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by Christine M. Schmidt (Author)
"Death of a Drug" takes place in 1996. Inhaber-Taft was one of the top global pharmaceutical companies, with a long history of scientific breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases. The corporation's top-notch marketing and sales division turned these chemical compounds into blockbuster drugs. But the ethical, albeit stodgy culture begins to change when a valid post-marketing clinical trial, conducted with the drug MELAVOX, reveals the highest dose of the drug causes heart attacks and stroke. This presents a challenge to both the sales force and the marketing team who had boastfully informed Wall Street of now unattainable sales projections. Michael Poong, a sales manager on the career fast track, is desperate to meet his objectives and move on to his next promotion. He coaches his sales reps to promote MELAVOX outside of FDA approved labeling and, eventually, even ethical sales managers follow suit to save their careers. The story weaves through characters as diverse as the eccentric Rose Heinrich, a former nurse, who is now an aging pharmaceutical sales rep. She's the top performer in her district, a dog breeder, a heavy smoker, and she opts to hang in traction after sales meetings instead of participating in team dinners. Dr. Friedman is a narcissistic physician, who is devastated to learn that Lee Young, his trophy wife, has been unfaithful. There is only one way he can be sure she won't humiliate him anymore. Blaire Evans is a physical therapist who finds the transition into pharmaceutical sales a difficult one, until she learns there is a hard way or a smart way to get the job done. Harrison Johnson is a young, African American sales rep, who becomes another victim of Dr. Friedman's prejudice. Katie McDonaugh, the counterpart sales manager to Michael Poong, has always used sex to advance her career but now finds she must act as a courier for her drug addicted boss. Dr. DiStefano is a Cardiologist who prescribes TRIAGRA for his elderly male patients to enhance their sex lives. The drug is contraindicated in his patient population; all of whom have heart disease. But, like many drugs, the benefits justify the risk. Like most physicians, Dr. DiStefano prescribes any drug that Prescott-Williams sells because of the myriad ways in which he is rewarded for his prescriptions. Debbie Kaminski, a late bloomer who started her career with Inhaber-Taft as an administrative assistant, finally lands a job as a pharmaceutical sales rep. But she has a knack for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. More than once, she calls on Dr. Friedman's practice shortly after the office manager has started her late day drinking. And an apparently inconsequential encounter with Dr. Friedman, one evening at Wilmington Pharmacy, will later add up to suspicion when Lee Young's body is found and the missing person case is upgraded to a murder investigation. "Death of a Drug" is a story that reflects the universal truth of the good and bad that exists in all industries, professions and people. It is suspenseful, enlightening and comical. Readers have described it as a real page turner.
