A study by researchers at Harvard Medical School has concluded that doctors are more likely to prescribe brand-name statins instead of generics if they have received payments from the drug industry.
Implications | According to the study, the rate of brand-name prescribing of statins rose by 0.1% for every USD1,000 that was received by doctors, with payments associated with educational training having the biggest impact. |
Outlook | The findings of the new study are in line with a previous study conducted by ProPublica. Both studies add to the perception that more money is being spent on prescription medicines than is necessary, as the country continues its attempts to rein in the cost of prescription spending. |
The study, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine, revealed that, among doctors who had no industry payments listed, the median brand-name prescribing rate for statins was 17.8%. However, this rate rose by 0.1% for every USD1,000 that was received by doctors; overall, the brand-name prescribing rate amounted to 22.8% of the total prescription claims that were made for statins.
The study focused on the 2,444 doctors in Massachusetts' Medicare prescribing database in 2011, 899 (36.8%) of whom had received some form of industry payment. Among doctors who had received payments, these ranged from meals (which were received by around 71% of doctors), grants (51%), other services (27%), and educational training (11%). The average payments ranged from between USD100 to USD1,188.
Speaking to Reuters, the study's lead author, Dr James Yeh of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, commented, "Not surprisingly, the payments that were categorised as educational trainings seemed to most impact brand name prescribing." In effect, the payments for educational training were associated with a 4.8% increase in the rate of brand-name prescribing.
The Harvard Medical School study is available is here.
Outlook and implications
According to ProPublica, the findings of the Harvard Medical School study were in line with its own study compiled in March, focusing on doctors nationwide in the five most common specialities, which also revealed that doctors who receive industry money are more likely to prescribe brand-name drugs. Harvard Medical School's study also follows on from another recent report in JAMA Internal Medicine, which concluded that, in the period between 2010 and 2012, approximately USD73 billion was spent on brand-name prescription drugs despite the fact that cheaper generic alternatives existed (see United States: 11 May 2016: New study highlights unnecessary spending on brand-name drugs in the US instead of generic alternatives).
As noted by the authors of the Harvard Medical School study, their findings have certain limitations, given that doctors who were already prescribing a high number of brand-name statins may have been deliberately targeted by drug companies for extra payments. Moreover, the payments that were received by doctors were disclosed by the doctors themselves, without being independently verified. Nevertheless, the study's authors warned, "as the United States seeks to rein in the costs of prescription drugs and make them less expensive for patients, our findings are concerning".