Do free drug samples influence residents' prescribing decisions? (press release)

Saturday, August 06, 2005 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...) Tags: medical ethics, health news, Natural News

https://www.naturalnews.com/010540.html

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There was no contact between pharmaceutical company representatives and residents – all samples were stocked in a cabinet in the clinic – and there was periodic monitoring of the cabinet to ensure that the study drug classes were available.

Richard F. Adair, MD, writes, "We found that resident physicians with access to drug samples in clinic were more likely to write new prescriptions for heavily advertised drugs and less likely to recommend OTC drugs than their peers. There was also a trend toward less use of inexpensive drugs."

Although the study was small and limited to 5 drug classes, the results suggest some potential concerns. Dr. Adair continues, "Access to drug samples influenced prescribing decisions of resident physicians, something that would seem to violate published national guidelines on physician interactions with the pharmaceutical industry. This finding contradicts two widespread beliefs: Drug samples are inherently different from other forms of marketing, and samples help patients manage drug costs in the long term. They raise questions about whether drug samples belong in clinics where residents are learning or low-income patients are receiving care. Other studies have shown that many Americans do not take prescribed medications because they cannot afford them. Whether to provide 'free' samples of expensive drugs to these patients is an ethical dilemma for many doctors."