was trying to sell his job to you.

The guy was probably just trying to make the job sound more lucrative/glamorous than it really is to justify staying in the position. A pharma job offering 200k+ is pure fantasy, but it does pay pretty well and has excellent benefits. Competition is fierce for a spot....the position really needs no selling as hundreds of applicants fight for 1 opening.

 

[benzene2008]

and there are those who truly care if they are able to pay their bills each month and those who don't. 🙄

Your statement should read "There are two types of pre-meds...."

No, because as a Premed I don't have "real bills" But as a doctor I would imagine that there are people who are going to give back to the community and still run their businesses well while others are only going to be worried about the bottom line.

 

[sperola]

Yeah sure its a lot of money, but I think if you want to be a doctor, sitting back at the end of the day thinking about all the drugs that you sold and all the money you have, you'd feel unaccomplished. Or that might just be me.

 

[foreverLaur]

there has to be a reason why all the drug reps tell me not to go into their career field. a ton of them visit my mom's office on a regular basis. they all say it was great when they got into it, but they'd never advise anyone to go into it right now. they say it just isn't what it used to be...

 

[TheRealMD]

there has to be a reason why all the drug reps tell me not to go into their career field. a ton of them visit my mom's office on a regular basis. they all say it was great when they got into it, but they'd never advise anyone to go into it right now. they say it just isn't what it used to be...

It's a glofied sales job. I think it's rather weird to jump from a field that has quite a bit of security (medicine) to one that's strictly performance related (drug rep).

 

[baylormed]

I find it funny when people advertise their salaries to other people in order to make themselves feel better about their job.

PharmRep: I make 250K/year and I didn't have to go to med school! Look how dumb you are and how smart I am! I may not be a doctor but I sure can make as much money!

Me: So? Good for you.


Really, and sharing your supposed salary with strangers....um...not good.

 

[JacobSilge]

I find it funny when people advertise their salaries to other people in order to make themselves feel better about their job.

PharmRep: I make 250K/year and I didn't have to go to med school! Look how dumb you are and how smart I am! I may not be a doctor but I sure can make as much money!

Me: So? Good for you.


Really, and sharing your supposed salary with strangers....um...not good.

Heh. Sounds like the pre-dent forum. "We can make more money without doing a residency!"

 

[novawildcat]

People complain about how much drug companies make, but if they own a 401K , retirement account, or mutual fund etc. I bet there is a good chance they own some stock in a drug company. The profits are diluted amongst share holders who complain about how much the company that they own stock in is making. Quite ironic.


How many billions does NIKE spend a year on advertising while paying sweat shop workers in Cambodia 2 cents an hour? How many people on this forum own a pair of NIKE shoes?


How many billions does the auto industry spend on car advertisements instead of using that money to develop cleaner technology for the environment? We all drive cars though.


Maybe it should be against the law to advertise?

 

[Cyborg Ninja]

Nevermind that you've basically be selling your soul to serve as a drug rep. People who only live for greed disgust me. Not only that, but their job is to twist facts and mislead doctors, possibly harming patients in the long run.

 

[Doctorverardoll]

I personally wouldn't want to be a ***** for the pharmaceutical industry, regardless of the pay. Every Tuesday those guys would come to the Cancer Care Institute where I did research and wine and dine the entire staff. I hope that when I open a practice I use a drug because it works, not because some salesman kissed my behind. Also, I get angry every time I think about how healthcare is a commodity and not a right in this country (including meds). It just doesn't seem right that there are industries profitting from my grandmother's cancer. Am I too naive???

S

No you are not naive. I urge everyone here to read Overdo$ed America by HMS instructor Dr. John Abramson. It made me sick to read the misleading information that gets published in even the most respected journals. The doctors are being wined and dined, which seems nice, but some are being duped into prescribing certain name-brand drugs. The spoon feeding of pharmaceutical company-sponsored research starts as early as med school and continues into CME.
I even got wined and dined by pharma reps as a lowly pharmacy tech.

 

[sfnix]

i was shadowing today and a drug rep talked to me after the docs left. said i should work for his pharmaceutical company and make 200 k w/in 1 year and he makes around 250k. is this possible? i laughed and told him that i will be making half of that by the time i get out of residency IN EIGHT YEARS! lol. i know a guy can get miserable if he does his work just for money, but DANG. i'm going to med school and working pretty hard for another decade just so that i can make half of what this drug rep does?

not really sure how salaries for all drug reps distribute themselves, but there is definitely so cash to be made. unfortunately you have to be a sales-person, so basically your job is to bug the **** out of people. pretty fun eh?

on a funny note- my x-girlfriend's brother-in-law was in pharmceutical sales. was talking with him one time and he gave me his entire spiel (really funny b/c he had been drinking). he sold hemroid cream. this kid was pulling over 200k for sure selling hemroid cream. god bless america.