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Comment by takinola | Hacker News Reader

While non-disclosure by doctors prescribing drugs they profit from is unethical, I would be interested to know if doctors change which drugs they prescribe if when paid by different pharma companies ie are doctors recommending the drugs because they are being paid or are they just being paid because they recommend the drugs.

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Yes, physician behavior is influenced by pharmaceutical sales/marketing.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-shee...

Considering "marketing" extends all the way down to "hey, did you know our drug just got approved to treat disease XYZ", I'm hardly surprised it influences behavior.

You'd be surprised at how many doctors there are that know very little about newly approved medicines and pretty much rely on sales people for information.

So is patient behavior. How many drug ads for X include the line "ask your doctor about X" as if the patient has any clue whether that drug would be appropriate. Then they run to the doctor asking for X and the doctor says "eh, it's easier than trying (again) to get them to change diet and exercise habits" and they write it.

I don't actually know how often doctors do the last part but I would think that in some cases it happens.

I think drug ads are almost always completely out of place in consumer media and it's something that is really uncommon or totally banned in other countries.

I don't think those things are really different. Consider, for the sake of argument, that the doctors are endorsing drugs from the goodness of their hearts for the betterment of humanity. What incentive do the pharmas have to pay them? They're not known for altruism. If the payment had no impact whatsoever, they'd save their money. If docs know they might get paid, that's really not ethically different from having a payment agreement in advance.

The recent court cases related to the opioid epidemic is a great place to begin looking for answers to that question.

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