Who Benefits from Doctors' Free Drug Samples?

[Guest guest]

Hi

just heard this program on Nat Public Radio.

Thought some may have interest as it tangentially relates

to issues we face.

2 thoughts.

free drug sampling for MD's clearly pushes the potions

the pharma co's want to to push. duh

also the 2 physicians that are featured in this program are brave,

leaders to speak out against the story pharma co's want the rest of

the lemmings in the world to believe. Dr barron/baron

addresses the concerns about new drugs and unknown side effects, Dr

Cutrona of the cambridge health alliance suggests that free / new

drugs can change the way physicians practice for the worse.

Although they address the mistruths about this matter perhaps they

may have interest in the travesty of and lies surrounding autism?

to listen, go to

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17790125

Research News

Who Benefits from Doctors' Free Drug Samples?

by Joanne Silberner

All Things Considered, January 2, 2008 ·

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have long claimed

that one of the main reasons they shower doctors

with free drug samples is so that doctors can pass

the medicine along to poor patients. But a new study

challenges the notion that the poor are the major

beneficiaries.

The analysis, published in the current issue of the

American Journal of Public Health, shows that 12 percent

of Americans got free drug samples in 2003. But rich people

get free prescription drug samples more often than poor people.

Not that doctors favor rich people with health insurance —

it's more a matter of poorer people not seeing personal

physicians as often, if at all.

link to amer journal of public health where full abstract can be

found

http://www.ajph.org/cgi/search?

andorexactfulltext=and & resourcetype=1 & disp_type= & sortspec=

relevance & au

thor1= & fulltext=cutrona & pubdate_year= & volume= & firstpage=

joanne