Opioid-related gifts from pharma companies linked to physician prescribing by specialty

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-10/uop-ogf102919.php

News Release 30-Oct-2019
University of Pittsburgh

Physicians who received gifts from pharmaceutical companies related to opioid medications were more likely to prescribe opioids to their patients the following year, compared to physicians who did not receive such gifts, according to a new analysis led by health policy scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

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"For every 100 Americans, there were 58 opioid prescriptions written in 2017 -- that is a tremendous amount of prescribing in a country that is struggling with an opioid epidemic," said lead author Mara Hollander, a doctoral student in Pitt Public Health's Department of Health Policy and Management. "Our research points to a potential motivator behind this prescribing that could be reduced through policy interventions."

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When the team further examined the companies behind the gifts, they found that, while 18 different companies provided gifts related to opioids, two companies -- Insys and Purdue -- were responsible for nearly two-thirds of the value of those gifts. Both have settled lawsuits for hundreds of millions of dollars related to opioid promotion and Purdue stopped marketing opioids to physicians in 2018.

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