D. Stryer et La. Bero, CHARACTERISTICS OF MATERIALS DISTRIBUTED BY DRUG COMPANIES - AN EVALUATION OF APPROPRIATENESS, Journal of general internal medicine, 11(10), 1996, pp. 575-583
OBJECTIVES: To describe material distributed to physicians by pharmace
utical companies; to describe characteristics of the drugs discussed i
n the material; to determine whether the material compiles with Food a
nd Drug Administration (FDA) regulations and whether it contains promo
tional and educational characteristics. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
SETTING: An academic internal medicine residency program, a private i
nternist's office, and a health maintenance organization (HMO). PATIEN
TS/PARTICIPANTS: A consecutive sample of 486 hems, excluding gifts and
drug samples, distributed by drug companies between August 11, 1993 a
nd March 1, 1994. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of the 486 items coll
ected, 207 were reprints, 196 were advertisements, 51 were general inf
ormation, and 32 were other. Reprints were delivered to residents sign
ificantly more often than to the HMO (p < .0011 or to the private inte
rnist's office (p < .001). By contrast, the internist's office receive
d a greater proportion of personal correspondence compared with the ot
her locations (p < .001 for both). Of the drugs publicized, 10% were s
ubstantial improvements over other therapeutic choices, Forty-tare per
cent of the items failed to comply with at least one of three FDA regu
lations assessed, including 17 items that discussed unapproved uses fo
r drugs. Advertisements, as web as items that were not obviously promo
tional, contained promotional characteristics. Thirty-nine percent of
the items offered scientific support for their claims. CONCLUSIONS: Li
ttle of the material distributed by pharmaceutical companies to physic
ians conveys information about important therapeutic breakthroughs; so
me of it fails to comply with FDA regulations. The material contains b
ath educational and promotional characteristics.