ADVERTISING DOLLAR INFLUENCING HOW DOCTORS WRITE PRESCRIPTIONS, STUDY CLAIMS
Apr 26th, 1999 • Posted in: NewsWASHINGTON
Advertising could be influencing the prescription patterns of doctors treating blood pressure, a new study published by the American Heart Association warned last week.
The new report found that a large number of doctors are abandoning traditional treatments for fighting heart disease, in favor of newer, less-proven — and heavily advertised — prescriptions.
“We were surprised to see how striking the increase in advertising was during the years we studied,” Dr. Thomas Wang of Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement explaining his team’s research.
“Physicians who have been surveyed claim that advertising has little effect on their practice patterns,” study co-author Dr. Randall Stafford told the Reuters news agency. “But common sense suggests that pharmaceutical companies would not spend the money they do if they didn’t have evidence of its effectiveness.”
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