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No more branded freebies from most pharmaceutical companies

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BY MICAH MERTES / Lincoln Journal Star

Thursday, Jan 01, 2009 - 12:07:02 am CST

The pharmaceutical industry is starting the new year with a resolution: No more swag.

Starting today, the New York Times reported, most pharmaceutical companies will no longer give branded pens, mugs, staplers, T-shirts, notepads, flash drives, paperweights, calculators and other freebies to doctors’ offices.

The ban on the goodies is voluntary, with new industry guidelines mapped out by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an industry group in Washington. About 40 drug makers, including Eli Lilly & Co., Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer have signed on, the Times reported.

By the numbers

* In 2007, pharmaceutical companies gave away nearly $16 billion in free drug samples to doctors. They also spent $6 billion on other activities, including office visits to doctors, branded pens and other handouts, according to IMS Health.

* Distributors of promotional products are going to be hit hard by the death of med swag. The industry, which has an annual turnover of about $19 billion, stands to lose about $1 billion a year in sales with the pharm industry’s ban, according to Promotional Products Association.

The moratorium addresses a long-voiced criticism that pharmaceutical companies try to influence doctors into prescribing their meds by giving them gifts.

“We joked about how we have to start buying pens, now,” said Derrick Anderson, president of the Lancaster County Medical Society and a practitioner with Southwest Family Health in Lincoln.

But seriously, he said, “that marketing doesn’t make a difference in what prescriptions I write or how I treat my patients.”

The misconception, he said, is that whoever gives you the best gift is going to get their meds doled out. But most doctors prescribed based on what studies say and what works on patients, Anderson said.

He certainly appreciates the educational material pharmaceutical companies provide him, but he doesn’t have much use for, say, Now and Laters candies promoting a drug for erectile dysfunction.

“They bring a lot of good stuff,” he said, “but I could definitely do without the fluff.”

Skeptics are claiming the ban on swag is a superficial nod to a deeper problem of pharmaceutical companies influencing doctors, the Times reported. The guidelines still allow drug companies to buy doctors dinner, so long as it comes with an educational presentation.

Dr. Les Spry, president of the Nebraska Medical Association and a kidney specialist in Lincoln, said he’s been concerned about drug makers’ attempted wooing of doctors for some time. Not because it necessarily has an influence on what doctors prescribe, he said, but because the cost of the marketing and wining and dining could translate to higher drug costs for patients.

The death of swag probably won’t change much itself, said Spry, who has been in the profession for nearly 30 years.

“They use these little props to get their elbow in the door,” he said. “But we as physicians make hundreds of decisions every day. That has very little do with marketing.”

Still, the goodies, which he said he has encountered on a daily basis, can be pretty entertaining.

“The companies are quite inventive,” he said. “Their ability to think outside of the box in marketing has always been impressive to me.”

He recalled once receiving a bawdy little pen for the erectile dysfunction drug Levitra that, um, moved in an interesting way.

With the new ban he likely won’t see another one of those for a while.

Reach Micah Mertes at 473-7395 or mmertes@journalstar.com.


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haha wrote on January 1, 2009 12:31 am:
" That's good that the doctors don't let little toys and such sway them towards prescribing what works for the patients. However, I will miss the pens and notepads and plush toys that I have gotten over the years. Oh well! "
klumpy wrote on January 1, 2009 6:10 am:
" Dear Dr. Derrick; please understand that you are human and "But, seriously" have the same failings as the rest of humanity. You are swayed by "lots of good stuff". "
JoBeth wrote on January 1, 2009 8:06 am:
" What about the Omaha Steaks they send out to all Drs. at Christmas? Will they stop that too? "
peb wrote on January 1, 2009 8:33 am:
" It's about time! Who needs the CPS (Cheap Plastic S_ _ _)? Maybe the price of drugs will go down . . . nah, that would be way too charitable of the drug companies. "
Golf wrote on January 1, 2009 8:35 am:
" The pens and dodads are not influential, but how about the golf and overnights at the conferences that the drug companies all winter long at the resorts in the south. "
How about med centers wrote on January 1, 2009 9:26 am:
" These items they hand out are simply advertising. They have a right to advertise. People need to remember that drug companies are just that, companies. I get frustrated when the drug companies are treated like villains for advertising their product to physicians and potential customers when the local hospitals do the exact same thing.
I received a direct mail ad from BryanLGH telling me about the new birthing center, and so did each of my neighbors. Allegiant health has ads on TV, radio and billboard all over Omaha. And take one step into the physicians lounge at St. Elizabeth, and you will be impressed by the ice cream machine and flat screen plasma TV on the wall. These are all designed to court patients and doctors into using these hospitals. Why is it that no one complains about this? Dr. Spry, what does this “advertising” on the part of the hospitals do to the price of health care? "
CS wrote on January 1, 2009 11:41 am:
" Is Omaha Steaks a pharmaceutical company? Then, ummm.....probably not. "
Bloggers are idiots wrote on January 1, 2009 2:10 pm:
" If you do not know what you are talking about, don't post a comment. They do not send Omaha Steaks to Doctors. The only time a pharmaceutical company can provide food, is if the company provides education along with it. i.e. dinner at a restaurant or lunch in an office, with a speaker or continuing education about the disease state the marketed drug is utilized for. Golf junkets and trips have not been utilized in many years. "
Well wrote on January 1, 2009 2:25 pm:
" The pharmaceuticals will make that much more money by not giving the
doctors all the freebees. Who are they kidding. I am always amazed about
the advertising thru the years to scare people into thinking they just may
have the illness they're pushing on TV and magazines and everywhere. Back
when it was a constant thing about heart & stroke, after along while of that it was skin cancer from the sun, after along while after that, it
was breast cancer and thats still going, now its a constant every two
seconds on TV you've got diabetes. Oh yeah the looong harping about
smoking. Thru the years I've known alot of people, especially women that get a little pain and get frantic that they've got one of those diseases. Then that just insulates all the doctors & places that give
classes and exercises etc. to get their two cents in and convence you
your gonna die if you don't do what they tell you. Seen that too much.
Also seen too many people who rebell against the constant advertising.
Sometimes its good and sometimes no so good. Then its gotten so alot of
people, where ever its advertised just tune it out. Thats why medicare is
broke. Some woman sees something advertised and runs to the doctor and
and they've got her for the rest of her life with all kinds of tests,
try this pill and that pill and she isn't even sick. I have one such
friend that has been filled with pills since I've known her from 1960
and is a walking sombie and she's not even sick. Even one specialist
doctor told her there was nothing wrong with her. And I know of others
in the same pickel! "
yint wrote on January 1, 2009 8:07 pm:
" Yet another example of how capitalist healthcare produces ridiculous excesses that only undermine patient care.

