All Posts Tagged With: "Free Drug Samples"
Friday Faceoff: Free drug samples help doctors, needy patients
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
In the case of whether doctors should receive free pharmaceutical samples, I would say, “of course.”
Free samples from drug companies have several advantages. Pharmaceutical representatives give doctors samples and education that allow them firsthand experience with new medication options.
A lot of drug companies hire health care professionals as representatives who are knowledgeable about the products they are selling and promoting. This saves doctors time and therefore money by reducing the amount of time they need to spend researching new drugs.
The samples are also a great advantage in that the doctors will know what they are prescribing early so that they can make more accurate patient assessments.
Why Samples Make Sense
Pharmaceutical and Medical Packaging News Magazine
Free samples, if packaged appropriately, can win over physicians. Doug Stewart, member, Tube Council of North America, and vice president, sales and marketing, Montebello Packaging
How can pharmaceutical companies build sales when dermatologists hand out sample tubes of a new topical drug and tell patients to “try it free and see how it helps”?
Some of us have had the frustrating experience of seeing a product go through the new drug application process and then be greeted with skepticism by the prescribing dermatologist or other physician. The doctor needs to see the drug proved effective with the patient community. In other words, dermatologists are hesitant to prescribe a product until they’ve seen its effectiveness. Samples and their packaging play an important role in physician acceptance of the product.
The notions that dermatological sampling detracts from prescription sales or influences physicians to write prescriptions that will not benefit patients are false and have been disproved time and again. Actually, the reverse is the case. A new dermatology product can differentiate itself and gain acceptance from dermatologists through education and sampling support.
While pharmaceutical marketers have different views about what makes for effective communication to the 7000 office-based dermatologists in the United States, there is little question that sampling is necessary and affects the number of prescriptions written. In addition, how the samples are packaged influences patient use and compliance.
Free Prescription Drugs? All You Have to Do is Ask
Associated Content
Free prescription drugs. It sounds like a dream–or a scam. In fact, more than two hundred different drugs, from scores of pharmaceutical companies, are offered to tens of thousands of patients each year. There are two primary ways that consumers can access these free prescription drugs: samples, and free drug programs from the companies themselves.
As prescription drug costs increase at a rate higher than inflation, and when, according to Katharine Greider, author of The Big Fix , in 2000, 29% of Americans failed to fill a prescription because they could not afford the prescription, managing personal medication expenses is a major issue for millions of Americans.
Doctors are inundated with free samples of various drugs; the pharmaceutical industry spends an average of $21,000 per doctor on advertising, freebies, face-to-face meetings, conventions, and free samples. Doctors receive free samples for blood pressure medication, cholesterol drugs, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medication, heart medication, ADHD drugs–the list goes on. In some doctors’ offices the cabinets can’t hold all the samples; patients can ask for free samples, and most doctors are happy to oblige. Simply asking for a 2-week or a 4-week supply of meds can save you twenty, fourty, or even a hundred dollars in prescription drug costs–all for just asking.
Save Money on Prescription Drugs with Free Samples
Getting-Green.blogspot.com
If you just take your prescription and head down to the nearest drug store, you are undoubtedly throwing money away. Use free samples, generics, and comparison shop to save upwards of 50% on the cost of prescription drugs.
Medicare Beneficiaries and Free Prescription Drug Samples: A National Survey
Journal of General Internal Medicine: 2008 Mar 7
Conclusions: “Accessing free prescription drug samples is prevalent among many categories of beneficiaries, especially among individuals with cost-related medication nonadherence and poor health status. Policies restricting or prohibiting drug sample distribution may adversely impact access to medications among patients in high-risk groups.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18365289
also found at:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/9871685172880q62/;
http://lib.bioinfo.pl/auth:Tjia,J;