Drug companies will do whatever it takes to make a profit; even if that means shelling out $16 billion a year to persuade physicians into prescribing their drugs to patients over others.

One famous tactic drug companies rely on to influence physicians is giving them free samples. Research has clearly shown that when doctors are given samples of drugs by pharmaceutical representatives, they are more likely to prescribe those drugs in lieu of over-the-counter or generic alternatives.

Settling the Debate

In order to clearly determine if drug prescribing is influenced by free samples, researchers conducted a randomized study of 29 internal medicine residents over a six-month period.

By random selection, half the residents agreed not to use the free samples.

After selecting five drug classes where free samples of heavily advertised drugs were distributed, and where inexpensive alternatives existed, researchers analyzed the prescribing differences between residents who had access to the free samples and those who agreed not to use them. Results showed:

• Those with access to drug samples 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 a trend toward less use of inexpensive drugs.

The influence free samples have over physicians seems to violate published national guidelines on physician interactions with the pharmaceutical industry. Moreover, according to researchers, this finding contradicts the widespread beliefs that drug samples are essentially different from other forms of marketing and that samples help patients manage drug costs in the long term.

Medical News Today July 29, 2005