Episode 8 features an interview with Shahram Ahari MD, an emergency medicine physician and former drug rep, that explores the world of pharmaceutical samples. We chat about why samples are the most important marketing tactic drug companies have, how samples are used to manipulate prescribing choices, and discuss whether or not drug samples should be banned.

Pharmanipulation is produced by PharmedOut, a project at Georgetown University Medical Center that advances evidence-based prescribing.

Additional Resources

PharmedOut fact sheet on drug samples: ⁠https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/y51hkdvu2dju9sv26fjcc976ivlvwtkj

Summaries of key articles on the topic of drug samples: ⁠https://georgetown.app.box.com/s/3052cjlgv9thfw0qf3k9fkuyio978mbr

PharmedOut’s paper “Pharmaceutical marketing: the example of drug samples.” Link: https://joppp.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40545-022-00479-z

PharmedOut’s paper “Following the Script: How Drug Reps Make Friends and Influence Doctors.” Link: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0040150

PharmedOut’s paper “Why lunch matters: Assessing physicians' perceptions about industry relationships.” Link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/chp.20081

Dr. Ahari’s op-ed in The Washington Post “I was a drug rep. I know how pharma companies pushed opioids.” Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/i-was-a-drug-rep-i-know-how-pharma-companies-pushed-opioids/2019/11/25/82b1da88-beb9-11e9-9b73-fd3c65ef8f9c_story.html