Do gifts influence prescriptions?

In a recent blog at A Healthy Blog, they shed light on doctors receiving gifts from biopharma companies. Senator Patty Murray of Massachusetts is trying to pass a law where biopharma companies couldn’t present gifts to doctors in order to alter the doctor’s prescribing behavior.

In some cases, doctors are given luxury trips and expensive sports tickets in order to influence the prescription of drugs. With this new bill, doctors would still be allowed informative sessions about the new drugs, but would instead learn about them in an environment neutral to the prescription process, such as a lunch and learn.

While such legislative steps seeks to ensure that doctors are focused on patients' primary care, minimzing access can also create difficulties in properly educating doctors on new advances in pharmacology. A balance has to be created where doctors have access to the latest information while ensuring they are not unduly influenced.