Pharmaceutical companies and Physician prescribing

In their article, "Information from Pharmaceutical Companies and the Quality, Quantity, and Cost of Physicians' Prescribing: A Systematic Review", PLoS Med. 7(10), 2010, Geoffrey Spurling and colleagues report findings of a systematic review looking at the relationship between exposure to promotional material from pharmaceutical companies and the quality, quantity, and cost of prescribing. They fail to find evidence of improvements in prescribing after exposure, and find some evidence of an association with higher prescribing frequency, higher costs, or lower prescribing quality.

The ABC also covered this story in this week's Health Report. Compere Norman Swan interviewed Geoffrey Spurling about his findings, and you can find the transcript or podcast here. Spurling concludes, "we recommended that doctors follow a precautionary principle and avoid information from pharmaceutical sales representatives unless evidence of benefit emerges. In fact ... the findings support the case for reforms to reduce the negative influence to prescribing from pharmaceutical promotion."