Patient requests, drug company ties likely to influence doctors' decision to prescribe name-brand drugs

About 40 percent of physicians are likely to comply at least sometimes with patients' requests for branded drugs.

Medpage Today: Rx Ads, Promos To Docs Still Work
When patients ask for a brand-name drug, many physicians give in rather than prescribe a generic, according to a nationwide survey, and in-office promotions to doctors increase the likelihood. About four in every 10 physicians said they at least sometimes comply with requests for the branded version of a drug when a generic is available, Eric Campbell, PhD, of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues found. Drug samples and meetings with pharmaceutical company representatives appeared to boost that rate, the group reported in a research letter online in JAMA Internal Medicine (Phend, 1/7).

Kaiser Health News: Study: Doctors Give In To Patient Demands For Brand-Name Drugs
Doctors are more likely to prescribe brand-name drugs over lower-cost generics when patients request them and when physicians have contacts with drugmakers, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine Monday shows (Tran, 1/7).