FWD:Ivanhoe-Drug Samples Influence Doctors

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 8/19/2005 7:35 AM
Drug Samples Influence Doctors
Reported August 9, 2005

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Pharmaceutical companies often provide clinics and doctor's offices free drug samples to give to their patients. But does this have an impact on the doctor's decision of what to prescribe? A new study finds residents who had access to the free samples were more likely to prescribe that drug than a less expensive one.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis tracked the prescribing decisions of 29 internal medicine residents for six months. The residents worked in an inner-city primary care clinic. Highly advertised drugs were matched with drugs commonly used for the same medical problem but were less expensive and available over-the-counter. Half of the residents agreed not to use the free drug samples.

"We found that resident physicians with access to drug samples in the clinic were more likely to write new prescriptions for heavily advertised drugs and less likely to recommend [over-the-counter] drugs than their peers. There was also a trend toward less use of inexpensive drugs," says study author Richard R. Adair, M.D.

Study authors say while this study was small, it still raises some concerns. If prescribing decisions are influenced by drug samples, it may violate national guidelines on physician interaction with the pharmaceutical industry. Also, this study questions the beliefs that drug samples are different from other forms of marketing and that samples help patients manage drug costs. Dr. Adair says it also raises the question of whether drug samples belong in the clinics where residents are learning and low-income patients are receiving care.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

SOURCE: The American Journal of Medicine, 2005:118;881-884