Prescribing & Medicines Management
Issue no 3, p3
May/June 2003

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“Rep” visits linked with script costs

More research into the relationship between GPs who see drug company representatives and high cost prescribers would help PCTs develop more cost-effective prescribing policies, according to the authors of one of the first studies to examine the link.

The study set out to explore the attitude and behaviour of GPs who reported seeing drug company representatives often. A second study currently in press found a strong independent relationship between GPs who saw reps often and higher prescribing costs. More than 1,000 GPs responded to a questionnaire asking them various questions about their prescribing behaviour.

GPs who had frequent contact with drug company reps were significantly more willing to prescribe newer drugs, respond to patients' requests for drugs that were not clinically indicated, be receptive to advertising and express dissatisfaction with consultations that ended in advice only, compared with GPs who saw representatives less often.

However, the authors comment that the study could not answer questions about the causality of the relationship. For example, did contact with drug company representatives change GP prescribing behaviour, or did drug companies target GPs already known to be high prescribers? "For some GPs, the frequency of contact must be greater than their need to know more about new drugs. Such visits possibly fulfil a pastoral rather than educative role," they write (Br Med J 2003;326:1178-9).