Drug companies give free samples to wealthy, insured, Americans

This is off MSNBC News:

WASHINGTON - Insured and wealthy Americans were more likely than the poor to get billions of dollars in free drug samples distributed by pharmaceutical companies to win patient and doctor loyalty, a study released on Wednesday showed.

The pharmaceutical industry contends that the samples help the uninsured and people with low incomes, but the study of prescription use by nearly 33,000 U.S. residents during 2003 found that the neediest were least likely to get samples.

"Our findings suggest the free samples serve as a marketing tool, not a safety net," said Dr. Sarah Cutrona, co-author of the report to be published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

In one sense, it doesn't surprise me that the pharmaceutical industry is giving free drug samples to the wealthy here. It is about profit here for the drug companies. They are marketing their expensive, blockbuster drugs on a two-track marketing system. First, they are sending their drug sales guys to the doctors, asking them to try these new, expensive, drugs on these doctor's patients, while also giving out millions of dollars worth of free merchandise to these doctors with the drugs' names on it--we're talking pens, clocks, dinners, coffee mugs, mouse pads, and even computer mice. A good friend of mine, who is a pharmacist, and his wife, who is a psychiatrist, have their house filled with all sorts of little merchandise with drug names on them--all free from the drug companies. And this friend's wife has told me of the many expensive lunches and dinners that these drug salesmen have asked her to in order to pitch one blockbuster drug or another. It is just incredible.

Of course, the second marketing track for these drug companies is directed at the consumer in the form of television and radio ads. You know those commercials, where the beautiful people are happily running and jumping through natural settings, playing like their life is now free because they are taking a pill. And the worst offenders here would be the Big Pharma psychological drugs, and the erectile dysfunctional drugs--take a pill and then get horny! You can even order your own free sample of erectile dysfunctional drugs! Of course, Americans watch this stuff on TV, and then go to their doctors asking for these drugs. It is just incredible.

And there is more to this MSNBC story:

About $16.4 billion in drug samples were given out in the United States in 2004, up from $4.9 billion in 1996, the study said. Distributed by sales representatives, samples are nearly always the newest, most expensive drugs, the report said.

[....]

The study analyzed U.S. government data in a 2003 nationally representative survey, and found that about 12 percent of Americans had received at least one free sample.

About 13 percent of those with insurance were given a sample, while about 10 percent of those who were uninsured for all or part of the year got one.

Seventy-two percent of those who received a sample had income in excess of 200 percent above poverty level, while 28 percent had income below poverty level.

It is all about Big Pharma's making and keeping their excessive profits in selling their drugs. The free samples are a way of hooking, and addicting, Americans into buying these expensive drugs in order to make them feel better. And the folks who are getting the samples are the folks who can afford to pay for these expensive drugs, and consistently feed into Big Pharma's excessive profits--these wealthy Americans have to renew their expensive prescriptions! I'm not against doctors prescribing medication to their patients who have health problems and need such medication. But I seriously question the way that Big Pharma is using these marketing gimmicks--not for the doctors or the patients' best interest, but rather for their own, outright greed.