The fastest way to lose a doctor's trust is to pretend your drug has no side effects.
He already knows it does. Every drug does. When a rep avoids the subject, the doctor does not hear confidence. He hears someone hiding something. Industry codes require promotion to be balanced for exactly this reason.
What I coach:
- Wrong: wait and hope the doctor does not ask.
- Right: raise the most common side effects yourself.
- Wrong: "It is very well tolerated, Doctor."
- Right: "This is the most common one, and this is how it was managed in the trial."
- Wrong: skip the discontinuation data.
- Right: show how many patients stopped, and why.
- Wrong: argue when the doctor reports a problem.
- Right: thank him, and report it to the safety team.
Handled well, the side effect conversation is often the moment the call turns. The doctor sees that you will tell him the difficult part too, and everything else you say becomes more believable.
“The doctor already knows every drug has side effects. He is testing whether you will tell him.”
Lesson 6 of 11 in Step 3: Knowing the science, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.