Wyeth will begin to implement its plan to integrate part-time employees into its U.S. primary care sales force starting in late November.

The firm commenced a pilot in six U.S. regions in the first quarter, and "now, based on findings that are very encouraging, we're in the process of rolling out the change nationally," Exec VP & Wyeth Pharmaceuticals President Bernard Poussot said during the firm's third quarter earnings call Oct. 21.

"We think we're going to be very active in implementing the plan [after] Thanksgiving," he said.

The company has started to aggressively recruit experienced sales reps with regional expertise who are willing to work part time.

"We hope that by January we'll be pretty ready for a full-fledged start, so we'll capture all the benefits of this change for 2006," Poussot said.

Wyeth's sales force restructuring scheme entails reducing its 2,500 full-time primary care sales force in the U.S. by 25%-30%. The company plans to offset the personnel reduction by hiring part-time reps, resulting in a 15% net reduction in full-time equivalents (¹ Also see "Wyeth Will Supplement Reduced Sales Force With Part-Time Reps" - Pink Sheet, 13 September, 2005.).

"All signs indicate that this is the right action to take," Poussot said. "We believe this new approach will give Wyeth a competitive advantage."

During the earnings call, one analyst questioned whether the sales force reduction could pose a threat to Wyeth's business.

"We're not concerned that this is going to have a negative impact on the business and in terms of cuts," Wyeth CFO Kenneth Martin said.

"It's not a situation where we said 'let's try to save 'x' and try to cut some percentage of our reps.' It's a situation where we said 'how best should we manage each individual physician practice and what is the staffing required for that,'" Martin added.

Wyeth may expand the new sales strategy overseas. "Our European affiliates have started to look at how to optimize our energy in the field, and I think similar results might be approached [in Europe]," Poussot noted.

Worldwide net revenue increased 5% to $4.7 bil. in the quarter, led by double-digit sales growth by Enbrel , Prevnar , Rapamune and Zosyn .

Net income fell 39% to $869.9 mil., compared with $1.42 bil. in the 2004 period, due to the inclusion of $95.8 mil. in restructuring charges related to the productivity initiatives, an income tax charge of $170 mil. for repatriated foreign earnings, and a favorable income tax adjustment of $407.6 mil. in the year-ago quarter.

- Turna Ray

Wyeth Begins Recruitment Of Part-Time Sales Reps

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