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A A few months ago Kim Schaefer, sales representative of a major global pharmaceutical company, walked into a medical center in New York to bring information and free samples of her company’s latest products. A. 几个月前，Kim Schaefer，这位全球主要医药公司的销售代表，走进了纽约的一家医疗中心，她带来了公司新产品的样品以及相关信息。 That day she was lucky - a doctor was available to see her. 那天她很走运，因为一位医生抽空接待了她。 'The last rep offered me a trip to Florida. “上一位医药代 表说要送我一次佛罗里达的旅行。 What do you have?’ the physician asked. 你打算给我点什么呢？”这位医生问道。 He was only half Joking. 医生只是在半开玩笑罢了。

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B What was on offer that day was a pair of tickets for a New York musical. B. 那天她能够提供的是两张纽约音乐剧的门票。 But on any given day, what Schaefer can offer Is typical for today's drugs rep - a car trunk Full of promotional gifts and gadgets, a budget that could buy lunches and dinners for a small country, hundreds of free drug samples and the freedom to give a physician $200 to prescribe her new product to the next six patients who fit the drug's profile. 但是随便在哪一天，她可以提供的东西与今天的医药代表所能提供的都并无二致：满满一后备箱的促销礼品和小玩意，一份足以给一个小国家购买午 餐和晚餐的预算，几百份免费样品药，加上医生的一份特权，即接下来的六位病人里，这位医生倘若 给适用于此药疗效范畴的人开出此药，则每开一次就可以得到 200 美元。 And she also has a few $ 1,000 honoraria to offer in exchange for doctors' attendance at her company's next educational lecture. 另外，倘若医生能够参加公司举办的下一次教学讲座，她也可以提供几张 1 000 美元的酬谢券。

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C Selling pharmaceuticals is a daily exercise in ethical Judgment. c. 倘若从伦理上判断，药品销售是每天都在发生的行为。 Salespeople like Schaefer walk the line between the common practice of buying a prospect’s time with a free meal, and bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs. Schaefer 这样的销售人员每天游走于两件事之间：一，用请客吃饭来换取潜在客户的时间——这种做法比较普遍；二，贿赂医生以使其在处 方中开出她销售的药品。 They work In an industry highly criticized for Its sales and marketing practices, but find themselves in the middle of the age-old chicken-or-egg question-businesses won't use strategies that don’t work, so are doctors to blame for the escalating extravagance of pharmaceutical marketing? 这些销售人员所工作的行业一直因为销售和营销方式而饱受批评，但是这些人却发现他们自己置身于那个老掉牙的困境当中：到底是鸡生蛋还是蛋生鸡的问题-公司不会采用没有效果的策略，那么对于医药营销方面日益增长的奢侈做法，医生应该受到谴责吗？ Or is it the industry's responsibility to decide the boundaries? 抑或是应该由行业自身 来划定界限？

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D The explosion in the sheer number of salespeople in the field-and the amount of funding used to promote their causes - forces close examination of the pressures, influences and relationships between drug reps and doctors. D. 该领域销售人员数量的急剧增长，以及用以促销的资金数量的增长，都迫使我们仔细的研究医生和医药代表之间的压力、影响和关系。 Salespeople provide much-needed Information and education to physicians. 销售人员提供了最需要的信息和资讯给医生。 In many cases the glossy brochures, article reprints and prescriptions they deliver are primary sources of drug education for healthcare givers. 在很多情况下，医药代表提供的术语手册、翻印文章和处方是提供医疗服务的人获取药品信息的主要来源。 With the huge investment the industry has placed in face-to-face selling, salespeople have essentially become specialists in one drug or group of drugs-a tremendous advantage in getting the attention of busy doctors in need of quick Information. 伴随着医药行业在面对面的销售行为中投入的巨额资金，销售人员其实已经成为某种或某些药品方面的专家，在那些需要快速获取信息的忙碌的医生面前，这是一个巨大的优势，因为这可以使医生注意到自己。

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E But the sales push rarely stops in the office. E. 但是销售行为很少止步于办公室。 The flashy brochures and pamphlets left by the sales reps are often followed up with meals at expensive restaurants, meetings in warm and sunny places, and an inundation of promotional gadgets. 在销售代表留下的花花绿绿的宣传手册之后，往往跟随着高档饭店的大餐、于温暖明媚之所举办的会议，以及洪水般的促销礼品。 Rarely do patients watch a doctor write with a pen that isn’t emblazoned with a drug's name, or see a nurse use a tablet not bearing a pharmaceutical company's logo. 病人们总能看到医生们用来写字的笔上，上面大都印有药品名称，而护士们使用的药片上，也大都印着药厂的 LOGO。 Millions of dollars are spent by pharmaceutical companies on promotional products like coffee mugs, shirts, umbrellas, and golf balls. 医药公司要花上数百万美元用来制作促销礼品，如咖啡杯、衬衫、雨伞和高尔夫球等等。 Money well spent? 这钱花的得当吗？ It’s hard to tell. 很难讲。 'I've been the recipient of golf balls from one company and I use them, but it doesn’t make me prescribe their medicine’, says one doctor,'I tend to think I’m not influenced by what they give me.' “我曾经接收并使用一家公司送的高尔夫球，但是我也没有开出他们的药品”，一位医生说，“我倾向于认为自己不为他们的礼物所动。”

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F Free samples of new and expensive drugs might be the single most effective way of getting doctors and patients to become loyal to a product. F. 新药贵药的免费样品可能是使医生和病人变成某种药品忠实用户的唯一有效途径。 Salespeople hand out hundreds of dollars’ worth of samples each week- $7.2 billion worth of them in one year. 销售人员每 周派发出价值数百美金的样品药，一年的价值可达 72 亿美元。 Though few comprehensive studies have been conducted, one by the University of Washington Investigated how drug sample availability affected what physicians prescribe. 这方面的综合研究并不多，不过华盛顿 大学进行了一项研究，他们调查了样品药是否能够影响医生开具的处方。 A total of 131 doctors self-reported their prescribing patterns - the conclusion was that the availability of samples led them to dispense and prescribe drugs that differed from their preferred drug choice. 131 位医生陈述了他们开具 处方的模式，结论是，样品药的存在使得他们分发并且开出一些与平常所用的不同的药品。

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G The bottom line is that pharmaceutical companies as a whole invest more in marketing than they do in research and development. G. 问题的根本在于，医药公司作为一个整体，对于营销的投入要高于研发。 And patients are the ones who pay- in the form of sky-rocketing prescription prices - for every pen that's handed out, every free theatre ticket, and every steak dinner eaten. 而买单的是病人，他们 以飞涨的药价支付着每支免费派发的笔、每一张戏票和每一份免费牛排的费用。 In the end the fact remains that pharmaceutical companies have every right to make a profit and will continue to find new ways to Increase sales. 最终，事实仍旧是，医 药公司大把赚进钞票，而且不停地找到新的促销方式。 But as the medical world continues to grapple with what's acceptable and what’s not, it is clear that companies must continue to be heavily scrutinized for their sales and marketing strategies. 但是，随着医药界不断地思考哪些礼品更容易送出去这种问题，有一点很显然：医药公司必须继续考量他们的销售和市场策略。