Joseph A. Brocato's weekly self-injections of a drug to treat hepatitis C left him so feverish and fatigued, he said, he often thought of quitting. He didn't, thanks to a nurse who urged him by phone to stay the course.
The nurse, Colleen Dinsdale, did not work for Mr. Brocato's doctor. Rather, Ms. Dinsdale was paid by the drug's maker, Roche, and its distributor, McKesson. Each month that Mr. Brocato took the drug, Pegasys, and its companion pill, ribavirin, meant $3,000 in sales — most of it paid by his insurance company. His share was a $50 co-payment.
The take-your-medicine program is part of a sales and marketing strategy that is gaining urgency for drug makers experiencing slowing sales. As it turns out, the industry leaves billions of dollars on the table — or the pharmacy shelves — annually because people do not take their drugs as often or as long as prescribed.
And so the hand-holding with patients like Mr. Brocato, who recently completed his yearlong course of therapy. "They don't ever let a week go by that they don't contact you, not just to say you are coming up on a refill of your drug but just to say, 'How are you feeling?' " said Mr. Brocato, a 57-year-old auto parts deliverer who lives in Dundalk, Md. He said he called Ms. Dinsdale so much that he programmed her number into his cellphone.
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