Mg. Ziegler et al., THE ACCURACY OF DRUG INFORMATION FROM PHARMACEUTICAL SALES REPRESENTATIVES, JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association, 273(16), 1995, pp. 1296-1298
Objective.-To provide quantitative data about the accuracy of the info
rmation about drugs presented to physicians by pharmaceutical sales re
presentatives. Design.-One hundred six statements about drugs made dur
ing 13 presentations by pharmaceutical representatives were analyzed f
or accuracy. Statements were rated inaccurate if they contradicted the
1993 Physicians' Desk Reference or material quoted or handed out by t
he sales representative. Setting.-University teaching hospital. Result
s.-Twelve (11%) of 106 statements about drugs were inaccurate. All 12
inaccurate statements were favorable toward the promoted drug, whereas
39 (49%) of 79 accurate statements were favorable (P=.005). None of 1
5 statements about competitors' drugs were favorable, but all were acc
urate, significantly (P<.001) differing from statements about promoted
drugs. In a survey of 27 physicians who attended these presentations,
seven (26%) recalled any false statement made by a pharmaceutical rep
resentative, and 10 (37%) said information from the representatives in
fluenced the way they prescribed drugs. Conclusions.-Eleven percent of
the statements made by pharmaceutical representatives about drugs con
tradicted information readily available to them. Physicians generally
failed to recognize the inaccurate statements.