{"id":876960,"date":"2026-10-10T01:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T01:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876960\/"},"modified":"2026-10-10T01:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T01:52:17","slug":"pharmas-free-lunches-for-doctors-boost-inappropriate-prescribing-analysis-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/876960\/","title":{"rendered":"Pharma&#8217;s free lunches for doctors boost inappropriate prescribing, analysis finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"author-bio\">Ed\u2019s stories explore prescription drug pricing, affordability and access, as well issues surrounding patents, litigation, and legislation. He is also the author of the morning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/signup\/pharmalittle\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pharmalittle newsletter<\/a> and the afternoon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/signup\/pharmalot\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pharmalot newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The gifts and payments that doctors receive from drugmakers increased inappropriate prescribing and the number of prescriptions written, likely leading to rising health care costs, according to a Cochrane review of dozens of previous studies that have explored the influence the pharmaceutical industry has on medical practice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition, pharmaceutical advertising or education aimed at doctors may also increase inappropriate prescribing, probably increases the number of prescriptions written, and may increase the costs of prescriptions. But conflict-of-interest policies that restrict or manage interactions between companies and doctors probably improved prescribing practices, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelibrary.com\/cdsr\/doi\/10.1002\/14651858.CD013423.pub3\/full\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cochranelibrary.com\/cdsr\/doi\/10.1002\/14651858.CD013423.pub3\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">the analysis<\/a> found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, there was not enough evidence to draw clear conclusions on whether free drug samples and other promotions affect decisions to place specific drugs on hospital formularies. These are the list of medicines approved for use and routinely stocked in a hospital or health system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-text\">STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-login\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"restricted-content-breaker-bg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791597137_869_stat-plus-breaker-bg.png\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"stat-plus-logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/wp-content\/themes\/stat\/images\/stat-plus-logo-white.svg\" alt=\"STAT+\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-breaker-wrapper-cta mobile\">Already have an account? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/login\/\" data-stat-login=\"\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker login cta mobile\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Log in<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button view-all\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker view all plans\" aria-label=\"View All Plans\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">View All Plans<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"restricted-content-text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tTo read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/stat-plus\/\" class=\"stat-button restricted-button\" data-stat-paywall-cta=\"breaker subscribe cta 1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed\u2019s stories explore prescription drug pricing, affordability and access, as well issues surrounding patents, litigation, and legislation. He&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":876961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[244,97,243,247,28293,248],"class_list":["post-876960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-biotechnology","tag-health","tag-medication","tag-pharmaceuticals","tag-physicians","tag-stat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}