[lottacrazy]

Has any one heard that the doctors get compensation from drug companies for using/prescribing certain drugs? I heard this before, like that P&G or what ever will give a doctor a check for prescribing their drug to x amount of patients. I heard it from some one I know, I am not sure if it is a conspiracy theory or true.

[Silver]

News to me.

Prescribers who are lecturers on behalf of certain companies will get checks for giving talks; researchers will get unrestricted research funds.
The pens, etc., have to go away now, and those were found to influence prescribing patterns, repeatedly. So does pharma-sponsored training, unsurprisingly, and more and more orgs are giving that practice the hairy eyeball.

But I continue to be unaware of any "we'll give you, Dr. A, $X for prescribing n doses of Drug" arrangement.

The reps in many areas do get reports of prescriber activity by drug (when this is not prohibited by law), and that tells them who prescribed how much Effexor, Abilify, Provigil, etc. (Reports do NOT list patient names, just doc names and number of prescriptions for the drug in question and, usually, competing drugs.) The reps use those to target their 'favored' prescribers as 'thought leaders' in the area (possibly recruiting them as local speakers - the docs don't know it's done this way, as it turns out) and then to also target the 'weak points.'
However, they do preferentially give samples to heavy and low prescribers as an incentive.

The sleazery is at a much higher level than payouts to individual docs or clinics.

Carlat's blog has lots of fun stuff on this whole system and is not full of hysterical fearmongering.

[ldo]

Really bothers me when I see all that stuff in medical offices and even exam rooms. I'm sure the docs think the advertising doesn't work, but I'm sure the drug companies would drop it if it didn't work.

[Silver]

It definitely works.

The PhRMA "code of ethics" now bans the little gifties. (Carlat did a nice bit of snark on that too.) Cruise around on his site and you'll see quite a bit on the issue.

Groups such as No Free Lunch have made some real inroads.

The IOM report and similar have pretty well condemned the practice. Samples and invitations to lectures are more or less the reps' main entrez into the offices these days.
Depending on your state, they may not have that.

If you have a decent relationship with whomever you see, and you can do it tactfully, I encourage you to let your doctor know if it bugs you to see that stuff.

[Entities]

My therapist had a cup for Risperidone. Want to know the first drug I ever got? Risperidone. I fully believe that they get paid for using such and such drugs and all the other things that is associated with it.

[GoldCoin]

My GP had an effexor book, clock and pen in his office. I really like my GP think he is a top guy, first time i went to him telling him about my head issues he said NO MEDS, shipped me off to a therapist. When i went back after 6 months he gave me lexapro. When that did nothing he hummed and thought for a long time and then said "those reps came in and gave me lots of free samples of effexor, you have no money lets try that one cause it will be free for a while" i don't know if he was actually thinking of my financial situation or thinking about his potential profit but it worked out really well for me. I ws getting effexor free for a few months and it worked reasonably well for about a year.

I hope doctors dont get any benefits from pharma companies and i know in my Pdocs office there is nothing anywhere with a drug name on it.

[kdbeat]

I always get sick at the thought of this subject.

Funny how, when I need to change meds, the doc always has plenty of samples of the NEWEST _blahblahblah_ drug on the market! And it NEVER has side effects and is ALWAYS considered to be a wonder drug.

This is the reason I do so much research on my own and come to boards like this. I'm not going to blindly take something just because she tells me to. Especially if I see the notepads lying all over the damn place.

[DarkendHour]

I think my pdoc just likes free stuff.

Lotion, Wall clock, pads, mouse pad, pens, cup.. every one has a different med name on it.