Merck standing pat on sales force size
Executive Summary
"We're very comfortable with our numbers" of sales reps, Merck Senior Director-Investor Relations Laura Jordan told a July 24 conference call. Merck has the right size sales force "relative to our portfolio of marketed products and which physicians we call on, and which are the appropriate physicians to call on and which are the appropriate products to detail to those physicians," she said. After adding about 600 reps ahead of the Vioxx launch in 1999, Merck has a 5,000-person sales force: 4,000 are primary care sales reps and 1,000 are divided among about 10 specialty sales groups