Patient Prescription Awareness
How The Pharmaceutical Industry Influences Treatment
As a patient it is important to be aware of treatment options. Despite doctors' best efforts the pharmaceutical industry markets directly to them affecting prescriptions.
Doctors should not be the only source of information regarding pharmaceuticals. There are just too many for every doctor to be aware of them all. According to The German Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies there are approximately 1,900 commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals from a pool of more than 8,800 available drugs.
The Pharmaceutical Drug Marketing Push
The United States market accounted for 44% of the US$ 600 billion pharmaceutical sales in 2005, which then leads to a problem of how doctors find out about new treatment options. To stand out from the herd drug companies influence doctors via mailings, conference advertising and support, samples, reimbursements for referrals, and research funding. Despite a physician’s best efforts, there have been studies finding that the psychological impact of marketing can impact their prescription habits.
Companies Reporting Payments to Doctors
The New York Times reported in March of this year that records are now becoming available in some states that are requiring companies to report payments to doctors. The Journal of the American Medical Association is starting to publish figures from drug makers in Minnesota and Vermont and legislators in Maine, California, West Virginia, and D.C. have passed laws requiring disclosure as well. Most payments are made for teaching other doctors about the company’s drugs. However, most of the doctors receiving payments in Minnesota, for example, sit on the committees that develop the guidelines doctors follow to determine when a medication is appropriate.
One of the leading doctors for the National Kidney Foundation is one such doctor, taking payments from Amgen which makes the most expensive and leading drug used in kidney disease treatments. Many specialists in the field are viewing with skepticism the new guidelines he took part in developing, especially since they recommend using more of Amgen’s drugs in treating anemia involved in kidney disease. The New York Times reported on a 2002 survey which found that more than 80% of the doctors on panels that write drug use guidelines had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies. This does not necessarily mean that doctors overlook the best interest of their patients, but it creates a perceived conflict of interest.
What A Patient Should Do
As a patient it is important to be aware of treatment options. There are often more options available than most doctors know. This is due to a high volume of available pharmaceuticals as well as industry marketing campaigns. It is also important to use disclosures to research potential physicians. This will help to eliminate conflicts of interest and insure that a prescription is based on need and not marketing. Doctors and patients can work together to promote a healthy life with treatments that work.
