Did You Know?
- 83% of physicians receive some form of gift(s) from pharmaceutical companies (NEJM 2004)
- “Regular contact” between doctors and drug reps that involve gifts include: general gifts; samples; industry-paid meals; funding for travel; company-paid speakers; continuing medical education; and honoraria, research funding and employment (Wazana 2000)
- Patients who receive free samples end up spending almost 40% more for their medication six months after receiving the sample and 20% more in the six months afterwards (Medical Care 2008)
- Free samples tend to go to the wealthy, insured patients (Cutrona et. al. 2008)
- 87% of authors of clinical practice guidelines have some sort of relationship with the pharmaceutical industry (JAMA 2002)
More Reading:
- No More Free Drug Samples? (PLoS Med)
- Characteristics of Recipients of Free Prescription Drug Samples: A Nationally Representative Analysis (American Journal of Public Health)
- Thick Prescription: Toward an Interpretation of Pharmaceutical Sales Practices (Medical Anthropology)
- All Gifts Large and Small: Toward an Understanding of the Ethics of Pharmaceutical Industry Gift-Giving (American Journal of Bioethics)
- Physicians and the Pharmaceutical Industry: Is a Gift Ever Just a Gift? (JAMA)
Take Action: Join the NPA’s Unbranded Doctor Network!
Barbara Meier schreibt seit vielen Jahren für die NPAlliance Ratgeber und Testberichte. Dabei legt sie großen Wert auf die Ausführlichkeit sowie Richtigkeit ihrer Artikel. Sie zählt zu den wenigen Experten in ihrem Gebiet und hat sich über die letzten Jahren einen Namen in der Gesundheitsbranche gemacht.