Drug companies influence prescribing: Study

Doctors tend to prescribe drugs that pharmaceutical companies promote to them and patients end up paying more but not always getting the most suitable medicines, researchers reported on Wednesday.

An analysis of 58 studies in several countries found that information from drug companies influenced the decisions doctors made, not necessarily in a positive way.

"You cannot say that information from pharmaceutical companies benefited doctor's prescribing, which is what pharmaceutical companies claim," said Geoffrey Spurling of the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, who led the study.

The report found that doctors who accepted briefings or other information from drug companies were more likely to prescribe those products.

Thirty-eight studies showed that exposure to drug company information resulted in more frequent prescriptions, while 13 did not have such an association, Spurling and his colleagues wrote in their report.

None of the studies found that doctors prescribed a drug less often because of promotional or informational materials.

"The companies don't spend the money with drug detail people if it doesn't work," said Dr Sid Wolfe of the US advocacy group Public Citizen, which has campaigned against such drug company activity.

"Most doctors get most of their information about drugs from the drug industry."

Spurling singled out a study in Britain of more than 1,000 general practitioners that found that those who met drug sales people more often prescribed more costly drugs. But that did not guarantee that patients got the most suitable drugs.

Spurling cited studies that found that doctors' prescriptions were of a lower quality when compared against standard guidelines and those recommended by expert panels.

For example, US guidelines advise doctors to use the oldest, cheapest generic drugs to treat high blood pressure and diabetes before turning to newer, patented, and often more dangerous prescription drugs.

The researchers called for regulation on the amount of money that pharmaceutical companies might spend on promoting their products. In 2004 alone, drug companies spent $57.5 billion on promotion in the US, they said.

"We need more regulation on promotional information. We could not find any benefit," Spurling said.

Doctors also need more information from a variety of sources such as universities or accrediting organisations, he said.

"A good doctor keeps up with practising medicine by reading the literature, peer-reviewed journals. If they don't have time to do that, and rely on drug company detailers, they are not practising good medicine."

The report was published in the journal PLOS.