Ventiv's European Vision: Sometime--Not Yet

As Ventiv Health learned the hard way, CSOs contemplating establishing new European businesses, or expanding existing ones, must confront the reality that while development and marketing can be increasingly global, sales remain stubbornly local. Swimming against that tide--even as it ebbs--makes the notion of a Europe-wide CSO far from practical.

These are tough times for contract sales organizations (CSOs). A slowdown in new drug approvals, combined with the creation of super-sized sales forces via drug industry consolidation, mean drug companies are less likely to augment their own sales capabilities. Moreover, the fortunes of CSOs are inextricably linked with those of its troubled pharmaceutical clients. Even in the US, which remains the most profitable market, the dominant CSOs—inVentiv Health Inc. ; Innovex (a unit of Quintiles Transnational Holdings Inc. ) and PDI Inc. —are all struggling.

The problems facing CSOs are particularly acute in Europe. Though the key international players, Ventiv and Innovex, have US-based parents,...

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