Promotional Spending for Prescription Drugs
"Pharmaceutical companies’ efforts to promote prescription drugs have attracted the attention of policymakers because such activities may affect the rate at which different drugs are prescribed and consumed, the total amount spent on health care, and, ultimately, health outcomes. Those promotional activities—usually undertaken on behalf of brand-name, rather than generic, drugs—may
influence consumers and health care professionals through a variety of channels. For example, advertisements for prescription drugs that are aimed at consumers may prompt individuals to seek medical treatment they might otherwise have delayed. Such advertisements may also influence
individuals to request a specific drug that is higher or lower in price or that is more or less effective than one they had previously used. Promotional efforts aimed at physicians may help them keep abreast of the latest drug therapies and improve their ability to treat patients. Those
efforts may also lead doctors to prescribe brand-name medications that are more expensive than alternatives..."