[olsen]

Information from Pharmaceutical Companies and the Quality, Quantity, and Cost of Physicians' Prescribing: A Systematic Review
Geoff Spurling and colleagues report findings of a systematic review looking at the relationship between exposure to promotional material from pharmaceutical companies and the quality, quantity, and cost of prescribing. They fail to find evidence of improvements in prescribing after exposure, and find some evidence of an association with higher prescribing frequency, higher costs, or lower prescribing quality.


Geoffrey K. Spurling1*, Peter R. Mansfield2,3, Brett D. Montgomery4, Joel Lexchin5, Jenny Doust6, Noordin Othman7, Agnes I. Vitry8

1 University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia,
Abstract Top
Background
Pharmaceutical companies spent $57.5 billion on pharmaceutical promotion in the United States in 2004. The industry claims that promotion provides scientific and educational information to physicians. While some evidence indicates that promotion may adversely influence prescribing, physicians hold a wide range of views about pharmaceutical promotion. The objective of this review is to examine the relationship between exposure to information from pharmaceutical companies and the quality, quantity, and cost of physicians' prescribing.

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/...l.pmed.1000352

[pegleg]

You mean all of those little ads and cards that fall out of every periodical I pick up aaren't worth reading? (for pharma, I mean).

You should see how separated the drug companies and patients are in Europe!

Peggy