{"id":4085,"date":"2008-11-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pharma-mkting.com\/index.php\/2008\/11\/01\/pmn79-article01-bak\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T18:32:15","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T18:32:15","slug":"pmn79-article01-bak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Drug Samples &#8211; The Sales Rep&#8217;s Last Great Hope?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Free Drug Sample Gift Basket\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/PillBasket.jpg\" align=\"right\" border=\"0\" height=\"128\" width=\"124\"\/>According to some sales reps, as of Jan 1 2009 &#8212; when PhRMA&#8217;s new Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals becomes effective &#8212; pharmaceutical reps will no longer be &#8220;permitted&#8221; to deliver any marketing materials to healthcare professionals, which would make free drug samples the only real form of in-office marketing.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, sales reps consider free drug samples an important marketing tactic that they can employ to gain access to physicians. In 2005, the pharmaceutical industry distributed more than $18 billion worth of drug samples.<\/p>\n<p>But critics are concerned that drug samples increase costs, raise questions about the appropriateness of treatment choices, and create real or perceived conflicts of interest in the medical profession.<\/p>\n<p>Between August 16, 2008 and November 13, 2008, Pharma Marketing News hosted a &#8220;Pharmaceutical Sampling Practices Survey&#8221; that asked respondents their opinions of drug sampling issues and whether or not the distribution of free drug samples should be banned. The results of this survey are summarized in this article.  <\/p>\n<p>Topic headings include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Physicians Urged to Boycott Samples<\/li>\n<li>Sample Safety Issues<\/li>\n<li>Conflict of Interest Issues<\/li>\n<li>Do Samples Increase Drug Costs?<\/li>\n<li>Getting Around Formularies<\/li>\n<li>Do Samples Help Indigent Patients<\/li>\n<li>Are Samples Helpful in Prescribing the Correct Medication?<\/li>\n<li>Physicians Value Samples, But&#8230;<\/li>\n<li>Do Samples Increase Access and Benefit Sales?<\/li>\n<li>Should Samples Be Banned?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>                          <b>Order and pay for this reprint now using your credit card&#8230;<\/b><\/p>\n<p\/><b>ONLY $6.95<\/b><br \/>Download PDF file immediately after paying: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.e-junkie.com\/ecom\/gb.php?c=cart&amp;i=PMN79-01&amp;cl=16826&amp;ejc=2\" target=\"ej_ejc\" class=\"ec_ejc_thkbx\" onclick=\"javascript:return EJEJC_lc(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/btn_cart_LG.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Add to Cart\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.e-junkie.com\/ecom\/gb.php?c=cart&amp;cl=16826&amp;ejc=2\" target=\"ej_ejc\" class=\"ec_ejc_thkbx\" onclick=\"javascript:return EJEJC_lc(this);\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/ej_view_cart.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"View Cart\"\/><\/a>]]><\/p>\n<p>  PMN79-01<br \/> Issue: Vol. 7, No. 9: November 2008<br \/> Word Count: 4116 <\/p>\n<p\/>   <b>Find other articles in related Topic Areas:<\/b>  <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.pharma-mkting.com\/PMNphysMktingReprints.htm\">Physician Marketing &amp; Promotion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.pharma-mkting.com\/PMNsfeReprints.htm\">Sales Force Effectiveness<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.news.pharma-mkting.com\/PMNRegComplianceReprints.htm\">Regulatory Compliance<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Should free drug samples be banned? The new PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals bans free pens and out-of-office lunches, but it doesn&#8217;t ban samples. Many sales consider free drug samples an important marketing tactic that they can employ to gain access to physicians. In 2005, the pharmaceutical industry distributed more than $18 billion worth of drug samples. But critics are concerned that drug samples increase costs, raise questions about the appropriateness of treatment choices, and create real or perceived conflicts of interest in the medical profession.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,6],"tags":[],"topic":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Free Drug Samples - The Sales Rep&#039;s Last Great Hope? - Pharma Marketing Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Drug Samples - The Sales Rep&#039;s Last Great Hope? - Pharma Marketing Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Should free drug samples be banned? The new PhRMA Code on Interactions with Healthcare Professionals bans free pens and out-of-office lunches, but it doesn&#039;t ban samples. Many sales consider free drug samples an important marketing tactic that they can employ to gain access to physicians. In 2005, the pharmaceutical industry distributed more than $18 billion worth of drug samples. But critics are concerned that drug samples increase costs, raise questions about the appropriateness of treatment choices, and create real or perceived conflicts of interest in the medical profession.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pharma Marketing Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-02-18T18:32:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/pmn-logo-intro-post-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"744\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Pharma Guy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Pharma Guy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/\",\"name\":\"Free Drug Samples - The Sales Rep's Last Great Hope? - Pharma Marketing Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-11-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-02-18T18:32:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/#\/schema\/person\/763fc249c59c91ce203db612d81a75a1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Free Drug Samples &#8211; The Sales Rep&#8217;s Last Great Hope?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/\",\"name\":\"Pharma Marketing Network\",\"description\":\"Pharma Marketing Network\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/#\/schema\/person\/763fc249c59c91ce203db612d81a75a1\",\"name\":\"Pharma Guy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87853617a5e31233716811d09cdefdf7?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/2.gravatar.com\/avatar\/87853617a5e31233716811d09cdefdf7?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Pharma Guy\"},\"description\":\"Pharmaguy\u2122 is a \u201cconstructive critic\u201d of pharma marketing and publishes commentary on the Pharma Marketing Blog and on Scoop.it.\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/author\/ehs-pharmaguy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Free Drug Samples - The Sales Rep's Last Great Hope? - Pharma Marketing Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/ec2-54-175-84-28.compute-1.amazonaws.com\/pharma-mkting.com\/articles\/pmn79-article01-bak\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Free Drug Samples - The Sales Rep's Last Great Hope? - Pharma Marketing Network","og_description":"Should free drug samples be banned? 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