Physicians and consumers who want fair and balanced information about the most appropriate uses for prescription medications can now find it using a Web-based resource that provides easily accessible, science-based research about drug uses free from pharmaceutical industry influence.
Prescribing for Better Outcomes, a Web-based educational campaign designed to provide accurate information about the uses of anti-epileptic drugs for the treatment of bipolar disorder, grew out of a global effort to promote evidence-based research and counter the practice of "off-label marketing," in which drug companies promote uses of their medications that may not be supported by science or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"All patients have unique needs. Sometimes, prescribing a drug for an off-label use is the best option," said Dr. John Oldham, M.D., a psychiatrist and Chief of Staff at The Menninger Clinic and the editor of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice. "But when decisions about off-label prescribing are influenced by explicit and deceptive marketing tactics, it lessens our ability as medical professionals to find the best treatment for individual patients."
Prescribing for Better Outcomes (http://prescribingforbetteroutcomes.org/) was launched in direct response to a 2004 lawsuit brought by 50 state attorneys general against pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer and its subsidiary, Warner-Lambert. The drug company had been charged with using deceptive marketing tactics to promote off-label sales of its anti-epileptic drug, Neurontin, the brand name for gabapentin. The pervasiveness of Warner-Lambert's off-label marketing techniques was found to increase the likelihood that physicians would prescribe gabapentin for the treatment of bipolar disorder, even though evidence-based research demonstrated that this treatment was largely ineffective.
The Prescribing for Better Outcomes campaign is funded by a portion of the settlement from that landmark case. In addition to the tools and information available at PrescribingforBetterOutcomes.org, the program includes resources for clinical practice and a forthcoming continuing medical education module.