Doctors are absolutely affected by all those freebies - free pens, mugs, mousepads, extravagant dinners and retreats. Add to that the direct to consumer advertising and you have a system where the drug companies call the shots, not the doctors - no matter how empowered those doctors think they are.

In the end, this "voluntary" measure is simply another "just enough" step taken to avoid government regulation. "
CMA wrote on January 1, 2009 9:37 pm:
" Obviously most of you "commenting" about how Dr's are so "swayed", do not work in any medical facility. Most of the freebies that are given out actually go to the staff of the office & not the Dr, and the dinners are passed up, because the Dr's are busy being Dr's.

These items are usually used with the patients who usually "accidently" walk off with them & save the offices from having to foot the bill on these walking office supplies.

My office staff loves the new stuff that has been brought in over the years & appreciates the Reps who have had to lug this stuff around. "
Really Yint wrote on January 1, 2009 10:01 pm:
" I have many freebies but never prescribed the drugs they advertise for. "
about time wrote on January 1, 2009 10:49 pm:
" I agree with yint. I think that the drug companies have had it made with the government from 2000-2006. Less regulation, more profits, it's all about capitalism, you know. They started talking about this during the summer, that this would happen come January. You know who pays for this, the insurance companies, the people without insurance can't afford most of the drugs. The TV advertising is ridiculous, in my opinion. Telling the patient, "ask your doctor if this is right for you." Come on. They should market to the doctors ONLY. "
Maybe Samples not pens affect wrote on January 2, 2009 5:50 am:
" There have been many times that we have used a certain medication, not because the drug reps gave us pens and clocks, but because they gave us samples of the drug and our client could not afford to pay for another drug. That is the only time I know that we have used medications that were not our first choice based on something we received from a drug rep. And while that drug may not have been the first choice, it was acceptable and free for the client who might have gone untreated without it. If you think I am going to decide what medication is best for my client based on a $10 lunch, you are an ignorant human being. If drug companies really want to be transparent, they will show us ALL the drug studies they have done and not just the ones that put their product in a favorable light. "
Correct wrote on January 2, 2009 8:04 am:
" It is all about capatilisim, becasue drug comapanies are COMPANIES. Companies are a capitilistic enterprise that MARKETS a product to make a profit. "
to Yint wrote on January 2, 2009 8:55 am:
" Of course, this capitalist system of healthcare has provided the funding for nearly all the medical research that has been conducted over the last few decades. Believe it or not, capitalism is not evil in of itself. Humans can be evil, whether they foster in a capitalist, socialist, or communist, etc. economy. "
Outside the Box wrote on January 2, 2009 8:56 am:
" Maybe I'm oversimplifying here, but this looks like a cost cutting effort as opposed to some noble plan "
Fouracres wrote on January 2, 2009 12:08 pm:
" I'm going to miss all the cool stuff my PA wife brings home from conventions. Now, will the pharm companies also cease advertising prescription meds on TV? "
Daily Lunch Dates wrote on January 2, 2009 2:22 pm:
" I temped at a family practicioner's office for a few weeks, and was appalled when I was shown the calendar for the daily lunches that were brought in by reps. One time, they forgot the lunch date and stopped in the office later that afternoon. Some of the office staff had the guts to ask "can you go to DQ and get us some cold treats?" And they did!!! I can only imagine how much money is spent on wining and dining the offices. It seems like a huge expense, especially if doctors don't get swayed by these kinds of things. By the way.......the calendar was full for two to three months out. What a waste........ "
Docotrs wrote on January 2, 2009 5:15 pm:
" I saw a TV ad for the urgent care clinic in southeast Lincoln the other day. I heard a radio advertisement for a vasectomy doctor on the radio. I remember seeing ads for BryanLGH, and Saint Elizabeth at the last Husker Football game. There is a billboard for an imaging center on highway 2. How dare a business entity advertise, in an attempt to make a profit. "
Dynamyte Grrl wrote on January 10, 2009 7:50 pm:
" The self-imposed ban on pharma swag is bogus. They try to make it seem they're taking the moral high ground but it's just a cost-saving measure. This is more about them devaluing doctors' time-it was bad enough saying to doctors that their time for listening to a 15-30 minute marketing speel is worth only a lousy pen, but now they're saying it's worth nothing. Forget the trinkets, drug companies need to compensate doctors for their time.

http://talesfromthebedside.blogspot.com/ "

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