The Milwaukee Journal Sentiel reports on a new study that finds about a third of doctors will a prescribe a name brand drug over its generic equivalent if patients ask for the name brand drug. Is this because their patients are also doctors? The story doesn't say, but probably not.
The study finds that doctors who meet more regularly with pharmaceutical reps or take more giveaways are more likely to prescribe the name brand drugs, which makes sense. An expert interviewed for the Journal Sentinel story argues, though, that the biggest factor in these unnecessarily costly prescriptions is consumer advertisements for prescription drugs:
"Deyo said it is easier and faster for doctors to acquiesce to patients' demands for an advertised drug than to spend time explaining the disadvantages of doing so. That's especially true among doctors who don't want to alienate their patients, he said."
So a consumer who doesn't understand that a name brand and generic drug are equivalent learns about a drug from TV and successfully requests it from his or her doctor, who doesn't have the time for or interest in educating the patient. This system doesn't work, which is likely why direct to consumer drug advertising is banned in all Western countries other than the U.S. and New Zealand.
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