Consultant Meetings

Mr. Steinke was personally aware of Merck's marketing scheme known as "Consultant Meetings." These were a form of Merck's kickbacks to high-prescribing physicians, as alleged in this case. The pretext of these meetings was that physicians would "train" Merck sales representatives and, at the same time, provide marketing information to Merck.

One such consultant meeting was held over a September 1998 weekend at the luxurious Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville, Michigan. During this event each selected physician was asked to serve as a Merck representative training consultant and evaluate the sales message of Merck sales reps. In return, Merck paid each physician a $500 honorarium for the training and consultative services, Friday and Saturday nights' lodging expenses, and an additional $100 for incidental expenses.

Physicians invited by Merck had been ranked by Merck as "A" or "A+" doctors based upon the volume of statin and hypertensive drugs they prescribed. Furthermore, Merck reps were the hand-picked top salespersons known as Merck's "Zocor Hit Squad." Two additional meetings were held at Crystal Mountain in September 1999.

The Ritz Carlton in Dearborn, Michigan was the site of a similar Merck consultant meeting at the end of October 1998. Attending physicians were paid $500 honoraria plus $100 in incidentals. This consultant meeting was another all-expense-paid weekend. Although the meeting's stated purpose was market research, no marketing data was collected. A third such meeting, called a "Customer Focus Group Meeting" was held at the Dearborn Ritz Carlton in February 1999, which at least 47 physicians attended. Once again, no market data was recorded, analyzed, or kept.

In March 2000, another purported customer focus group meeting was held at the Amelia Island Plantation. Like the first Crystal Mountain meeting (above), top Merck sales reps were brought to Florida to party with high-prescribing doctors, all under the guise of training. Merck paid honoraria to the physicians participating in the training consultant meeting, and additional honoraria for also participating in a so-called customer focus group.