Marketing vs. informing Marketing does not necessarily improve patient care, observers say. Newer drugs get promoted more heavily. Drug reps say they don't think the freebies affect a doctor's prescribing efforts. The offers are simply a way to get in the door so they can present more detailed information on the drugs. What we're saying to them is, 'If you've got 10 antibiotics to choose from, this study shows that this one works better on respiratory infections.
Many doctors agree.
They say drug reps provide important information that they may not have the time or ability to get elsewhere. They are not swayed, they say, in picking medications for their patients by free pens, catered lunches or industry-funded educational seminars. But the manufacturers wouldn't do it if it didn't work. Life as a sales rep Bill Bly spends his days trying to get doctors to listen to him, even for 30 seconds. Bly defends such dinners and lunches as educational briefings to provide information to physicians on how to use the industry's products.