An increasing number of pharmaceutical companies are holding the activities of their sales representatives, as the government enhanced social distancing measures in greater Seoul amid the Covid-19 resurge.

According to Korea Biomedical Review’s survey on multinational pharmaceutical firms and leading local drugmakers, most of them were considering to mandate working from home.

In early February when Covid-19 was starting to spread in Korea, Korean offshoots of multinational firms took a preemptive measure to ask all employees to work from home.

Now, as confirmed cases started to surge around Seoul, they are closely watching when the government would lift the level of social distancing again to Level 3 in the three-tiered system. If the social distancing goes to the highest level, drug salespersons must stop visiting doctors.

Pharmaceutical firms are trying out various non-contact drug promotion events such as a forum at a drive-in theater (left) and a symposium on a rooftop (right).

Most multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, AstraZeneca, Amgen, AbbVie, Pfizer, and GSK have fully implemented a flexible working system for employees at the office after the Covid-19 outbreak. So, they have virtually established a work-from-home system.

For social distancing, employees at the multinational drugmakers are working from home in a variety of ways. They go to work every other day so that their movement lines do not overlap. They also have video conferencing systems such as Zoom and Webex to make online business reports and hold meetings. Even with the government’s announcement of lifting the social distancing to Level 2, the companies remained almost intact because only those who need to go to the office came to work and the rest worked from home.

However, more rigorous social distancing rules are expected to hit marketing activities of drug sales representatives hard.

After Covid-19 confirmed cases started to spike in greater Seoul, large hospitals such as Seoul National University Hospital, Asan Medical Center, and Samsung Medical Center requested drugmakers not to visit the hospitals.

Domestic companies, which had been slower than multinationals to switch to a work-from-home system, took quick steps to order all employees to work from home after the Covid-19 resurge.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical, Yuhan Corp., and Daewoong Pharmaceutical ordered sales reps to work from home, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, respectively.

An official at Hanmi Pharmaceutical said the company did not set the period of working from home. “Those who commute to the headquarters come to work but fill out the questionnaire form when arriving at work. Employees are allowed to work at home, if necessary,” he said.

Yuhan Corp.’s all employees, except for those at the factory, work from home until Tuesday. The company said it would decide on the working system every week.

Daewoong, which began the work-from-home system on Thursday, keeps the number of workers coming to work under 50 percent and employees go to work every other day in a flexible system.

JW Pharmaceutical has already begun working from home in June so that the number of employees coming to work does not exceed 50 percent. Drug salespersons are promoting products through digital methods such as holding webinars and distributing online brochures.

GC Pharma, located in Yongin where many confirmed cases were reported, ordered workers at the headquarters to work from home from Wednesday.

Even if drug sales reps do not visit hospitals due to strict social distancing, they are likely to continue digital promotions, industry officials said.

Digital promotions have already settled in the industry, and new programs such as symposiums at a drive-in theater and outdoor symposiums on rooftops are gaining positive reactions, they added.

kym@docdocdoc.co.kr

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