Pharma gifts to doctors boost inappropriate prescribing — SkimNews
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- Cochrane review of dozens of previous studies found that gifts and payments from drugmakers to doctors increased inappropriate prescribing and the number of prescriptions written, likely contributing to rising health care costs.
- Pharmaceutical advertising and education aimed at doctors may also increase inappropriate prescribing, probably increase the number of prescriptions written, and may raise prescription costs.
- Conflict-of-interest policies that restrict or manage interactions between drug companies and physicians probably improved prescribing practices, the analysis concluded.
- Free drug samples and other promotions lacked sufficient evidence to draw clear conclusions on whether they affect decisions to place specific drugs on hospital formularies — the lists of medicines routinely stocked by hospitals.
- Hospital formularies were singled out as a specific area where the evidence base remains too thin to assess pharma influence on drug-selection decisions.
Why it matters: For health systems and policymakers, the review provides consolidated evidence that drugmaker gifts and payments to physicians drive up inappropriate prescribing and health care costs, while conflict-of-interest policies that curb industry-doctor interactions probably improve prescribing practices — raising the evidentiary bar for institutions still permitting such relationships.
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