Free Drug Samples Hike Out-of-Pocket Costs

"Doctors and patients both should be encouraged to consider alternative ways to reduce patients' out-of-pocket costs," he said. "There are many other strategies doctors can use, such as prescribing a three-month rather than a one-month supply, such as using greater numbers of generic medicines, and discontinuing non-essential medicines."

Dr. David Katz, director of the Yale University School of Medicine's Prevention Research Center, said free samples aren't designed to help lower drug costs, but rather to sell newer and more expensive drugs.

"Almost every clinician's office is stocked with drug samples," he said. "For patients and providers alike, these free drugs can take on the aura of Halloween goodies. Passing them out feels like giving a gift."

But, Katz added, "free samples are by no means a long-term solution to high prescription drug costs. Rather, they are at least, in part, a marketing device, a chance to sample the wares."

The pharmaceutical industry had this to say: "Free pharmaceutical samples are beneficial to patients of all income levels. Patients are able to try out a new therapy - gaining valuable first-hand experience of its benefits and side effects - without making a co-payment," said Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) senior vice president Ken Johnson.

"What's more, contrary to statements made by critics, America's physicians prescribe medicines based on a wide range of factors, not simply receipt of free prescription drug samples," Johnson added in a prepared statement.

More information

For more on prescription drug trends, visit the Kaiser Family Foundation.

SOURCES: G. Caleb Alexander, M.D., assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago Medical Center; David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; March 21, 2008, prepared statement, Ken Johnson, senior vice president, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Washington, D.c., March 24, 2008,Medical Care