And the answer is…Novartis. In the first six months of the year, calls made by Novartis sales reps to docs, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants rose 7 percent compared with the last six months of 2009, according to SDI Health, a market research firm. There was, however, no comparitive data to contrast the first six months of 2009. UPDATE: SDI writes to say there was a 6.5 percent year-over-year increase.

The increase, though, was attributed to the recent launch of Valturna, which was approved last December to treat high blood pressure and combines two existing Novartis meds - Diovan and Tekturna. This drug was discussed during 19 percent of all Novartis sales calls, more than any other medication. “Companies with new drugs or newly approved indications for existing drugs need to get the information into the hands of physicians and other practitioners, and in-person calls are still the most popular type of promotion, outside of product sampling,” says SDI’s Jason Fox, in a statement.

When tallying various promotional activities - including sampling, direct-to-consumer advertising and medical journal promotions - sales rep calls and details accounted for 36 percent of industrys investment during the first 4 months of 2010. But overall, sales calls dropped 1 percent in the first half of the year compared with the previous six months. And Pfizer, Merck, and GlaxoSmithKline, which made the most sales calls in the first six months of 2010, each registered declines from the second half of 2009. Pfizer sales calls - which amounted to more than 3.3 million - decreased 2 percent, while Merck and Glaxo calls fell by 16 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Compared with the first six months of 2009, Pfizer calls fell 6.6 percent, Merck dropped 19.5 percent and Glaxo declined 8.9 percent.